Palaces for the People: Guastavino Tile at MCNY

The Guastavino family pioneered structurally strong vaulted tile spaces, making many of New York's amazing public spaces possible. Their work is all over the place, including Grand Central Terminal, Ellis Island, the old City Hall Train Station, and even up inside the Washington Square Arch. We were excited to see the exhibit celebrating their contributions to the architecture of the city at the Museum of the City of New York. Mikro even got to make a tile project of his own at the family workshop they were having.

Graffiti and Activism: 2 Exhibits at MCNY

From the City as Canvas exhibit on graffiti art and the Activist New York exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York:

Museum of the City of New York: Amsterdam/ New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson & Mannahatta/Manhattan

More Quadricentennial studies! We took in the Amsterdam/New Amsterdam and Mannahatta/Manhattan exhibits at the Museum of the City of New York, and met up with another homeschooling family there. Afterwards, we went over to the Conservatory Garden at Central Park and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon. There was a rainbow in the fountain, and a dramatic dragonfly rescue (it was drowning) and release, as well as fun with acorns, nuts and seed pods. After our friends left, Mikro and I went back into the museum and watched "Timescapes", a short film covering the 400 year history of New York City. We also explored the Trade exhibit.










Mikro loved the model of the Half Moon, the diorama of the settlement at New Amsterdam, the audio stations throughout the museum (and especially the Dutch and English sea shanties), and the computer touch screen in the Mannahatta exhibit, which allowed him to click on all sorts of plants and animals and find out how they were used by the local Native Americans.