Arts and Crafts, Upgraded

Simple arts and crafts activities, face painting and clown appearances have become standard activities for children at many family-oriented festivals and events.

Ho-hum.

Parents and their kids get much more than that when they take part in Family Sundays at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Held each Sunday between 12:30 and 3:15 p.m., the program involves five workshops and a docent-led gallery tour designed for families.

The afternoon of activities is tailored to stimulate artistic expression as well as an appreciation for exhibits at the museum. The program was funded with a $1-million donation from Wally Weisman, chairman of the museum’s board of trustees, and his wife, Sheila, a member of the museum’s docent council.

This weekend, Family Sunday will unveil a new program called “Color and Harmony.” Activities will be based on a temporary exhibit featuring the art of American painter Stanton Macdonald-Wright, whose work reflected his love of music and sound. Macdonald-Wright was a color theorist who developed a color scale that was on a par with a musical scale. “Color and Harmony” will also be offered on Sept. 23, Oct. 14 and Oct. 21.

In one workshop, participants will make their own kaleidoscopes, which directly relates to a Macdonald-Wright invention.

“He created a projector which had color tiles in front of it,” explains Bo Smith, a LACMA representative. “[This projector] would respond to [musical] notes. So you would get this amazing kaleidoscope of colors.”

Macdonald-Wright was involved with Asian art and created a series of woodblock prints in response to haiku. So one of the workshops will involve creating this ancient Japanese form of poetry or making art inspired by haiku.

Hands-on drumming sessions will also be a featured activity. Participants will join together to create a symphony of percussive sounds, which will connect to the relationship between color and music in Macdonald-Wright’s art.

Family Sundays always include one workshop geared for toddlers. Other workshops are generally appropriate for children ages 5 to 12. But Karen Satzman, the museum’s family days coordinator, says the workshops are meant to involve parents and other adults as well.

“The artists that we hire to work with us have a lot of experience working with a family audience and they know how to engage both children and adults,” Satzman says. “With the hands-on projects, the parents really get into them. You would be surprised how many adults like to participate in the programs and they don’t have children with them! They’ll show up and say, ‘OK, I’m ready! Where’s my paint and paper?”’

Adding Music to the Mix

On Sept. 30, Family Sundays will be replaced with a performance by pianist Richard Grayson. The recently retired Occidental College music professor’s concert will directly relate to the work of Macdonald-Wright. A master of improvisation and composition, Grayson will demonstrate what a painting might sound like if you could play colors like musical notes.

The Grayson concert is part of the Johnny Mercer Foundation Family Music Days series. Two concerts in the fall and two concerts in the spring make up this program. LACMA is careful about what type of artwork it presents during its family presentations.

“One of the pieces from the Macdonald-Wright exhibit is highlighted on the cover of our exhibit catalog,” Satzman says. “It’s a beautiful painting of a nude woman in a classic pose. [Grayson] considered using that for his musical performance. We asked him to select a different painting that would be more open to families.

“We do take families into the Greek and Roman galleries and there are naked human forms up there. [If you’re dealing directly with a family] on a tour and you can talk about the human form and what people at that time idealized, [you can explain to them why] it’s not risque.”

The theme of the family tour varies each week, but Satzman says it’s always interactive: Docents ask participants their impressions of what they’re seeing. The idea is to make fine art a more personal and less intimidating experience.

All family workshops and tours are offered in both English and Spanish.

LACMA also offers regular weekend art classes for adults and kids. A summer art camp for children has proved so popular that the museum is offering the camp this winter as well.

“We have created an environment where families can come and do something together and it’s not going to break the bank,” Satzman says.

“You don’t have to go to Disneyland every time you want to do something with your cousins who are coming from out of town or if it’s your kid’s birthday. I hope families see the museum as a place where they can be themselves. It’s educational, but it’s also fun.”

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Sheila and Wally Weisman Family Sundays, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Every Sunday, 12:30-3:15 p.m. Museum admission: adults, $7; students 18 and over with ID, and ages 62 and over, $5; ages 6-17, $1; ages 5 and under, free. Free admission for museum members. (323) 857-6512.