Art museums toured by students

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

— Pea Ridge fifth-graders took their annual tour of the Gilcrease and Philbrook art museums in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, May 8.

With guided tours at the Gilcrease in the morning and at the Philbrook in the afternoon, the students were treated to see and hear about some of their greatest art works in the nation and world. Both collections represented millions of dollars invested in art work gathered together by prominent Tulsa oil families, the Gilcrease and Phillips families.

The Gilcrease is considered the finest museum of American art in the world, primarily featuring western artists and native American artists.

After arriving at the Gilcrease for a morning tour, the contingent went to the 41st Street Park alongside the Arkansas River and enjoyed a sack lunch and recently modernized playground. From there, the group went to the Philbrook and enjoyed their art and extensive gardens.

After that tour, the group went to the Casa Bonita restaurant for dinner, games and a magic show.

Student Christian Brown liked the art exhibits but especially: “liked the plants and gardens at the museums ’cause they are art, too.”

Wyatt Weber opined that the art collections at both museums were “unique with the art collections and sculptures.

The gardens and scenery were wonderful.”

Alex Sprayberry was impressed with the Egyptian art collection and its “cool mummy.”

Cory Olmstead found the Gilcrease paintings “inspiring” and appreciated the knowledge and demeanor of the docents and stated that “I would love to visit the museums again very soon.”

Jordan Muller enjoyed the museum tours and scenery but even enjoyed the bus ride as “the bumpy road was really fun. (U.S.

Highway 412 has sections of road that are in bad need of repair.)

Hailey Howell’s favorite part was “when we got to compare landscapes. I liked that part because it let me be able to look atthe little details. I liked the mountains and river detail in the pictures. We learned some artists painted things as they were and others painted as they wanted it to be.”

Melani Bernal was impressed with “all the new things we learned. The gardens were so beautiful.

The only thing I didn’t like was the bumpy ride on the highway.”

One of the chaperones, Kathleen Brown, said that “the attention to detail was hard to imagine. I could have looked at them (the paintings) for hours.”

Teacher April Smith enjoyed “the sheer beauty and vast expanse of the Philbrook Museum and gardens.”

The Gilcrease Museum will refund the price of the fuel, according to John McGee, art teacher, therefore helping make the trip possible.

“I drove the bus for free and the museum paid the fuel bill so the whole trip cost only the wear on the bus. The only student cost was the price of their evening meal and whatever things they bought at the museums.

Not many school kids in our part of the state have this kind of opportunity,” McGee said.

Pea Ridge Primary and Intermediate students will get another chance to see the Gilcrease this summer as the museum will have a month long exhibition featuring the art of Pea Ridge students. The exhibit will begin the last week of June and run through the last week of July. A specialreception is planned for July for 50 select students and their parents. This marks the second consecutive year that the Pea Ridge students have been afforded this singular honor, McGee said.

Sports, Pages 11 on 05/12/2010