On April 26, grades seven and eight went on a field trip to neighboring art museums. The Class of 2022 went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum while the class of 2023 went to the Museum of Fine Arts, or MFA. While most eighth graders enjoyed the Gardener, there were some complaints. “The garden was pretty, but we didn’t get to explore enough,” one eighth grader remarked. “It was disappointing. We didn’t get to see as much of it as we could,” another added. As an eighth grader pointed out, “The tour guide was too slow.”

In some cases, one group may have seen paintings the others did not. For example, a big part of the tour was the Fra Angelico exhibit. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see four reliquaires together as the painter wanted them to be, with many other pieces of his work as well. One group skipped all together, and the other barely got to see it. The group that hadn’t seen the Fra Angelico’s got to go to the Titian room, while the group that ran through the exhibit didn’t get to see the famous painting The Rape of Europa by the painter for which the room is named.

While the 8th grade was a few blocks away, the seventh grade took an exciting trip to the Museum of Fine Arts where they saw many beautiful pieces of art. Some of these included a beautiful and lifelike statue of Jochebed, a intricate marble relief of Our Lady, and even a painting of Medfield’s beautiful scenery (This one we stumbled upon by accident). The first thing everyone did was go into the beautiful Japanese Garden Tenshin-en which means The Garden of the Heart of Heaven, one of the favorite attractions among the students. It was in full bloom, so it was a sight to behold. More than 50% of the Class of ‘23 reported that their favorite part of the day was this garden. Some responses I received about the trip include, “It was so much FUN” and, “The art was really beautiful.” Everything about the trip was so much fun, and I was glad to have experienced it with my friends.

In the interview below, you can read about how Mrs. Bowman enjoyed guiding the seventh grade along the trip!

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What was your favorite part?

Hearing what you ladies see in each work of art. I start with saying, “What do you see?” What you guys say teaches me sometimes. You may notice a detail that I may have overlooked.

Have you done a trip like this before?

I’ve led many groups of students on tours to look at art, not only in museums but also pubic art while taking a walk. Last summer, there were a number of students from El Salvador for two weeks. We lead the girls on a scavenger hunt through Boston looking at art.

What was the piece that spoke to you most and why?

The statue of Jochebed by Franklin Simmons was beautiful. It depicts the mother of Moses. I love her expression on her face; you can sense the emotion in the moment. When I look at it, it looks like the moment before he was put in the basket. It looks like she could jump alive. The texture he achieves on this marvel statue is impressive.

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