Steve,
The images are excellent, and good examples. Very humorous in a
stop-the-heart-of-all-collections-managers sort of way. They do at least
evoke a smile.
Children are indeed a danger to our collections, but not because they are
children, but rather because their parents are some combination of
ill-informed, ignorant, arrogant, or uncaring. In this case it is clearly
not the child that is the problem. He is clearly engaged in a way that we
hope may translate into a positive outlook on art in the future. The issue
here is entirely the mother's (female in the images) fault, for allowing
him to do such a thing. In all such situations it is the parent/chaperone
that should be chastised, which would also serve to instruct the child by
association. Of course, in the case of the images, this child is too young
to understand, and should simply not have been held up to the sculpture.
Children are the future of all of our organizations, and I would never
suggest they should be limited in their access. I might however place
limits on some of their parents.
The images also beg the question of the security at this given institution.
I apologize for not taking that quite as light-heartedly as you clearly
intended.
Mark Janzen
Registrar/Collections Manager
Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art
Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection
Wichita State University
(316)978-5850
Steven
Allison-Bunnell
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SE.LSOFT.COM> Children in Museums -- the lighter
side
09/02/2004 09:49
AM
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SE.LSOFT.COM>
Viz the previous thread about the safety/appropriateness/desirability/etc.
of small children in museums, I offer the following image:
http://www.natureboymedia.com/pictures/baby_in_museum.jpg
For some of you, it will horrify you and only serve to confirm the notion
that children are a danger to the collections.
For everyone else, I hope it's good for a laugh.
To me, it also demonstrates how compelling museums are for young children,
what rich environments they are for discovering the world, and how easily
they can be engage everyone on some level. Talk about the learning paradigm
that says begin with what's familiar to the learner!
Enjoy,
Steve
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