DIA Adventure

Last week Thomas had a week long break from classes (Frederick did not) for no apparent reason. The only "work" he had to do was to go to the Detroit Institute of Art one day and stand in front of an African mask of his choosing and be photographed. It turns out that this was an assignment given to him by his literature teacher (they are reading "Things Fall Apart" now) and I suspect this was an attempt to get the kids to the African art section of the DIA. So each day I said, "Should we go to the DIA today?" and he groaned, as he lay in bed, "I don't really need to go--it's only an extra credit assignment." So on Thursday, which was the last chance we could go because he has so many music obligations on Friday, I dragged him out of bed and forced him into my car. He was pretty crabby the whole way there. When I couldn't figure out how to park the car (the old underground parking lot was closed off and they were routing us to a far off surface lot behind a strange business) he shouted, "I KNEW we shouldn't have COME! Let's just GO HOME!" We did finally get rid of the car and find our way into the building, which is a good thing as it was frickin' cold out and, as usual, he refused to wear a coat and was shaking from the bitter wind by the time we got into the building. But the sight of the beautiful interior thawed his scroogey little heart immediately--Thomas never could resist a huge marble staircase and ornately carved ceiling. And once we found our way to the masks he was suitably intrigued. I thought he would just stand in front of the first masks he saw, pose, and tear out of the building, but he had to peruse each and every one. (I was, quite frankly, getting a little bored.) Finally, he picked this one:

and these two: (I don't know why it was SO DARK in this part of the museum--maybe the natural fibers/paints used on these masks will deteriorate? A lot of them are decorated with hair. You can see I used a flash, but still, it's was like we were a mile underground.)

After the masks, I was certain he would be done with the place, but he had the map of the building and took me on a wild tour. He insisted we see all the Greco-Roman art (2nd floor), the van Goghs (3rd floor), and the Rivera courtyard, which is a HUGE vaulted courtyard with MASSIVE murals by Diego Rivera, a painter Thomas studied in his art class last year. Right across the street from the DIA is the Detroit History museum, the recently reopened science museum and the African-American museum. I pointed all these out to him and he didn't squeal, so I hope he will allow himself to be dragged back sometime soon, since he is capable of enjoying himself once disengaged from his laptop.