CBS 2 At The Met

CBS 2 At The Met: Children Education

NEW YORK (CBS) ― All eyes are on Pieter Bruegel's "The Harvesters," and parent volunteer, Lisa Wise.

Following a day-long guided tour, the European Galleries are the last stop for these fourth graders, all members of the "Let's Look" art class at Westover Magnet Elementary School in Stamford.

Wise and the children exchanged ideas Wise asked, "We learned when an artist does landscape like here, warm colors are typically?" They answered, "in front." "Dark colors?" The group said, "In back." Wise asked, "It helps us show perspective, right?"

Impressive. These 9 and 10-year-olds studied perspective, color, texture in works of art over the course of the school year. Volunteer Wise prepared them for their day at the Met with slide shows of the various objects they'd see, like "The Harvesters." Wise, who never studied art, explained to CBS 2's Dana Tyler that she's learning right along with the children. Wise said, "I meet once a month with a group of parents and a teacher teaches us and then we the next group teaches the class it's a combination of size vocabulary little bit of history much attention as we can to make it interesting in pursuing art . They're sponges, they learn vocabulary, Italian words, French words, they retain so much information."

One 9-year-old commented, "I never took this much thought in art before. I really learned how to look about art and how to feel about art."

Another boy also shared their thoughts with Tyler.

I look at art in lots of ways now, shape, texture, line, color."

Tyler asked a girl what here favorite painting was. She said, "I liked The Horse Fair" ...it's huge!"

Art Education coordinator Helane March Rheingold is the driving force behind the "Let's Look" program at Westover Magnet School and other schools in Stamford. She explained the program to Tyler. "I train parent volunteers six or seven times during the year and then they go in classroom and basically model what I trained them to do with the children. I think you've seen it. It's beyond what you do with your own eyes, it's the ability to go somewhere and observe and respond!"

On the the Met's side, Associate Museum Educator, Alice Schwarz has worked closely with Helane for more than 15-years. Schwarz said school programs like "Let's Look" are a win-win experience for all.

"I can count on Helane and her well-trained mother volunteers to bring students here to galleries and know they will have a quality experience."

It's time to leave the galleries, the students line up and head back to the Uris Center for Education, where all school groups begin their day at the Met.

Tyler asked the school group, "Did you kids have a good time today?" They all answered, Yes!"

The reviews are in.

"The art work was so beautiful!" "I think this was a better time than in class!" "I got to see some of my favorite paintings!" "All the paint looks really wrinkly!" "Whatever the characters in the art are feeling is practically the way I feel about the painting!" No favorites, they're all good!"

The students don't leave the Met empty handed. Schwarz explained, "At the end of every tour at the museum schools get one of two passes blue for the five boroughs green outside the city. It allows student and nine other family members to come back to the museum!"

You can't beat that.

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