Hirshhorn Museum Offers Art . . . Then Crafts

The kids are a dozen steps ahead of their parents, close on the heels of artist Maggie Michael as she leads them up the escalator to a flashy, light-catching mosaic composed of mirrors. The creation is part of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden exhibit "Refract, Reflect, Project: Light Works From the Collection," a recently closed compilation of contemporary works that featured renderings or ponderings about light, its absence and how we see.

That's the first question Michael asks the group of 6- to 9-year-olds one recent Saturday morning: "What is happening? What do you see?" Sebastian Wiggins, 7, of Germantown is the first to put into words what artist Jim Hodges has done in his mirrored work "View." "There are different squares," Wiggins notes, "a little bit at different angles." Mom Susanne Wiggins nods approvingly from among the adults who have joined the youngsters this art-filled morning.

Michael, a resident artist at the museum this year, smiles, ever patient with her young charges and eager to hear their assessments of a dozen preselected pieces. Though she creates her own elegant abstract canvases, including one at the Hirshhorn, Michael focuses this morning on creating art enthusiasts and artists.

Artist at Work is an interactive tour for children in various age ranges led by a local artist, which culminates in a hands-on studio session.

The program is among Milena Kalinovska's favorites. As the museum's director of public programs, she works closely with artists to involve them in museum events. And what better way than to explore contemporary art with an artist who shares many of the visions and experiences of the modern masters on display?

Next Michael and the children take in Dan Flavin's "Monument," a wall-hung light sculpture using fluorescent tubes. One girl tells Michael that her day-care center has the same type of lights on the ceiling. Michael explains how Flavin took something we all see every day and made it look new.

With the tour complete, Michael leads the 14 children to a workroom adjacent to the outdoor sculpture garden. There she has assembled an assortment of colored, patterned, reflective and textured paper, plus gewgaws and doodads for the kids -- and a few parents, too -- to create their own inspired projects. She asks the kids to think about light and shadow, reflection and projection, and even shine the flashlights they brought from home on their art.

Sebastian works slowly, carefully arranging cut and folded paper on a large poster board that will receive prominent placement when it goes home. Mother Susanne knows the drill: Hold a finger down here, pass the scissors there and watch what happens. Her artistically inclined son has participated in these programs before: "He talks about the experience for a long time after. He's still working on a sculpture from a class we took in November," she says.

Warren Greenberg of Kensington brought his 6-year-old grandson, Andy Ram, because he noticed how much the youngster loves to draw. "I figure if he understands these paintings, he can understand anything," Greenberg says. In fact, Greenberg suggests that he has learned as much as his grandson has. "I see how the artists, using an array of materials, are attempting to give insights into life itself," he says.

Though the class seems to have a free-for-all feel, there's method in the madness. Michael explains: "I want [the children] to think about different ways to use light and transparencies and translucent materials. For first-timers, it's sometimes hard, but I notice that some are trying to work with these ideas."

"I think about how things look and how they reflect shadows," says Madeline Klebanoff, 7, who is attaching some silver foil to her creation. "First I get an idea, and then I think about it before I start." Her mom, Randi, a Canadian living in the District for the year, notices her daughter's developing artistic sensibility: "I see Madeline is already thinking about what Maggie was talking about in the tour. [With Michael] she pays a special kind of attention to the works she sees."

Michael approaches each workshop session as a self-contained unit. "I think carefully about what the conversation could be," she says, describing how she determines which artwork to show the children. "I want them to hear the names of the artists, what the artists' intentions are and what my observations are. And I want to hear what their observations are. I think their interpretations . . . can be outstanding. They show how well kids make new connections between what they see in the museum and what they already know."

ARTIST AT WORK Saturday from 10 to noon for ages 6 to 9; Saturday from 1 to 3 for ages 10 to 12. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Independence Avenue and Seventh Street SW (Metro: L'Enfant Plaza.)http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu. 202-633-3382. Maggie Michael will focus on "Ways of Seeing: John Baldessari Explores the Collection." Free; registration required.