Field Trip Day!

A great friend of Vivienne’s joined us at the Palmer Museum of Art this morning. The two girls had a blast playing the “Alphabet Quest” game from Vivienne’s Phonics program. I simply attached the alphabet to a clipboard and the girls found examples of words beginning with each letter: everything from ketchup to ribbons to queens caught their eyes and claimed a letter from the clipboard. I was relieved when a sculpture of a naked woman was immediately recorded for the letter “F”: Foot! Two seconds later, though, the girls realized the novelty of the sculpture and broke into giggles.

The initial giggles about the handful of other bare-naked sculptures provided an impromptu opportunity for me to briefly explain that the human body is beautifully created by God and artists have been painting and sculpting it throughout history. I reminded them that in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were both naked and knew no shame. (It reminded me of Donald Miller’s claim that one of the most convincing things to him about our sin nature is the fact that almost all people-groups throughout all of time have worn clothing. “Why would they?” he asks.) Then I quickly told them to run along! Find another letter! 🙂

We weren’t allowed to snap photos of the art itself, so we made some of our own artistic poses. The museum shop sold postcards of the artwork for 5 cents each, so each girl chose one piece to remember.

Ironically, the only Alphabet Quest letter left unclaimed was the “i”. We claimed it for “ice-cream” and enjoyed large, drippy cones at The Creamery, which, you will see, Vivienne was very happy about.