Art & Culture
We often think of arts and culture happening at a macro, societal level. How do we characterize the art of nation X or the culture of nation Y? But of course, art and culture develop locally. In fact, we have our own arts and culture right here on Serra’s campus. From our terrific collection of student-created ceramics in the B Wing Lobby to our brilliant theatrical Tri-school Productions in the auditorium or students’ creative writing online, Padres have a lot to enjoy and … ahem…, perhaps even to boast about. As we move into the colder, rainy months, though, we may be looking for something to do and see off campus and indoors. Bowling is fun, and indoor rock climbing or a movie keeps us occupied, but the Bay Area offers other amazing things right in our own backyard that we tend to forget about. How about a little treasure hunting?
San Francisco Gems
We don’t have to hunt very far to find some treasure in the Bay Area. Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs is waiting for you at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Ramses II was the greatest pharaoh of Egypt’s heyday, and this exhibition puts the riches and treasures of his age on display. Tap into your inner Indiana Jones and explore a virtual reality experience which takes you on a journey through Nefertari’s tomb and other monuments of ancient Egypt. Grab tickets for this fantastic experience through February 12th before it moves on to another lucky city.
Once we have visited ancient Egypt we might want to head over to the Faith Ringgold exhibit, also visiting the De Young, which is focused on the art of this legendary black artist and civil rights activist. The art she has created over the past fifty years tells the stories of the fight for social justice and fairness in America. Film director LeRon Lee created Faith Ringgold: American People (see below) specifically to accompany the exhibit. For those Padres preparing to pick their topic for the Foundations of Art project, this artist is on your list! If we wish to see the Ringgold exhibit, though, we better act fast! The collection will move to another museum when this showing ends on November 27th, but for now it is included with the general admission for the De Young Museum.
Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Let’s not forget the incredible collection at SF’s Legion of Honor museum! Many artists on the Foundations of Art project list are represented in the Legion of Honor’s permanent collection. From Degas to Manet and the sculptures of Rodin, Padres can easily make a visit to see–in person!–the actual artwork created by an artist they have chosen to focus their projects on. Collectively, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which include the De Young and the Legion of Honor, offer a collections search page. Padres who wish to view the work of a particular artist in person, but are not sure which pieces are available to view, can quickly locate the artist’s works at these nearby museums.
Around the World with Google Arts & Culture
Perhaps we feel more like being an armchair traveler. No admission ticket needed! It’s free! With today’s technology, visiting museums and historic sites around the world is just a click away. Many museums offer virtual tours, and with Google Arts & Culture (GA&C) exploring those museums and their art collections around the world couldn’t be easier. Using our computers or the app for our phones we can explore places we may never have a chance to visit in our lifetimes. GA&C’s dropdown menu allows a user to quickly filter for art movements, artists, art mediums, historical events and more. By choosing an artist, such as Monet, we are provided with a short Wikipedia biography of the artist along with select images of the artist’s body of work. By clicking on any work of art we can see which museum it is in and, in some cases, the story behind the work of art itself. This can be a helpful starting point for art projects. GA&C’s Nearby tab shows us a list of all the museums and exhibitions in our area, from the smaller and lesser known places such the Computer History Museum in Mountain View to places we may have visited more than once, such as the beloved California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate park.
We love art, and we love other museum experiences, like history and natural science museums, too. Google Arts & Culture is an excellent gateway to all of them. Who wants to go to London? We all do! The British Museum in London, home of the famous Rosetta Stone of ancient Egypt, is open for us 24 hours a day using GA&C. Using the Explore feature on the museum’s page we can take a little walk through one of the most famous museums in the world. With 3,000 museums to explore, we may never leave our comfy armchair. London is not too far from Paris, so we might as well head over to the Palace of Versailles for a virtual tour of this historic French court. And from there? The world is our oyster.
If nature is more our thing we can jump into the great outdoors without an umbrella, compass or water bottle! Five national parks from Alaska to Florida offer GA&C virtual tours that take us from Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska to the island national park of Dry Tortugas, the southernmost point of the United States. If we are not tired yet there is so much more to explore. Google Arts & Culture has an enormous number of virtual journeys to take and even games to play. It’s an easy and entertaining way to feed our brain, learn something new and make our places-I-want-to-visit-in-person lists.
Google Lens + Art = Wow!
Using the app on our phones we can also explore while we visit museums in real life using Google Lens.
Load the Google Lens app on your phone, and then take it with you on a museum visit. It works as a visual search tool. Use Lens to capture an image of a work that you’re viewing, and the Google search engine will produce info about the work and related items. (Hint: Lens works for plants, animals and architecture as well.)
World Class Museums
As wonderful as Google Arts & Culture is, it’s worth visiting the actual websites of museums, as they will often have information and features beyond what GA&C provides. These websites by museums from around the world are worth a visit:
- The Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Jerusalem, Israel
- Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
- The National Museum of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Back to the Bay Area
Coming full circle, when we tire of virtual visits around the world, there are so many things to do in person right here in the Bay Area. If fine art is not our thing we can hop in the car and get ourselves to the Presidio to discover a hidden gem many might not know about.
The Walt Disney Family Museum is a treat for Disney lovers everywhere, and we are fortunate to have it right here. The current special exhibit, Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book: Making a Masterpiece, “explore[s] the creative complexities behind the making of The Jungle Book (1967), including the unique personalities of each character and their voice actor counterparts, the rich artwork and use of cutting-edge animation techniques, the memorable soundtrack of original songs by the Sherman brothers and Terry Gilkyson, the impact of Walt’s passing during production, and the film’s enduring popularity and influence decades after its initial release.” The exhibit runs through January 8th. The museum’s permanent exhibits include Walt Disney’s early work and drawings, his visionary plans for building Disneyland, as well as films, 3D models and a virtual experience we can enjoy from home of the museum and its highlights if we don’t have time to get into San Francisco. The Disney Museum also offers a few holiday online animation classes (for a small fee) for Padres who are into animation and learning the process of creating it. Art comes in many forms, and animation is one of them!
The Oakland Museum of California is also very much worth a visit, whether online or in person. It offers an engaging mix of art, cultural history and natural sciences that, in total, tell the story of diverse California. Recommended!
For information about upcoming happenings in San Francisco, including a list of free admission days for a variety of museums we might want to see, we can head over to Secret San Francisco to plan fun things to do over Christmas break! Looking for a special Christmas gift for your parents? Saturday admission is free at the De Young Museum for all Bay Area residents. But…you do need reserved tickets to get in! Why not reserve free tickets for you and your parents, print them out and wrap them with a bow. It’s a great gift, it’s free, and your parents will love looking forward to the special day you will share together. The De Young is not the only free admission in town, so browse around.
We are extremely fortunate to live in a place where art and culture flourishes. Let’s get out and see it!
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Library Services at Junípero Serra High School 
A friend of the library reminded us …:
Another great one is the outdoor exhibit of Rodin sculptures on Stanford’s campus. It’s awesome, open all the time, and free!
https://arts.stanford.edu/stanfords-distinguished-outdoor-art-collection-is-on-view-365-days-a-year/