When my kids were small, our first stop at any museum was the gift shop. My goal was not to bribe my darlings but to offer a challenge. Each would choose a postcard depicting an item in the collection we were about to explore, and whoever found that item first as we wandered through got to choose where we would go for lunch or an afternoon snack. At a recent visit to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, I discovered that the decades have improved on my scheme and then some.
The first things I noticed were the colorful backpacks hanging on the wall across from the gift shop. Arranged beneath a sign reading “Art and Nature,” I thought they were sweet souvenirs for children. Indeed, the packs are created specifically for kids, but not to take home. The bags are there for families to borrow and use while exploring the indoor collection and the outdoor sculptures and gardens.
The orange and blue bundles are clever tools, designed to help kids of all ages, abilities and learning levels to access the art in ways that accommodate the individual child. The packs are a sneaky means to help youngsters learn to look at art with all of their senses. Those things are the real souvenirs…