Yesterday we had the great pleasure of visiting the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (PAFA) on our field trip for our second week of summer camp. PAFA was founded in 1805 by painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale, sculptor William Rush, as well as other artists and business leaders. It is the first art museum and school in the United States of America. The current museum building, erected in 1876 and considered to be a National Historic Landmark, houses a magnificent collection of American art ranging from 18th to 19th century master paintings to contemporary work and PAFA Alumni. PAFA'S vision is that it "will be an inclusive, creative community of artists and audiences seeking education, contemplation, inspiration, and dialogue."
Portside's Minnows and Sharks groups were led by a couple of fabulous tour guides who educated the children about the different artists, works of art, time periods and themes throughout the museum. They discussed themes of American history, gender, race and social issues within the art. The kids marveled at paintings and sculptures by artists including Thomas Eakins, Mickalene Thomas, and Alice Gadzinski. The Sharks were all very excited to see a familiar painting by Kehinde Wiley amongst the collection that they had learned about in class. This past Monday, the Sharks looked at the work of Kehinde Wiley and learned about the history of classical portraiture, so it was a treat seeing many of the paintings in PAFA's collection. Meanwhile, the Minnows did a fun art exercise creating abstract images using felt. We go on fun and educational trips such as this one every week during summer camp, and we still have some spots available for upcoming weeks of camp! 
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