Experiencenter

The Museum's Interactive Gallery for Children and Adults

The Experiencenter provides formal and informal learning activities for children and their caregivers, in a relaxed museum setting, by encouraging visitors to engage in active participation at hands-on stations located throughout the space. Connecting activities provide opportunities for families to explore the museum and its collections together, enhancing the visitor’s learning and social experience.

Now on View

I See the Rhythm

The Experiencenter’s newest exhibition, I See the Rhythm, will explore the creative space where music and art overlap. The artistic urge to merge the language of visual art with musical notation, composition and sound is particularly pertinent to 20th century artists and especially important today as artists frequently and freely cross disciplines to create works that are visually and aurally captivating. Watch here for more details!

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The Art Place for Young Learners

Permanently on view

The Art Place for Young Learners is a permanent space in the Experiencenter that focuses on early learners, ages 3 - 6, supporting the growth and development of young minds through creative play and problem-solving activities. As new exhibitions are installed in the Experiencenter, the activities and design of this space reflect the new exhibition theme.

Shimmering Madness

A permanent installation by Sandy Skoglund

Created by artist/photographer Sandy Skoglund in 1998, Shimmering Madness is an installation of two jellybean-covered mannequins assembled in dance-like poses on a jellybean-covered floor. Small kinetic, hand-painted butterflies cover the surrounding walls. By incorporating multiples of everyday objects, such as food, into her installations (seen here in the form of thousands of jellybeans), Skoglund redefines the concept of what is precious and beautiful in art.

"I like to work with food because it is a familiar material," Skoglund explains. "The value of art, the educational value of art, the sort of life affirming value of art has to do with bringing our awareness of the everyday miracle that's around us, that everything is, in its own way, if you look at it, quite strange and quite marvelous. For me, food is an icon of familiarity, which is so natural to us on a daily basis that it's almost invisible." Skoglund has achieved international recognition as a photographer, and her installations have been commissioned and acquired by museums and universities around the world.

Sponsors

Patron Sponsors
The Frank M. Tait Foundation 
PNC

Supporting Sponsors
Henny Penny Corporation
Julian G. Lange Family Foundation
June Miller Fund
Harry S. Price Jr., Family Fund of the Dayton Foundation
SoBran Inc.
Betsy and Lee Whitney
William and Dorothy Yeck Family Foundation
Barbara & Bill Zook Memorial Fund

Additional Support
Dayton Diode
Hauer Music Company
Speedway