Totally Texas -- Spring break staycations

It’s the first day of the first weekend of spring break for North Texas schools. Don’t panic! I’ve got suggestions for changing “OMG what’ll we do with kids” to bonding (instead of bondage) experiences. Events are free or low-cost and grouped by proximity to keep the “are we there yet” moments to a minimum.

Young & carefree:

These destinations are accessible to small children -- my daughter and I have tested them on her twin boys from toddlerhood through early elementary school years. But older kids, even teens can enjoy them, especially the multi-museum, block-long party Friday, March 15, till midnight.

Dallas Museum of Art -- General admission is free, but expect to pay $10 for parking in the attached garage and most neighboring lots if you don’t take DART or the McKinney Avenue trolley (see below). Special spring break activities Tuesday - Friday (March 12-15), culminating in Friday’s late night spring break party. At 1717 Harwood. For calendar of events, see www.dm-art/org/.

Crow Collection of Asian Art -- One block east of the DMA, at 2010 Flora. Not all exhibits interest the youngest kids, but the boys love the windowed gallery typically filled with origami hangings. Several closures for private events, but the week culminates in the After Dark Japanese culture fest (including karaoke) March 15, 6 p.m. to midnight. Free, but loves donations. For calendar, see www.crowcollection.com/.

Nasher Sculpture Center -- Across the street from the Crow, at 2001 Flora. Outdoor sculpture gallery gives even little kids room to move without bumping into the larger than life art. Adults pay, but admission for children age 12 and under is always free. Open Tuesday - Sunday, culminating in a spring break party free to all. Music, movie and art, March 15 from 7 p.m. - midnight. For more information, see www.nasherscuplturecenter.org/.

Serious with a side of latte:

Younger kids not prohibited, but very intense exhibits may be more suitable for tweens and teens. All museums listed are participants in the Girl Scouts History Explorer program. If things get too intense, chill out with a latte at the Sixth Floor Museum’s café, or visit the nearby West End’s many restaurants.

The Sixth Floor Museum -- 411 Elm at Houston (next to Dealey Plaza). Exhibits related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Open daily till 6 p.m. This Sunday, March 10, the museum hosts a CSI Family Event, for those age 8 and older. For hours and ticket prices, see
www.jfk.org/.

Holocaust Museum -- 211 N. Record St. Suite 100, near the Sixth Floor Museum. Exhibits commemorating the Holocaust from 1933 - 1945, including private photographs of the family of young diarist Anne Frank, on view through March 31. Open daily. See www.dallasholocaustmuseum.org/.

Big Red Museum -- This turreted former courthouse at 100 S. Houston, one block from the Sixth Street Museum, it now houses exhibits of the city’s culture and history. I’m ghoulishly partial to footage of outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow’s death car, definitely not recommended for the youngest children. Open daily. See
www.oldred.org/.

Totally Texas -- Art and walking on grass

Nasher Sculpture Center

2001 Flora St., Dallas

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My daughter practically grew up at NorthPark Center, as enthralled by its museum-worthy modern art collection as by the shopping. So I didn’t have to apply much persuasion to get her to visit a whole garden’s worth of outdoor sculpture from the collection of the family that developed NorthPark.

Her twin sons were out of their kindergarten classes for winter holidays, so any outing had to be friendly to exuberant little boys. The Nasher is. There’s an indoor portion of the museum, where the boys appreciated the sculptural quality of even the drinking fountains. But the high point was the outdoor display -- approximately thirty pieces in a garden setting of nearly two and a half acres where walking on the grass is positively required.

The art, drawn from the collection of the late Raymond and Patsy Nasher, changes periodically. On this visit, the boys’ favorite was Richard Serra’s curving double wall of Cor-ten steel entitled, “My Curves are not Mad.”

Walking between the forty-four foot long weathered walls of Serra’s work is like traveling through a cave with a view of the sky. The boys didn’t have to touch the walls to appreciate the experience of enclosure and discovery.

Although admission is always free for children age twelve and younger, the Nasher offers free admission to all January 7, as on the first Saturday of each month. The “Target First Saturdays” programs include children’s art activities, family tours, story time with the Dallas Public Library, and more. See http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/Events-Calendar/ for details.

The Nasher opens at 10 a.m. for First Saturdays. Otherwise, its hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Its site near Woodall Rogers Freeway and North Pearl Street in downtown Dallas is adjacent to both the Dallas Museum of Art and the Crow Collection of Asian Art.

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Can’t wait until Saturday for your art fix? The Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 North Harwood, offers free admission tomorrow, January 3, and the first Tuesday of every month. See
www.dallasmuseumofart.org/ for regular admission and hours, as well as discounts on combined tickets for the DMA and the Nasher.

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Thanks to readers from nearly two dozen countries who viewed my blog 2,230 times in 2011!

Here’s a guide to what you’ll see in the coming year: Mondays are about family-friendly places and events, concentrating on my area of North Central Texas. My lively grandsons are my guide to what kids like, and their tastes run to the outdoors and out-sized (as in this post about the Nasher Center). Wednesdays are about the art and craft of writing, with plenty of practical advice, such as this week’s post about writing conferences. Fridays are a tour through classic adventure literature of all genres. January’s selections focus on nonfiction adventures, and themes vary each month.

Each post is small enough to read on a coffee break but large enough to challenge your
imagination. Have a great year!

Totally Texas -- Half-price attractions at the DMA

Dallas Museum of Art

1717 N. Harwood, Dallas

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“It’s a movie,“ the boys said.

My daughter’s five-year-old twins sat in front of the Dallas Museum of Art monumental painting, “The Icebergs,” by Frederic Edwin Church, waiting for the show to start. My daughter and I sat there, breathing in the coolness. Outside, the temperature hovered around a hundred degrees. Inside, the air-conditioned coolness seemed to slide deliciously downward as we absorbed the chill of this nineteenth century landscape painting.

We were at the DMA on a “cool Thursday” -- the day of the week in the summer when the museum offers half-price admission. That’s $5 for general admission and $8 for special exhibitions such as the current Art of the American Indians, from a collection at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. The exhibit continues at DMA through September 4.

Of course we went to the Indian exhibit. The boys liked the scary masks best, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. The exhibit will also be the focus of a celebration of Native American culture this coming weekend. From 6 p.m. until midnight this Friday, July 15, the museum will host the Apache performance group Yellow Bird with tours and artist demonstrations. Festivities continue Saturday, July 16, during the museum’s regular weekend hours, 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

We ended with a trip through the outdoor sculpture garden. My daughter and I walked, the boys ran. Okay, they’re little kids -- an hour or so of walking decorously through art galleries is about all they can take. We had entered the museum through the parking garage, so I didn’t realize the sculpture garden opens directly onto the street. (Keep this in mind with children who might dash outside in their excitement.) Before we left, we visited one of my favorite exhibits, the glass mosaic, “Genesis: The Gift of Life,” by Miguel Covarrubias. A portion based on the Indian concept of “earth” illustrates this post.

If you need more incentive to visit the DMA, shop the summer sale through September 4 at the museum gift shop or online at www.shopdma.org/ Just don’t tell my daughter -- she never met a gift shop she didn’t like.

For more about the DMA’s programs, visit www.DallasMuseumofArt.org/

(Email from DMA after publishing this post told me that from July 14 through 30, the museum will be open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday until 9 p.m.)

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I’d been away from Half-Price Books too long. When I stopped by recently, its free summer movies were already in session. This Saturday, July 16, the show continues at the 5803 E. Northwest Highway location in Dallas with Sherlock Holmes (PG-13). The remaining schedule is July 30 -- Star Trek (2009), (PG-13); August 13 -- The Incredibles (PG); August 27 -- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (PG). Showings at 8:45 p.m. on the west end of the parking lot. Bring your own chair. Shows cancelled in case of bad weather.

(Next Monday -- Revel in the shade and water of the Japanese Garden at Austin’s Zilker Park )