Paintings loom high above small heads. Signs bark, “Do Not Touch!” Narrow gallery corridors leave little room to roam. Despite the vivid colors and boundless creativity on display, museums can often feel off-limits to children—quiet, restrictive and at odds with the spirited energy kids bring. But the Rollins Museum of Art is changing all that with its latest exhibition, “Symbolic Languages: Children’s Understandings of the Collection.”

“You get to see something in a very new, different light,” says David Matteson, associate curator of education at the Rollins Museum of Art. “It’s not just from the perspective of an art historian or a museum educator, but from 50 different children who shared and contributed their thoughts, responses and interpretations of these artworks.” 

The Winter Park-based art museum has teamed up with the Rollins College Hume House Child Development & Student Research Center to create an exhibition for kids, by kids. The project started in April 2024 with a group of 50 child co-curators, from 2 to 5 years old. Informed by the Reggio Emilia approach—an educational philosophy focused on child-led, hands-on learning—the adult co-curators guided the youthful group through the Rollins collection. The kids selected their favorite works of art and shared the reasons for their choices. The resulting exhibition teems with life, showcasing a diverse array of abstract art, sculptures and portraits. 

I think the museum should be a platform for the learning experience for people of all ages and abilities.
—David Matteson

One of the pieces included is “Reflection VII–Red Line” by American artist Richard Anuszkiewicz. Upon looking at the combination of bright blue lines on a rich pink background, one child curator exclaimed it was a “music machine,” like a radio, and started dancing on the spot. Another piece included in the exhibition is “Lucas,” a large-scale photorealist portrait by famed painter Chuck Close. It was very popular among the children, with one tiny curator describing it as a “rainbow firework.” 

To elicit more responses from museum visitors, the RMA team brought the art closer to the kids by installing it at a lower level and posting child-friendly prompts in the artwork labels. Interactive areas throughout the exhibition invite guests of all ages to respond and create alongside the works—a station with felt ribbon to experiment with lines, a magnet board to interact with shapes and a sticky-note wall to play with color, all with the intent to engage more deeply with gallery-goers. There’s also a section called Fantastical Narratives, where the child curators wrote storybooks inspired by the exhibition and are available for guests to read. 

According to Matteson, hands-on experiences are an integral part of intellectual growth. “I don’t think learning stops when we turn a certain age, and I think the museum should be a platform for the learning experience for people of all ages and abilities,” he explains. Looking at something from a child’s perspective has the power to transform it into something new—which is exactly what is happening at the Rollins Museum of Art. “Art isn’t just aesthetic. It is participatory. It engages us, and I hope that in showcasing the responses of children, visitors really see value in their own unique interpretation and response to works of art,” Matteson says.  

To embrace your inner child and see the artworks for yourself, visit “Symbolic Languages: Children’s Understandings of the Collection,” on display now until May 11 at the Rollins Museum of Art.

Visit rollins.edu/rma for more information. 

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