With school having started this past week for the kiddos, our free time for fun has been limited. But that didn’t stop us from a visit to one of our favorite Indy stops: The 100 Acres at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Having lived in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood until 2 months ago, we’ve missed our regular jaunts over to the IMA. The Funky Bones exhibit is one of the kids favorites – the leap from the femur bone to the hip section a daring jump of feats.
And with a beautiful Sunday afternoon on the radar, we met up with some friends from theCityMoms for a stroll and to check out a regular IMA family program: Art In The Park.
We now prefer parking at the park entrance off of 38th Street, which hosts the cascading blue and red arms of the Free Basket installation. Once our friends arrived, we trekked across the park to the Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion for the drop-in Art In The Park program.
“Hello!” shouted the ‘instructor’ Ms. Mary as we entered. “Please come in, find a seat and I’ll get you the supplies you need. Today we are doing a Feathered Friends craft – you’re free to decorate them however you’d like. We have stamps, feathers, cut-outs and paints.”
My Em relished not having an exact template for the craft – a true creative being at heart who instead took some inspiration from Ms. Mary and then went off in her own direction. Friend Danielle plunked down with her daughter and focused more on the fun gold stamps; Ronetta and her dearest on finding googly eyes for their birds.
I was thrilled to see the sheer amount of supplies available for the drop-in guests, but even more blown away by the utterly gorgeous landscape the Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion provides among the trees. My inner Swiss Family Robinson fan was singing. Should the IMA ever consider it, the Pavilion is the perfect place for a quiet getaway to write, compose or just meditate on its walkways. I even joked to Ms. Mary that it would make a great living art installation to host a family within its glass walls for a week to observe how they live.
On our way out, we stopped at Chopstick –my kids’ favorite swingset in all of Indianapolis. This beautiful tulip tree {the state tree of Indiana!} is also home to a concession stand typically open on the weekends.
If you haven’t yet visited the 100 Acres, get it on your family to-do list. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
MORE INFORMATION: Art In The Park is a weekly drop-in family program hosted by the IMA on Sundays from noon-4pm. Each project is designed to inspire kids – and adults – of all ages, and no reservations are required to attend. Simply follow directions to the Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion to participate. More information is available on the IMA website at: http://www.imamuseum.org/familyactivities/art-park.
What’s your favorite part about the Indianapolis Museum of Art 100 Acres? Share with us on Twitter @indyschild and @themomista, or tag @indyschild and @themomista1 on Instagram.
