I took my kid out of school to visit the Newfields musuem.
I am that mom.
You can judge me later.
Or now, I really don’t care.
As Rachel Hollis‘ therapist says… “Someone else’s opinion of you is none of your business.”
So yes… I let my daughter skip school on a Friday a couple weeks ago now. Yes, S K I P SCHOOL.
Ella wasn’t sick. She wasn’t indisposed. Ells was totally fine.
She didn’t even really ask to skip.
Actually, she’s been really into school this year which has been a major change and treat for our household.
BUT, she had been asking to go to the Art Museum for going on a year now and we knew an exhibit was leaving. In order to get to it before it was gone, a day of skipping school was necessary.
NEWFIELDS
“Sorry Mrs. Lash, Ella was out (that) Friday because we had to get to SUMMER WONDERLAND at Newfields before it left. No offense, but I’m pretty sure she had a more learning-filled day taking in the artworks and the surroundings than she would have gotten in school that day anyway.”
*Side note – I would N E V E R say anything like this to the teacher even if I really really really wanted to.*
In this {Part One} of our visit to Newfields I’m sharing the amazingly magical and whimsy exhibit of
Summer Wonderland: Spectacular Creatures.
And they were just that, spectacular.
***Note — This exhibit ended at Newfields on August 26th.***
SUMMER WONDERLAND
Driving up to Newfields (formerly the Indianapolis Museum of Art) you are taken in by it’s wonderful GREEN surroundings… Such deep greens… I mean you feel like you are almost transported somewhere else because of it’s beautiful setting.
Upon arrival, you were (because they are now gone) immediately greeted by the spectacular creatures. Infused into every part of the museum, the creatures were everywhere, usually unexpected… which made for even more fun.
After purchasing admission, we headed right outside because we were fearful it was going to rain. We did stop to grab a photo with the adorable snails, specifically this Giant Blue Snail – AKA Scooter, who was the first of the over 500 creatures to make their way to the land of Newfields. The girls couldn’t wait to check out more once they saw these guys!
BRIGHT COLORFUL CREATURES
No matter how many times I told them not to run, they just couldn’t contain their excitement!
Everywhere we went, they were running… And running…
Apparently, it’s hard to contain yourself when there are magical creatures all around and TONS of room to just GO!
Obviously, as a child, when you see wide open spaces, you must take advantage and run as fast and as much as you can!
THE LILLY HOUSE
All the creatures are made of recyclable plastic and represent, to the artists, a way of telling stories about the environmental issues that face our planet. Everywhere you turned there were more creatures…
And different creatures…
And more creatures…
I mean what is not to like about giant, bright colored animals and bugs!!??
They were clearly friendly 😉
These foxes were a major hit…
They ran back and forth through them at least 10x.
Make sure to check out all there shenanigans over on IG stories! I’m reposting them and saving them as a highlight too!
And the elephant provided a place for rest with shade.
KIDS + ART
Then (while we explored more outside, that’ll be in Part two) we headed back inside for a quick lunch. We grabbed the museums grab and go options, but still opted to sit down. We actually sat at a table right next to an actual artist who was working on something. Sitting next to him was really amazing…because I don’t know that Ella has every really seen anyone, let alone an actual artist with his different sharpened pencils and papers, sitting and drawing like that before – taking his time, working on one spot, then another, then going back to the first spot, blending with his fingers and such… She was really able to see how an artist works and how long it can take to make ONE piece!
*Can’t get that in elementary art class either*
Inside the creatures were still everywhere.
The penguins were probably the girls favorite and Ella realized you could move a little bit.
I think their height had something to do with it…
And even when you weren’t expecting the creatures, there they were…
We said goodbye with a kiss or two when we left because we knew that when we go back next time, they will not be there…
An awesome exhibit with the Italian art collective Cracking Art. So glad we were able to see it before it left… even if we didn’t see all the animals! We missed the bears and the birds but we got to see a whole lot and learn about art and nature at the same time!
ARTSY
Listen, I don’t encourage pulling your kids out of school for no reason, but I do feel like pulling them out to do things like this is TOTALLY OK! I’m sure I’ll get backlash for this, but I think this exhibit we were trying to hit made perfect sense for my kids… It was whimsy, it was outdoors, it was artsy, it was creative, it was fun… And anytime you are taking your kids to get a little extra culture, that’s a good thing! And I’m pretty sure almost any teacher would be ok with this absence.
In Part two {tomorrow} of our visit to Newfields, we’ll check out what was going on INSIDE the museum on top of Summer Wonderland. But since we visited specifically for this (and you could spend days at the museum) I decided to split the posting up! You would really be on photo overload!
See you tomorrow!