orlando science center: rockwell's america

the norman rockwell exhibit at the orlando science center was very very impressive. we probably would have skipped it, thinking it was simply a presentation of his artwork and that the kids would not have enjoyed (or endured) that. but one of the moms there told us that her kids really loved exploring this exhibit, so we thought we'd peek at it. wow! i am so glad we did. we stayed over an hour while the kids climbed on the 3-D representations of rockwell's paintings. here are a few that were our favorites, or the ones that the kids actually stopped long enough for me to take a picture. :)

we first walked in to rockwell's "studio", and there were all sorts of real-life drawers full of art supplies to explore. the statue of rockwell's triple self portrait sat in the middle of the art studio.



this statue was in the "attic", a room full of dress up clothes and vintage toys... including a big train set! caroline was very concerned about the screw in this girl's foot!



caroline was not as cooperative as rockwell's subjects for this painting! :) she was really interested in the dog on the other side of the bench. but good try, daddy!!



the kids were really interested in the fake cake on the counter of this exhibit... i think those stools were just for looks because they were very unstable, and caroline slipped right off! but of course i made her get back on to get a good picture. ethan was tired of pictures by this point, so this is as good as it gets. he looks so sad that the other boy got the girl! ha!



there was a whole section on the war, based on rockwell's willie gillis paintings. the kids had fun playing in a camouflaged jeep, and i know there was more. this was near the end, and i was ready for lunch. so i hurried on!



in addition to the representations of his paintings, the creators of this exhibit did an excellent job depicting life in rockwell's day. you simply strolled down "main street" and felt like you were walking through history.

the kids thrilled on driving mom and dad in this model-T car!



the phones in the various "stores" worked, and ethan loved calling daddy and caroline. this phone system represented rockwell's painting called the gossips. of course, we didn't gossip. :) we just squealed with glee to daddy who was 10 feet away in another "store"! :)



the school room was really cute, and caroline loved sitting in her own desk! i caught a glimpse of my school-girl-self in her at this very moment, turned around talking to the person behind her. me?! talk in class?! never!



older kids would really enjoy drawing their own self-portrait rockwell-style at this little artist's area. caroline was content organizing crayons... but i thought this was a great idea. all the kids' self-portraits were displayed on the walls on "saturday evening post" cover paper.



as we exited the exhibit, we walked through a huge display of every one of rockwell's saturday evening post covers. it was pretty impressive!


well, obviously ethan was not impressed. :)


this traveling exhibit is only in orlando till mid-october, so maybe it will come to a town near you! i'd highly recommend checking it out if it comes your way...