it's raining, it's pouring!

But we weren't snoring! We were out for Family Day at the Jepson! Fortunately, it didn't rain on us on our way there, nor as we were leaving, just while we were there and engaged in the many activities. The rain falling on the glass ceiling was so very pretty that I was compelled to take this photograph.
Why were we there?
Well, it was the monthly Family Day, so it was free.
Amen for free, right? Especially when you have three kids in your family, as does my first niece, and you're only working part-time, as I seem to be lately.
This was to enrich our minds with its Near East theme. Each of the three floors featured special events for the day, featuring cultural bits from Egypt to India and all points in between. Books were read aloud! Puppets were made! Fun clothing was worn! And the band played on, too!
There was live music?
Yes!!! And Turku was so very good! I even danced several songs with my niece's foster daughter and the younger of her two foster sons!

Here's the write-up from the museum's website:
"Near East Family Day celebrates the arts of many countries and cultures represented in the Touma Collection through hands on activities for families, storytelling and a performance by TURKU, a band who call them­selves ‘Nomads of the Silk Road.’ TURKU’s music har­kens back to historical musical traditions from Tur­key, Persia, Kurdistan, Caucasus and the Balkans. TURKU’s high energy performances, featuring a blend of authentic historical songs and traditional improvisational techniques, have enrap­tured audiences from Turkey to Portugal to Uzbeki­stan. Their performance at the Jepson Center is sure to be a delight for the whole family. Sponsored by the City of Savannah"
As I said, the band was excellent!
We all toured three of the exhibits while we were there. The first one, up on the third floor and next to the hands-on activity site (known as the ArtZeum), was the most disturbing, even though it was my second time viewing it. Sure, you would expect that for an exhibit titled "Arsenal". Even though all of the pieces in the work are white and made of paper, it is still an alarming sight to see the wide range of weapons, hanging from the ceiling on nylon strings. However, the most alarming aspect, by far, is the origin for this work. The artist had happened upon a video on youTube.com, a video posted by a young boy making a paper duplicate of a weapon. A working model, which could even shoot paper ammunition. Then she found there was a community of young boys out there, all making these weapons. It really is quite a story.
Our second exhibit, toured after the concert, was "Allure of the Near East", on loan from the Huntingdon Gallery. Filled with art objects of many types, the trick was to get the children to actually look at the pieces. So we broke them into groups, my niece taking the two boys, me taking the girl. That worked quite well, I think, especially for me. I would have the girl read the descriptions, for the Magic Bowl and the books and the Prayer Rug. Soon I found she was initiating the discourse on pieces she found of interest. Yeah!
The final exhibit we explored was, again, one I had viewed before, on May 9th, before the lecture by the artist, Jerry Siegel. Titled "Facing South: Portraits of Southern Artists", the large space featured photographs of many artists. My favorites are those in which the artist is pictured with some of their works. Again, the trick was slowing the children down so they could actually absorb some of the art around them. Again, having them read the markers helped a lot. Also, since I had attended the artist's lecture, I had a bit of backstory which the markers didn't have and that made it more relevant to the kids, too.
So, be sure to put it on your calendars for next month's Family Day, scheduled for Saturday, September 14th. It's free, it's informative, and it's fun!