SideTour is a company that works to produce intimate experiences for people looking to engage in activities, like cooking or looking at art, with knowledgeable instructors and educators; i.e. me!
Check out part of my SideTour profile:
Devour the Artistic Delicacies Displayed at the Met
Thousands of visitors go
the Met every year, but few stop to savor the abundant paintings, sculptures,
and decorative art that celebrate food.
The expression of food in every culture is as fascinating and diverse as
the people who make the art. Many
rituals, ceremonies, and daily occurrences revolve around food, so it’s
appropriate that food appears frequently in art.
Paul Shoemaker has an
appetite for consuming large amounts of art, which was his motivation to pursue
a Master’s degree in Museum Studies.
A former docent from The Frick Collection, currently a museum educator
at the New-York Historical Society, Paul loves to whip up good tours that help
people appreciate art history.
Spend an hour and half
perusing the Met’s collection with some remarkable works of art and decor that
have involve food. You’ll be able
to look at many sumptuous objects that include a period room perfect for
indulgent sweets, and a cannibalistic sculpture ready to eat itself. With over two million objects in the
Met’s collection it can be difficult to choose the ripest examples, but with
Paul leading the experience, results are sure to be satisfying.
Part of the fun of working inside a museum is getting to see what its like when it's not open to the public. I'm sure that anyone can imagine the secret world behind closed doors, but to be lucky enough to visit into it is quite another thing.
I remember when I first started working at the Met and went to the museum on a closed day (Monday), and feeling at first, like an intruder, but then a member to a club. When open to the public, thousands upon thousands of people walk through the Met on a daily basis, so when it's closed everything on view feels as if it's been displayed specifically for you.
You can enter a whole world of beautiful objects, paintings, and decorated rooms that seem to permeate the mind, and bloom to the intellect. The quiet stillness of the galleries elevates the objects and paintings to a heightened mental precision. I tend to notice details of things that I had never seen before.
Sadly, the days of being closed on Mondays to the public are numbered. Beginning in July the Met will be open seven days a week. Now don't get me wrong, it's great that everyone will be able to come to the museum every day of the week, but I know personally, some of the magic of the secret world of objects will diminish.
I was going to put some photos to this entry, but I've been having connection difficulties. Hopefully, I can add them later this week.
