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http://www.maryhillmuseum.org

NEWS RELEASE Media contact:

Colleen Schafroth, Executive Director

(509) 773-3733, colleen@maryhillmuseum.org

 


More Than 900 Regional Third and Fourth Graders To Explore Native Arts and Culture at Maryhill Museum of Art's Museum Week

 

(GOLDENDALE, Wash., September 30, 2009) - Between October 13-15 and October 20-22, Maryhill Museum of Art will be bustling with more than 900 regional third- and fourth-graders, who will be on-site for Museum Week field trips featuring in-depth exploration of the arts and hands-on fun.

According to Reach Advisors, a strategy and research firm serving museums, school field trips are incredibly important not only to learning in the short-term, but also for the long-term sustainability of museums. 

"With many districts facing budget shortfalls, schools are cutting field trips, not because they aren't interested, but because they can't afford transportation. Thankfully we have sponsors who provide funds to bus children to Maryhill," says Carrie Clark, Maryhill's Curator of Education. "These funds are critical to the success of Museum Week, and to providing meaningful arts experiences to local students. For many of the kids, this is their first time at a museum." 

The theme of the 2009 Museum Week is A Sense of Place: Living the Good Life Along the Columbia River. Students will use art as a lens to explore the traditional life ways of Native Americans who made their ancestral home along the mid-Columbia River.

Maryhill's partner in presenting Museum Week is the Wanapum Heritage Center, which will have its mobile Wanapum Native American Discovery Unit (WNADU) on-site.  The WNADU is a custom motor home that illuminates the Wanapum, the foods they eat, their way of life and how they maintain their culture. Inside the WNADU, children will view a diorama of the old Priest Rapids Wanapum Village and more. The Wanapum Hertiage Center also will present an assembly program about the cultural life of the Wanapum, including music and dancing.

Participaing educators include Vonda Chandler, who will lead students in creating a Native parfleche container, Mary Nygaard, exploring salmon and its significance to Columbia River Indians, and storyteller Linda Anderson, who will tell stories and legends of region, illustrated by art from the museum's traveling school exhibit Making Beauty.

Maryhill offers its Museum Week program at a nominal cost of $3 per student. Funding for the program is made possible by the following sponsors: Wal-Mart Hood River, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation, Art Dodd and Diane Plumridge, and Gorge Kids Explorer Fund by Soundrider.com.

Schools from The Dalles, Hood River, Mosier, Grass Valley, Pendleton and Echo in Oregon, and Goldendale, Centerville, Cook, White Salmon and Trout Lake, in Washington are scheduled to participate in Museum Week during 2009.

For more information, or to inquire about reservations for next year, call (509) 773-3733 or email education@maryhillmuseum.org.  

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ABOUT MARYHILL MUSEUM OF ART:

Housed in a glorious Beaux Arts mansion on 5,300 acres high above the Columbia River, Maryhill Museum of Art is one of the Pacific Northwest's most enchanting cultural destinations.  Founded by Northwest entrepreneur and visionary Sam Hill, Maryhill opened to the public in 1940; today the museum boasts a world-class permanent collection, rotating exhibitions of the highest caliber, and dynamic educational programs that provide opportunities for further exploration by visitors of all ages.

 

The museum's collection includes more than 80 works by Auguste Rodin, European and American paintings, objects d'art from the palaces of the Queen of Romania, Orthodox icons, unique chess sets, and the renowned Théâtre de la Mode, featuring small-scale mannequins attired in designer fashions of post-World War II France. Baskets of the indigenous people of North America were a collecting interest of Sam Hill; today the museum's Native American collection represents nearly every tradition and style in North America, with works of art from prehistoric through contemporary.  

 

Maryhill's Outdoor Sculpture Garden features work from the permanent collection by Tom Herrera, Mel Katz, Heath Krieger, Alisa Looney, Jill Torberson, Julian Voss-Andreae, Jeff Weitzel and Leon White.  Each year the museum also hosts an Outdoor Sculpture Invitational showcasing artists of the Northwest. The Maryhill Overlook is a site-specific sculpture by noted Portland architect Brad Cloepfil; nearby are Lewis and Clark interpretive panels. Four miles east of Maryhill is a life-sized replica of Stonehenge, Stonehenge Memorial, which Sam Hill built to memorialize local men who perished in World War I. Nearby, the Klickitat County War Memorial honors those who have died in service of their country since World War I.

 

The museum was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 2001 the museum was listed as an official site of the National Historic Lewis and Clark Trail and in 2002 was accredited by the American Association of Museums.


VISITOR INFORMATION:

Maryhill Museum of Art is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., March 15 to November 15. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $2 for children age 6-16. Admission to the Stonehenge Memorial is free; it is open from 7:00 a.m. to dusk daily.

 

Sandwiches, salads, espresso drinks, cold beverages, and freshly baked desserts and pastries are available at Café Maryhill; the Museum Store features art and history books, jewelry, Native American crafts and other mementos. 


Maryhill is located off Highway 97, 12 miles south of Goldendale, Washington. Drive times to the museum are 2 hours from Portland/Vancouver, 3.5 hours from Bend, 4 hours from Seattle, and 1.5 hours from Yakima. 
For further information, visit www.maryhillmuseum.org.

Maryhill Museum of Art | 35 Maryhill Museum Drive | Goldendale, WA 98620 | 509-773-3733
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