Museum intrigues kids in school program

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, April 3, 2002 | 8:27 a.m.

David Martinez of North Las Vegas knew what he liked -- the painting of a green man with a violin, dancing.

"I want to come back here and bring my family so I can show them this," said David, 10, as he stood in front of Marc Chagall's "The Green Violinist," at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at the Venetian. "They've never been to a museum with pictures before."

Gladys Otero, 11, lingered in front of the Paul Cezanne portraits and Pablo Picasso abstracts, discussing each painting's merits like a professional gallery hopper.

"Cezanne's faces are so beautiful," said Gladys, David's classmate at C.P. Squires Elementary School. "Picasso is wonderful because he used every shape there is in every different way."

David and Gladys were two of the first children to take advantage of a museum education program offered by the Clark County School District, the Venetian, the Guggenheim Las Vegas and Guggenheim Hermitage museums and the Clark County Public Education Foundation.

Organizers say they hope by seeing fine art up close, children will cultivate an appreciation and understanding beyond what a textbook can teach.

"We've wanted to do something like this since the first day we planned the museums," said Bill Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Inc., the parent company of the Venetian. "It is our hope that this program does a great deal to enhance the educational curriculum of our local schools."

Weidner, who grew up in Michigan, said he still remembers visiting the Detroit Institute of Art while in elementary school and the impact the works had on him. The children of the Las Vegas Valley deserve the same kind of experience, Weidner said.

The pilot program will start with 34 schools in at-risk areas. The first students to visit Tuesday were taken on a docent-led tour of both the "Art of the Motorcycle" exhibit and the Impressionist and Early Modern paintings collection. Giggling and smiling, the children were attentive and curious, asking questions about the Picassos as well as the Harley-Davidsons.

"Let's face it, 40 percent of the children in our district are poor," Superintendent Carlos Garcia said. "The Guggenheim is opening up its doors and giving our students an opportunity they might not otherwise have."

Teachers will receive educational materials in advance of the museum visits to familiarize their students with art history, architecture and the history of design and technology in the 20th century, Judi Steele, president of the Clark County Public Education Foundation, said.

But some students didn't need the classroom learning to recognize great art.

Students' hands shot up instantly when a docent asked if anything in one Chagall painting, of the Eiffel Tower, looked familiar.

"It's right down the street," one girl pointed out. "Only bigger."