OH Guide: San Francisco's de Young Museum

We're recent transplants to San Francisco (via Los Angeles) and we've been gobbling up the delicious mix of kid-friendly arts, culture and events that the city has to offer. We've experienced quite a bit in just under six weeks. From total hands-on exhibits to a museum that teaches conservation awareness through science to a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge... After all, we're still tourists in this new place we now call home.

Added to our list of recent San Francisco adventures, we visited the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. Drawn by the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition, this museum was high on our hit-list.

We saw the King Tut exhibition (or "King Touch" as my three year old called it the other day) many years ago in Los Angeles at the LACMA and I was interested to see how my kids would react now that they were older. My son was only 4 years old when we saw it the first time, and my daughter hadn't yet been born. Back then, my son was mainly interested in the shinier artifacts of Tut's tomb--and the gift shop where he purchased a shiny artifact of his very own. Now that he's 9, he took interest in Tut's story. He was most intrigued by Tutankhamun's reign beginning when the king was only 9 years old. My son couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if he were in Tut's shoes (sandals?) with all that power. He ultimately decided it would be too much for him--wisdom beyond his years--and he couldn't stop talking about Tut's marriage to his half-sister, something that equally grossed-out and confused my son.

As I expected, the boy-king didn't hold the same appeal for my 3 year old daughter. She was more into identifying and pressing the numbers on the audio tour headset than any of the golden treasures on display.

Afterwards, we ate a delicious lunch at the museum's cafe and then we headed next door to the Japanese Tea Garden for some fresh-air and warm tea. My kids enjoyed the larger-than-life pagodas and Buddha statue and climbing over the Drum Bridge while I appreciated the tranquility of the magnificent foliage surrounding us. After sipping cups of hot Jasmine tea, we cracked open our fortune cookies and talked about how lucky we were to spend such a pleasant summer day together.

We'd planned to go back into the museum to explore some of the other exhibits, however our trip was cut short by my husband arriving back into town on an earlier business flight. Luckily, the King Tut tickets also allow for entry into see the rest of the museum and Palace Legion of Honor for up to three days -- so we ended up returning two days later to the de Young Museum to see what we missed...

Back at the museum, we first toured a collection titled The Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art. My kids were blown away by the animal masks and wooden statues said to contain magical healing and protective powers. I was fascinated by the collection's representation of the cultural traditions and rituals of the people of New Guinea. Great stuff.

Afterwards we wondered through the rest of the collections at a quicker pace as it was nearing lunchtime. On our way through we encountered pieces of classic American and contemporary art. One piece titled The Spine and Tooth of Santo Guerro--made from parts of guns, bullets and a human spine--kept us staring for some time and evoked a pretty powerful conversation with my 9 year old over the symbolic message of the piece. And my comic book geek son was thrilled to come across Mel Ramos' Superman painting... A piece my son knew was at the museum thanks to a recent Man of Steel Google search. Seeing the painting up close and in person didn't disappoint.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch outside the area that sits between the de Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences. Dining among the plants, sculptures and fountains I felt as if we'd been dropped right into the middle of a French garden.

Afterwards we headed over to the Legion of Honor, where we spent the remaining portion of our art-filled day gawking over the bronze cast statue of Rodin's Thinker thinking in the courtyard. And there was a few moments of silence to reflect on the horrors of genocide at the Holocaust memorial, and stroll through a John Baldessari print retrospective exhibition. We found a great hands-on room where we moved around colorful magnets to cover large portraits creating our own Baldessari-esque pieces.

Tips for visiting the de Young museum:

• Buy tickets for the Tutankhamun collection early and online. Times for this exhibition sell out fast. Tickets are pricey at up to $32.50 for adults but you can get around 20% off the cost of tickets if you have a AAA or Costco membership. Children under 5 years old are free.
• Make multiple visits to the museum if going with children. You are admitted for free to the rest of the de Young museum and the Palace Legion of Honor for three consecutive days when you purchase King Tut tickets. If your kids are like mine, they'll be arted-out by the end of the Tut exhibit and it would be a shame to miss out on all the other delicious art there at both museums.
• Bring along some sketch pads and colored pencils or pastels for you and your kids. When they are moved by a piece encourage them to sit down and draw it out. Don't forget to label the painting with the title and artist. Whoa-la instant souvenir for the scrapbook. I saw several families doing this and wished I'd brought some for my kids.
• Taking photos sans flash is allowed (but photography is prohibited in the King Tut exhibit). My son was in charge of most of the photography during our visit. The photos he took turned out to be a neat perspective of the museum. Also, having him take pictures of the art really upped his interest level in what he was seeing and he left the museum with a lot of new information.
• Pack a picnic lunch. Although the food at the de Young Cafe is scrumptious and gourmet there's nothing like eating outside the museum on the grass by one of the many fountains or sculptures. And once your kids gobble up their organic pb&js in two seconds flat you can let them explore the surrounding area while you relax taking in the sites and actually enjoying your turkey/arugula/hummus sandwich on whole wheat. Or whatever.
• To save some money, plan on arriving early and try to find street parking if you can. The street parking is good for four hours and free--garage parking can cost you a pretty penny.
• Check out their free art opportunities for families, which include Saturday Art Classes, ambassadorships for teens, meet-ups with working artists and Friday-Nights out with the Family.