The person at the front desk at the Austin Museum of Art is always so happy and helpful. I love being greeted into the museum. I have never heard of David Bates before so I was curious what we would see beyond the entrance. Hello big paintings with strong outlines in Black. Earthy colors and realistic subjects. I favored the swamp sceens with egrets and owls. My children and I sat for at least ten minutes and played I-spy on a painting with a wood pecker,snake and other animals. The paint is applied so thick on some of his paintings it looks like frosting on a cake. I quickly became aware that Bates has many talents, as I viewed sculpture in wood and cast bronze and relief  prints. I liked his work.

In the room at the back of the gallery was what my kids called a giant birthday cake. It looked like a cake to me and displayed neatly on each tier was the soft sculptures of Jade Walker. Wacky, unique objects that seemed intuitive. My complaint here is that I was unable and so were the children to view them. The sculptures are up so high on display. Not so sure about that.

After visiting the gallery I went into the small work room and helped the kids with some rubbings and drawings. I could not get the kids out of there they love that room. Of course a trip to the museum shop which we had a hard time leaving as well. We became immersed in books and looking in every draw of jewelry. On Family day the museum puts out tables with supplies and materials to create with in the big room in the front of the museum. I was impressed with the set up and what people were making. I saw people making all sorts of stuff from animals to abstract stuffed socks with pipe cleaners woven in and out of the sock fabric. It was a collective of strangers all working together and helping and complimenting each other. We could of stayed there longer if we could. In the end we had spent only 7$ total and enjoyed two hours of art! I give this event an A+

Family day at the AMOA (with serious faces)