ArtXplorers Press

"ArtXplorers, a recently launched live-action series meant to introduce kids to art in a fun and interactive way.

ArtXplorers uses video, TV, and the Internet to introduce kids to art. Last summer, Schlesinger and cocreator Mindy Mervis launched the series' website, www.ArtXplorers.com, which offers snippets of full-length shows. Mervis adds that the business has been in talks with several potential broadcasters.

ArtXplorers.com also includes interactive games and up-to-the-minute explorations of current museum exhibits in video and audio format. 'The premise is to acclimate kids to art in an entertaining way,' Mervis says. 'Kids in New York have all these museums in their backyard, but many don't get to take advantage of them.'

The website also offers visitors the opportunity to book a live museum tour or birthday party tour with Schlesinger at any of New York's major museums. Birthday party tours can be customized according to the age and interest of the child, Schlesinger says. The mission of the tours is to help spark kids' curiosity about art and get them started in producing artwork on their own, Schlesinger says. "We want to make art accessible in every way.'"

For more information, visit www.ArtXplorers.com.

WHERE THE ART IS: With ArtKids, Natasha Schlesinger Helps Children Engage With World-Renowned Art. How? By Taking Them To It
by Shaina Gopen of NY Family Magazine
August 2009

This summer the Guggenheim Museum's featured exhibition was "Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward." If you had a chance to stroll the museum's spiral ramp, contemplating the famous architect's geometric complexity, you might have run into Natasha Schlesinger and a gaggle of delighted children playing "I spy." Delighted children? Here? You wouldn't have been seeing things.

"[The exhibition] seems very esoteric and adult-like," says Schlesinger, "but I really did bring 4-year-olds there." Schlesinger is the founder and tour guide of ArtKids, a program that teaches kids ages 3 and up about art and art history through museum tours and hands-on projects. She uses games, costumes and props to help them explore art on their own terms. "A 3-year-old can have an amazing appreciation for art," she says. "It's all in how you present it."

Schlesinger understands this from her own childhood in Russia, where she accompanied her father on visits to the Tretyakov Gallery and the Pushkin Museum. Her father, Alexander Livshits, was a well-known Russian comedian and entertainer as well as an educator and art collector. He inspired a love of art in his daughter, who went on to major in art history at Barnard, lead tours of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, work as a specialist in European furniture at Christie's, and run an antiques consulting company in New York and Paris.

When Schlesinger had her first child, Sophia, she began taking her to museums, as her father had done with her. But she found herself dissatisfied with many of the education programs, especially since many of them were not designed to suit different age groups. So Schlesinger began doing her own legwork, coming up with creative ways to give Sophia an engaging experience.

It dawned on her that the art education she was giving her children was something she could offer to other kids, too. In 2001 she launched a program called Museum Adventures with her friend Jennifer Ratner, a pediatric oncologist. In 2004, Schlesinger became the program's sole operator. By now a mom of three (son Julian and daughter Annabelle followed Sophia), she expanded her offerings to include more classes, birthday parties, book clubs, and audio tours, and changed the name to ArtKids to better reflect the spirit of the program. "I bring the kids to the art, and the art to the kids," she says. Before long, the children's parents were asking Schlesinger to provide tours for them as well, so she created ArtMuse, a program offering tours for adults. Currently, she is collaborating with video producer Mindy Mervis on ArtXplorers, a TV/DVD series for kids with an accompanying website.

When planning the ArtKids curriculum, Schlesinger looks for exhibits that are "touchable" and "interactive," like the "Anthropodino" installation by artist Ernesto Neto at the Park Avenue Armory, where kids could jump on pillows and smell incense. But she doesn't side-step hands-off places. Instead, she brings along touchable objects similar to what her students are looking at and tells the stories behind pieces and artists they're exploring. Past trips have included the African exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the kids took part in drumming exercises, heard African stories and created masks; and the Mt. Vernon Hotel and Museum, where students learned about life in the 19th Century.

At the end of each class, students work on an art project inspired by the exhibit. Over time, Schlesinger says, the children learn to look, consider and appreciate what they see. "The more you expose them to, the more their eye gets adjusted," she says. What is more, encounters with art inspire children to try new things and consider new ideas. "Maybe they'll try and risk something in another area," Schlesinger says. "It opens their eyes and their minds."

Natasha recommends museums for the first issue of the Winter & Spring 2009 edition of the citibabes guide!

Take a look at ArtKids on the TODAY Show!

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Kids Learn About Art Through "Museum Adventures"

JUNE 20TH, 2003

It's an academic adventure in art, history and culture. But the education is not taking place inside a classroom. Instead, through a program called " Museum Adventures," children are learning at museums, art galleries and auction houses across Manhattan."We take them on an adventure to discover art, and it's art of all sorts and all periods," said Natasha Schlesinger of Museum Adventures.

Pediatrician Jennifer Ratner and art historian Natasha Schlesinger founded Museum Adventures as a way to introduce kids to art and art concepts. The seasonal programs consist of interactive visits to art exhibits and galleries. The weekly, hour-long classes can include storytelling, show and tell, and treasure hunts.

"From a very young age, we want them to learn that museums are an amazing place, a very fun place where they can explore and see something new and exciting everyday and then want to come back," Ratner said.

The latest adventure took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with a focus on portraits.

"We create these different classes that are based on either particular exhibitions or are theme-based," said Schlesinger. "But everything is very much hands on and the children can participate in the act of looking. They just don't listen and look, they talk about it. They use their hands and their eyes and their imaginations."

Since the children are not allowed to touch the works of art, Museum Adventures brings props like brushes or clay to enhance the educational experience.

The last 15 minutes of the class are dedicated to an art project. It's a chance for students to become artists and to create a work of art inspired by the exhibit.

"You can make something different, but you have to make something similar to it," said a young artist.

--Shazia Khan