Attention art lovers!
If you're the kind of family that loves I Spy books, check out this imaginative new CD-ROM from the Art Institute of Chicago and Voyager. With Open Eyes lets you and your kids explore great works of art - up close - without the lurking presence of cautious guards, ready to pounce when your kids threaten to touch!
With Open Eyes is filled with beautiful pictures of more than 200 works representing diverse art forms from different cultures and time periods. They're all mixed up in an eclectic flow of images that jump from a Peruvian portrait vessel to a Renaissance madonna to a Duchamps sculpture to a Chinese brush painting to an Egyptian mummy case to Monet's water lilies. Large, colorful icons let kids explore the art in different ways. They can click on a magnifying glass to zoom in on details or click on a ruler to view a work as it is displayed in the museum.
Best of all, the program genuinely involves kids - much like a clever docent with a sense of humor and respect for a child's point of view. Each image is accompanied by a voice-over peppered with leading questions: "Is this sculpture supposed to be a horse or a train or both?" "Is this a painting of a painter or a photo of a photographer? " Clicking on the game button lets kids explore in other ways: reconstructing a puzzle or figuring out what's missing from the picture, for example.
Like a visit to a museum, With Open Eyes works best as a shared experience. Left on their own, most kids quickly run through all the hot spots and lose interest. But accompanied by an enthusiastic adult, kids of all ages will respond to the rich images, ponder the intriguing questions and raise many of their own. "Was that before the dinosaurs?" queried my 5-year-old as we viewed a statue created 4,000 years ago. "Are angels always babies?" asked her 4-year-old sister. Be prepared for serious conversation. In viewing great art, kids can't help but encounter war, religion, birth and death- the universal themes of human existence.
Read more about With Open Eyes including ideas for art projects and activities.
