Art Venture-ous!

Well, we FINALLY made it to the remodeled Art Venture space at the Taubman Museum of Art!  It's a great space for kids to explore and create--in short, the best of free and spontaneous playdates in Roanoke.  That's right--museum admission is now free for everyone all the time.  In Art Venture, there are numerous visual art supplies to use, including traditional paints, pencils, and papers.  There are also plenty of manipulatives ranging from elementary-school staple pattern blocks to the awesome (and too-expensive-for-us-at-home) Cubicus.  For social play, there's a theatre space with props and seating, too.  For the least expensive experience, take it all in on a Spectacular Saturday when city-owned downtown parking is mainly free as well.  We like to walk from the garage at Roanoke Higher Educaton Center to take in a view of the train tracks and the bus station, but the Tower Garage is also close, as is street parking near Firestone.  If you have a preschooler, we also recommend Young at Art, a free art class for wee ones that typically involves storytime, a quick gallery trip, and an art project all around a theme. 

Even with young kids, don't fail to go upstairs in the gallery spaces where you can at least walk through and talk about what you see.  If it is not a busy day, the security staff can challenge kids to "seek and find" objects in the art.  The collection is varied, and the galleries change with relative frequency.  On a typical trip, you'll find both contemporary and traditional pieces on display for discussion.  Recently, Elijah particularly enjoyed a painting made by dancers' feet, abstract pieces full of circles and lines, and a picture of a yard sale. 

If you go, you can eat lunch at several nifty nearby restaurants--Nawab for Indian food among them.  You'll be very close to the Roanoke City Market area for shopping with a local flavor, and you can walk to the Center in the Square cultural organizations complex, the Hotel Roanoke, the O. Winston Link Museum, and the Roanoke Regional Visitors' Center.  By following the Railwalk, you can also reach the Virginia Museum of Transportation.  It will be easy to make a day of it all!

Relevant Twitter Handles:
@Roanoke_Region
@centertweets