Sixty-five students and 20 parents were on hand for the 15th annual Tulsa Arts Tour Friday.
Led by Pea Ridge art instructor John McGee, the contingent of students and parents toured the world-renowned Philbrook Art Museum as well as the equally famous Gilcrease Museum of American Art.
The Philbrook contains art from around the world, some dating back to the time of the Egyptian pharaohs. Besides the extensive art collections on display, the students also toured the Philbrook Gardens behind the museum. The Philbrook was once the home of Phillips family, the owners of the Phillps 66 Petroleum Company.
"We always appreciate the students who come here every year from Pea Ridge. They are always the best behaved and most cooperative students of the many groups that visit our facility, " longtime Philbrook educational director Roselle Tyner said.
The Gilcrease was considered the greatest collection of American art in the world until the advent of the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville. Started by oil millionaire Thomas Gilcrease, the museum named for him has a wealth of artifacts, documents, as well as art from the earliest history of North America and what became the United States.
The students also visited the recently opened Gathering Place Park along the Arkansas River near 31st Street in Tulsa. The result of an $11 million dollar project, the park has been called the No. 1 new park in the United States by USA Today. There is no fee to enter the park which has numerous playground facilities as well as picnic areas.
The journey to Tulsa ended with a visit to Incredible Pizza, an combination restaurant/video game/amusement park business in south Tulsa.
"The most fun thing I did in Tulsa was playing at the park and eat ice cream," said Cade Perry.
Tariq Zeelen said, "My favorite thing to do was the go-karts at the Pizza Place."
"The trip was very interesting. The museums had beautiful art and the games that evening were very fun and the food was amazing." said Ashlyn Shults
Kayden Folwer said, "My favorite part was the Gathering Place because it had really fun play areas with tall towers and slides. Even though I'm terrified of heights I still enjoyed being up in the towers."
"The bus ride was very enjoyable because I was seated next to my friends and we had a very good time. I also liked the bus driver, he was nice," said Sydney Brown.
"My favorite part of the trip was going to the Gathering Place and Incredible Pizza. The Gathering Place had a lot of fun play equipment and was super fun, and Incredible Pizza had a bunch of fun games and rides," said Hailey Snarr.
Collin Little said: "There was so much great art in the museums, and the fun things later were really fun."
Community on 05/15/2019