Currier Museum of Art — Attraction in Manchester

Never thought I'd be writing a semi-negative review for an art museum of all places but here we are...

I visited on a weekday with my two older, well-behaved children in tow. We are NARMs members so we get in for free. (I would recommend buying a membership thru a reciprocal museum as it gets you into hundreds of museums, historic sites, etc for free. We bought ours from a museum closer to us on either Black Friday or Cyber Monday for 20% off, which was perfectly reasonable given how many museums we can get into for free for a calendar year.)

We homeschool, & since I draw a salary of $0 & our town takes & keeps all of our tax dollars to educate other people's children in the public school system, I am always looking for creative, wallet-friendly ways to enhance our children's educational experience. Hence the membership & a mid-week trip to an art museum where we get in for free.

I reminded our kids that art museums are places where we use indoor voices, walking feet, & we don't touch the art. (They know this, but I wanted to remind them.) The guy at the front desk was friendly. The guy at the door was friendly. And it sort of went down & up & down & up & down from there... Was stared at by a younger-ish female "guard" in one area, even though everything was behind glass & there was no way we could touch it even if we tried, which we didn't. Trying to make us uncomfortable so we would "move on"...? Get bent. Myself & my well-behaved children have just as much right to be there as anyone.

(Honestly I wasn't even gonna bother writing a review, but after reading about other's experiences here with their well-behaved children, it seems there's definitely a culture of constant negative bias towards even well-behaved children, here, so yeah, I'll take the time. They should probably work on that...)

The cafe is absurdly slow even when no one is there & it's ridiculously expensive for the teensy portions of food you get. I might get a drink here sometime but I'd never get food here again.

We visited a sad, depleted little "children's" area, where the iPad was too slow to function & there weren't enough supplies to do the craft they had set out. (Maybe instead of pestering patrons & trying to make them feel uncomfortable, more on that in a sec., at least one of them could replenish this area... Just a thought...!)

We talked to two nice employees there, an older man & an older woman. They were nice enough. A little frustrating though to be followed & interrupted when I'm trying to talk with my children about the art. Whatever, they meant well though & were nice, so I was friendly.

There were two white men, however, who were just insufferable. 1.) Apparently, patrons are not allowed to lean on blank walls, even if they're far from the art & no where near knocking anything over or making a mess. 2.) I guess bring a laser pointer (???) to point out something specific on a piece, bc if you get "too close" to the art, even if you're a capable adult who is clearly not going to touch the art, you will be talked down to as if you're a toddler. 3.) There's one "guard" in particular who just had the worst "RBF" I've ever seen; he followed us around, staring daggers as if we were there with a can of spray paint or something. Seriously. And not like we were there doing what literally everyone else was doing, which was trying to appreciate the art. (What a novel concept... In an art museum. Wild...!)

They seriously need some training on how to not be lousy human beings to families. We will most definitely be back because ALL children deserve exposure to art, it's not just for the elderly...

I had the unfortunate experience of visiting your museum today, and am proud to say that I will never return. However, this encounter did provide a significant lesson for my children, and forth at, I am thankful. I entered with my two children for our reserved timeslot and was told to head into the museum. As my 10 year old approached the Picasso, I was told that my purse was too large and I couldn't have it in the museum. It is 11 inches by 14 inches. When we came back in from placing the bag in our car, we witnessed a woman with a large diaper bag, and a woman with a larger purse than mine being admitted to the museum. Nothing was mentioned to them. When we sat down to eat at the cafe for lunch, the waitstaff never came over to take our order. They served others that had been there before us, and after us, but never came to our table. After 22 minutes, we left. We then went to the last wing of our journey, and saw the same woman who told me that my bag was too large, walk by two other women with handbags that were twice the size of mine.

I realize that a 10 and a 9 year old might not be your ideal museum audience, but this was ridiculous. It didn't feel like this perspective was unique to a few, it felt like this attitude was pervasive to your whole museum culture. The lesson that my children learned today was that being part of a group that isn't the norm can be awkward and hurtful, and we were able to relate to may marginalized groups. Also, that rules apply to some people, and not others. Truly, the highlight of our visit was when we were on our way out, and they pointed out all of these instances to me. A learning experience for us...

The Currier Museum of Art is a nice small art museum that offers a lot. The museum has works by renowned artists such as Monet, Hopper, Cole, Homer, and Wyeth. There are also traveling exhibits and a nice collection of contemporary art. What sets the museum apart are its tours of its two Frank Lloyd Wright designed houses. The two houses are the Zimmerman House and The Kalil House are the only two Frank Lloyd Wright houses built in New England. The museum puts together a nice tour of the houses led by volunteer docents. The tours present the history of the houses and the architectural ideas and genius of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Zimmerman House is probably the better of the two houses. However, at the Kalil House you can actually use the furniture and touch different objects in the house. This is unique for most houses designed by Wright, as at most other houses you cannot do this. Both houses were designed by Wright in his later career. Photography is allowed at both houses as well. If going to the museum you should sign up online for the tour of the two houses. The tour takes two hours with a bus ride provided by the museum. The tours are popular so you will need to sign up early. The house tour price includes admission to the museum. The museum offers both great works of art and...