Kandinsky, Guggenheim Museum, September 19th to January 13th, 2010.
Vasiliy Kandinsky was the Russian born artist whose search for abstract expression through colors and forms by way of musical compositions is on view at the Guggenheim museum which boasts one of the largest collections of his works. As you ascend the spirals of the rotunda with your kids, so does his work progress from colorful but somewhat amorphous figures and forms still biomorphic in their nature to delicately combined and delineated color forms that dance and jump and congregate on his canvases. One can almost hear the musical compositions he had in mind as he strove to achieve in art what he saw could be possible in music.

Kids will respond to the shapes forming musical notes (almost) and want to test their skills at naming the forms. Is this a horse and rider you see? Is this a castle? Is it a constellation or an underwater world? Kandinsky’s art was highly theoretical and intellectual but parents shouldn’t go far into explanations about its ultimate purpose. Rather, let the eye take you on a journey and your kids’ visual brains read the images they will see.

Perhaps one of the fun games anyone could play at the exhibit is to try and come up with a musical melody that would go together with the various paintings. One of the best art projects to complete at home post your visit will be to cut up various shapes, lines and squiggles with your kids and let them arrange them in their own fashion on a larger surface. Perhaps paint it over too, combining a bit of salt to add to the grainy quality of the surface treatment just the way Kandinsky achieved with sand.

Family Programs:
The Guggenheim offers free (with paid admission) drop in classes every Sunday, 1-4pm, where families with children aged 3-10 can explore the highlights of Kandinsky through creative projects led by museum educators.

On November 22, 2-5 PM, celebrate the work of Vasily Kandinsky and the museum's architecture at the Guggenheim's Fall Family Day. Recommended for children ages 4-10. $15 per family.

Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick. Bard Graduate Center, September 18th to January 3rd. {extended thru 1/24]

The Bard Graduate Center, in partnership with the New York Historical Society, has put on a very interesting and educational show that represents a slice of life in New York in the 17th century through the inventory and related objects of Margrieta Van Varick (you know, of Varick Street in New York?). Before the family became well known in this city and gave birth to two Revolutionary heroes, the Van Varicks belonged to the Dutch community in Brooklyn.

The exhibition fills three floors of the Bard Graduate Center and presents beautiful objects as diverse as Dutch genre paintings, furniture, linen, porcelain and silver, all related to the objects that appeared in Margrieta’s inventory done after her death. Though the objects themselves didn’t belong to her, they are all comparable to what she possessed and present a wonderfully rich picture of what people owned in the 17th century in New York.

I would recommend this exhibit for children over the age of 8 years and especially those studying American history and history of New York. If you are walking through the exhibit with a younger child, ask them to guess how each object was used and what we use instead today or to pick out something that you will see on view and find it used in one of the paintings.

Family Program:
On December 5 from 1-4pm, the Bard Graduate Center offers a Family Day where families can Discover Dutch New York with special tours and activities that will help bring the exhibit alive for children.

Georgia O’Keefe, Abstraction, Whitney Museum of American Art , until January 17th, 2010.
We all know and expect works by Georgia OKeefe to have sculls, flowers, images associated with her fascination for the natural world and still-life. The Whitney Museum exhibition, though, presents O’Keefe in a different light: that of an artist interested in abstraction and color. Walking through this mesmerizing exhibition we pass by images that have been put under a magnifying glass, enlarged to the point of forms and lines and colors. Children will respond to these colors, will want to guess what they were originally and be fascinated by what inspired O’Keefe to zero in on some very ordinary objects to the point of making them appear amorphous and abstract.

This show is great for all ages. Don’t forget to bring pencils and paper because O’Keefe works call out to be copied. One art project might be for the child to sit down and copy a favorite painting. A great post-visit project to do at home is to pick out one ordinary object and copy it in three different ways: as a complete object, as an abstracted version made up of shapes, and to focus only on one portion of the object.

Family Programs:
The Whitney offers family programs on select Saturdays including their Whitney Wees program which leads families with kids 4-5 years old in hands-on activities inspired by discussion and activities in the gallery. Registration required.

Tours at Two are designed for children 6-10 to draw and discuss the exhibitions with museum educators. Free with museum admission, no registration required.

Check the site for more information.