BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | When the Whitney Museum flung open its doors to its new home in May, the first school to visit was Chelsea’s PS33.
“PS33 — they were the first kids in the doors of the museum,” said Heather Maxson, director of school, youth and family programs, in a phone interview. “When we opened, the first groups that came in were our neighborhood schools. We worked really hard to engage the community.”
The Whitney has worked with PS33 for a long time, she said, and they have new partnerships with PS41, PS3, NYC Lab Middle School for Collaborative Studies and the Clinton School for Artists and Writers.
The museum is also working with three high schools — the Lower Manhattan Arts Academy, Harvest Collegiate High School and the Gotham Professional Arts Academy, which it has worked with for a number of years.
“We welcome many, many, many schools to come for guided visits,” she explained. “But we are working in-depth with all of those schools.”
With PS3, the details are still being ironed out, but, for example, the school’s whole third grade could participate in a three-part program. In the first part, a museum educator would go to the classroom for a visit, then the class would come to the Whitney, and then there would be a follow-up, explained Maxson.
The students and their teachers could engage with, for example, the upcoming Frank Stella exhibition, which opens Oct. 30, she said.
“In the beginning, we would do kind of an introduction to Stella’s work,” she said. “We would look at a few reproductions in the classroom.”
The different roles that an artist could play — experimenter, storyteller, observer and critic — would then be examined.
“With Stella, we probably would focus on artist as experimenter and really kind of look, with classes, at the different ways that he’s experimenting with materials and ideas and forms,” she said.
She noted the museum is free for New York City public schools and there is free admission for children under the age of 18. Maxson said the museum is looking to double the amount of tours it had at its former building on the Upper East Side, and is hoping to serve about 20,000 students this year.
“One thing that I think is really special is that we really welcome students as VIPs on Tuesdays, when the museum is closed,” she said. “So they’re the only people in the galleries. They get really kind of an amazing experience.”
Maxson said there are family programs on weekends — both drop-in and those that require sign up. Gallery-based programs, Whitney Wees (for four- and five-year-olds), and Sketching Tours (for six- to ten-year-olds), are $5 per child.
There is also the Family Fun Art Workshop, for ages six to ten, where both the parents and children spend an hour in the galleries and then an hour making art together, she said. It costs $10 per child. For family programs, adults must pay museum admission.
The Whitney also has a large community-based program for seniors, said Danielle Linzer, director of access and community programs, in a phone interview.
“We work with about forty different senior centers citywide that we have partnerships with and we provide free programming on site at their facilities,” said Linzer.
She said the programs are customized and the museum works with the staff at each organization to craft “an appropriate approach, and kind of match the resources of the museum with the goals of the organization.”
The museum has partnerships with SAGE, Hudson Guild at their Fulton Senior Center, the Elliot-Chelsea NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community), Penn South and the Greenwich House.
“We work a lot with seniors in the neighborhood,” she said. “It’s actually a really lovely relationship.”
Twice a year, all senior center partners are invited to bring groups to a senior open access day at the museum on a day it is closed to the public. It is a VIP experience where the museum is made really accessible, with additional seating in the galleries and assisted listening devices for tours, said Linzer.
In July, the museum had its first senior day in the new building. Linzer said in June, it launched a thematic tour exploring the museum’s collection through the lens of the LGBTQ experience — looking at artists who either identify as lesbian, gay, transgender or bisexual, or who are exploring gender identity and sexuality through their work.
That tour had been provided for SAGE seniors, and others had the option to choose it, she said.
“We worked with our community-based partners to identify that need and that interest based on our new neighborhood, and history, and who’s here — who has roots here, who has interests here,” said Linzer. “We tried to respond with really sensitive programming.”
At the Intrepid Museum, there is also an emphasis on school and community outreach.
Lynda Kennedy, vice president of education, said the museum has an educational mission and that is reflected in the myriad of programs that are offered, including public tours and talks.
“We do a lot of work with the New York City Department of Education so that includes all of our local schools,” Kennedy said in a phone interview.
For certain schools that qualify, there are free programs that cover history and science, she said.
New funding through ConEd has enabled the museum to host STEM Day for middle schoolers the first Wednesday of every month during the school year, she said. (STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.)
The Intrepid offers programs including aviation science, space science and water science focused on urban ecology. For example, on explains how to preserve a big metal ship in a brackish water environment, Kennedy explained.
The Intrepid also has programming for families and adults. Ellen Silbermann, director of public programs, said the museum’s busiest season is during the warmer months of the year. During the summer, free movies are shown on the flight deck. The series started Memorial Day weekend, kicking off with “Top Gun.” Silbermann said some movies, like “WALL-E,” are geared toward a family audience.
Astronomy nights take place on the flight deck during warm months when telescopes are set up for sky viewing. Inside the ship, guest speakers give talks.
“This year we were really excited, we had [Dr.] Steve Howell from NASA, who’s the project scientist of the Kepler telescope,” Silbermann said in a phone interview. “It happened to coincide with Kepler being in the news for its discovery of a new Earth-like planet. He was here to talk to families about what exoplanets are, what it means to be an Earth-like planet, how many they’ve found, and then went outside on the flight deck to look at the sky with the families.”
During winter months, the night moves indoors, and targets an adult audience, serving alcohol via a cash bar. Often, speakers give lectures about astrophysics or astronomy, she said.
On Sun., Sept. 27, there is a lunar eclipse, she noted. Pier 86 will be open from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m., with telescopes and astronomers on hand to maximize the viewing experience.
The Whitney Museum of American Art is located at 99 Gansevoort St. (btw. 10th Ave. & Washington St.). Call 212-570-3600 or visit whitney.org.
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum at on Pier 86 is at 46th St. & 12th Ave. Call 212-245-0072 or visit intrepidmuseum.org.
ABOUT ARCHITECTURE: The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
Sitting on the Hudson River, at W. 46th St., this museum consists of a unique collection of military, scientific and civilian vessels, along with air and space crafts, arranged both on the aircraft carrier itself as well as on the adjacent pier that functions as an open-air museum floor.
Completed in 2008, the masterplan and renovation design by Dattner Architects is subtle and understated, letting the primary elements of the collection, the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the submarine USS Growler and the British Airways Concord dominate the experience as one enters the museum grounds.
The greatest “architecture” on the site is the utilitarian and performance-driven design and engineering of the elements of the collection. A tour of the Growler reveals the nature of the submarine as an assembly of highly intricate mechanical and electrical elements woven through the raw steel structure and skin of the submarine. The aerodynamic shaping and tiny diameter of the Concord emphasize the intense requirements of travel at supersonic speeds.
The jewel of the museum is the space shuttle Enterprise, which sits in a nondescript enclosure at the far end (aft) of the aircraft carrier’s deck. The exhibition enclosure creates an intimate setting that allows one to come face to face with this great iconic symbol of late 20th century American culture.
While visitors are not given access to the interior of the shuttle, one’s proximity to the orbiter inspires an appreciation of its scale and great bulk, as well as its function as a cargo transport.
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum connects all of us to the mind’s enduring creativity and engineering prowess in addressing the challenges of war, science, and exploration.
—Jason A. Montgomery
NCARB LEED AP Architect and Professor
ABOUT ARCHITECTURE: The Whitney Museum of American Art
Located between the High Line and the Hudson River Park at Gansevoort Street, the new Whitney building sits in an area which has undergone dramatic transformations. Once the river’s shoreline and the route of an American Indian footpath to the river, the site was home to earlier constructions, including Fort Gansevoort in 1811, intended to defend against the British, and a meat distribution center in 1950. Today, the Whitney joins an already robust yet unfinished part of town, which continues to grow and evolve into one of the newest commercial and cultural epicenters of New York City.
As Marcel Breuer’s Whitney was in 1966, Renzo Piano’s may be difficult for some. Clad in pale blue-gray standing seam panels, the new eight-story building — with its linguistic mash-ups and collage-like assemblage — is challenging. Yet, the precise articulations and artfully chiseled cutaways draw you in.
There is also the ambiguity: depending on one’s vantage point, the building can appear weighted and solidly anchored, as if docked to the northern bulwark, or buoyant, as if about to detach and sail the open sea, ready to escape the next big flood. But viewed from the north along 11th Ave., the building settles in, harmonizing with the cityscape beyond — the slightly canted west wall aligning with One World Trade Center’s diagonal rise. Altogether, the strength of the architecture here may lie in the demanding yet cogent act of search and discovery itself.
The entrance plaza to the Whitney is a pleasure. As the building peels back and up it reveals a powerful perspective through the building and to the river. This wedge-shaped open space connects the Whitney with the High Line entry hub, frames views to and from the Hudson, and melds with the streetscape, creating a strong sense of place and belonging, identity and community. And akin to ancient cliff dwelling formations, the fifth floor boldly cantilevers out to offer shelter from rain, snow and hot summer sun.
Inside, the space steps aside, allowing for intimate engagements with great works of art, objects and ideas. Galleries are quiet, well-proportioned and appropriately lit. Outdoor terraced spaces to the east allow for a place and time to reflect and to reconnect with the city. To the west, a giant picture window provides vistas to the river and doubles as a kind of billboard to the outside passers-by, displaying museum goers, as they float past the glazing, as integral to the life of the building and its art.
—Ken Conzelmann
Architect, professor and West Chelsea resident
