Travel Detroit: Art with Kids

We are inspired by the artists and entrepreneurs we met in Detroit. Whether building bikes or making public art, they shared their stories of purpose, hard work, and innovation. We only had a short time to explore, but I sensed that these communities are far more complicated and special than I understand. We left with t-shirts from Johnny Noodle King, used art books, and a lot of love for a city we don’t really know.

Our first stop was the big museum. Visiting an encyclopedic museum like the Detroit Institute of Art is a different experience than the art parks or galleries we frequent. The magnitude and variety of art can make it hard for children to focus.The best part was the famous “Detroit Industry Mural” by Diego Rivera. The architecture and the scale centered our children’s attention so that we could really see the work and the characters. My seven year old actually used the children’s guide to the museum (which doesn’t happen often). The education cart with art “fortune tellers” or “cootie catchers” were a hit! Each fold had a prompt or question for how to look at any artwork.

Because of our short timeline in Detroit, we stopped by Mocad (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit) on the same day. Two indoor, “don’t touch” museums in one day is a lot for us. We had a chill drink in the cafe. Since my two year old doesn’t chill, I chased him around the galleries (twice). In the Kaws exhibition, the littlest immediately responded to the emotions of the sculptures. He felt sorry for them, even if he didn’t know why. The older kids focused on the representation of the sculptures first, which led to conversations about what was wrong with them or caused them to have these feelings. I think we were the loudest visitors, but we at least we were talking about the art.

The rest of our short visit to Detroit looked like this: