Another fabulous day at the TBC Camp! Marianne Malone, author of The Sixty-Eight Rooms (about the miniature Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago), spent the entire day with us. After introducing herself in the morning, she took us to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the American Period Rooms, some of which reminded us of the Thorne Rooms, although these were life-sized.
We started the morning with a writing exercise to prepare for Marianne’s visit. Choosing from pictures of a few Thorne rooms that were featured in the book, we each created a character to inhabit the room.
Check out the key around her neck
When Marianne arrived, she shared her childhood and her writing process with us and we talked about where our inspirations come from. (She also shared a picture of herself and friends at twelve with a vinyl record, but, we decided, modern-looking clothes.) She had a love for miniatures as a child, was a middle school art teacher and an art history major at the University of Illinois, and lives in Chicago – all this and more contributed to her book. She stressed the importance of sleep to being a happy, smart person, showing us a picture of her bed (in actual size). The Sixty-Eight Rooms is Marianne’s first book, but she said there will most likely be two sequels – the next one is scheduled to come out in 2012. We will be waiting with baited breath!
We took the bus across town to the Met, where we walked through the Greek and Roman, Byzantine, and Medieval galleries to reach the newly-renovated American Wing. We walked around the top floor – the earliest American rooms. Marianne showed us the Wentworth Room, a 1700s living room from Portsmouth, NH, with green furniture. Narcissa Thorne, creator of the Thorne rooms at the AIC, made a room based on the Wentworth Room. After wandering around the rest of the floor, we broke into pairs and used our characters from the morning to create dialogues that take place in the museum (or at least start in one of the period rooms).
Heading out of the Met, we had lunch nearby in Central Park, where there was another intense game of capture the flag. Marianne was still with us, and came all the way back to Symphony Space to hear some readings of the dialogues we wrote at the museum. As in The Sixty-Eight Rooms, many of the campers’ stories started in the period rooms, but ended up someplace else entirely — such as in 1600’s America, or a long dark passageway. There was even a conversation between a samurai and a kamikaze pilot! After reflecting on our adventures, we said goodbye to Marianne and got a few goodies from Random House before calling it a day.
Tomorrow we’re heading to the Bronx Museum to see an exhibit about the Civil Rights Movement with Rita Williams-Garcia, author of One Crazy Summer.
Can’t believe the week is going so fast!
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Olivia had a great day – but was so tired we didn’t hear anything about it. So, once again – love this blog! My husband and I also very much enjoy the Period Rooms at the Met, but I don’t believe we’ve ever taken her to them, so we’re glad she’s had an introduction to them. What a great place to find writing inspiration! And we’ll be in Portsmouth, NH in a couple of weeks, so maybe we’ll visit Strawberry Banke again, where they have some historical homes, probably very similar to what all of you saw at the Met.
Great pictures too – thanks again!