For kids: Watch it – this art is on the move!

Kids (and grown-ups) love to nudge the 'cloud' balloons as they drift by at a moving art exhibit.

from the January 8, 2008 edition

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The day I visited, the clouds became agitated when one young visitor ignored these warnings for a few rambunctious moments. But the balloons responded almost playfully to those who interacted with them more peacefully. They changed from moment to moment, shifting with air currents generated by fans and visitors' movements. They seemed alive in other ways as well. "They'll come right up to you to check you out," said Father Dempsey, who was there the same day I was.

Several clouds swirled up to nudge and brush up against us as if to prove his point. Sometimes they seemed to be chasing one another or dancing together. They clustered and separated, and, now and then, seemed to be dozing.

When I stood among the clouds talking with Ms. Owen, the preservationist, several quietly gathered around us as if they were curiously listening in. If they had ears, they would have heard us saying how beautiful they were.

The clouds have been known to escape gallery spaces that have only light curtains for doors. In fact, a few of them probed about the beaded entryway to the New Harmony gallery. Then they seemed to change their minds, drifting back toward the center of the room where friendly hands buoyed them upward.

Silver Clouds is "a wonderful show to introduce children to art," said Father Dempsey. He recalls the delighted smile of one boy who entered the exhibit at MOCRA – the first museum the boy had ever been to. He visited with his father and grandfather. When Grandpa saw his grandson's happy face, he sent Dad running back to the car for a camera.

Older kids, who have probably visited museums before, are no less enchanted. Ms. Myers-Bromwell talked quite a bit about artist Andy Warhol with a group of five high school boys. These same teenagers came by three times in the exhibit's first week!

In fact, Silver Clouds appeals to the child in anyone. Take it from a grown-up who stretched out on a museum floor, smiling and bouncing clouds off her fingertips.

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