family free day at sfmoma

"i have always liked hot music. there's something wrong with any american who doesn't. but i never realized that it was influencing my work until one day i put on a favorite record and listened to it while i was looking at a painting i had just finished. then i got a funny feeling. if i looked, or if i listened, there was not shifting of attention. it seemed to amount to the same thing -- like twins, a kinship. after that, for a long time, i played records while i painted."
-- stuart davis, american modernist painter influenced by jazz music

sunday was dreary and grim in the city and had rained the day before. we needed to get the bits (and ourselves) out of the house. i was surfing around and found a listing for free family day at the san francisco museum of modern art.

we packed them up and off we went.

the theme was "jazz it up." we went up to a children's studio that i never knew existed on the third floor. we signed up for a tour of the permanent collection tailored for children, then followed the sound of jazz into a brightly lit studio.

two young dudes were playing jazz standards on an upright bass and an electric piano. long tables were set up in a semi-circle around the musicians and colored paper and pastels sat on top waiting for kids to pull up chairs and start creating. docents, including our friend and former tenant annelise, roamed around providing more paper and inspiration.

the idea was to close your eyes, listen to the music and draw what/how the music makes you feel.

parker took on the task with relish, producing several masterpieces. roman made a few scribbles, climbed on furniture, and stuffed himself full of raisins.

later, we went into the screening area for a reading of "the jazzy alphabet," written by sherry shahan and illustrated by mary thelen. a groovy family fave around the dion home...

D's on the drums,
down and dirty
"Dig it! Dig it!"
E eases into evening,
tweedlin' on a sweet reed...