Summer at the MOA's musical riddle

Summer at the Museum of Art provides families with hands-on activities, kid-focused exhibits and even musical riddles. The MOA provides all of these activities for free to students and visitors.

This year has featured 5 different activities, with July's being Mimi Chen Tings Musical Riddle. Visitors can solve the puzzle by moving through Tings collection and finding treasure; a treasure that allows them to create their own music.

The riddle utilizes the MOAs existing collection of art from Mimi Chen Ting, aptly named Make Movement Visible. Tings art explores motion, flowing geometry and her experience as an Asian American immigrant.

The collection includes passports, art and even baby photos of Ting, giving visitors a more personal look into Tings life and work.

The MOA also published a curated playlist of Tings work, including many of the songs that Ting listened to while making her art. Listen to it here.

Among Tings various artworks are clues that must be pieced together, earning attendees a musical prize.

Each month, the MOA has focused on a different activity, wrapping up Mystery at the MOA during June, then diving into Ting's work during July.

Jadira Harris, a student employee at the MOA, explained the focus for the month of July.

This one's kind of miscellaneous, so you just really get to do what you want to do. It's focused on a specific exhibition, Mimi Chen Ting, Harris said.

The collection itself will be held at the MOA until Oct. 10 with the musical riddle activity being available until July 31.

A true multimedia exhibit, it explores movement from Ting's perspective, exhibiting paintings, drawings and even videos of Ting's performance art.

Though it's as popular as ever, Summer at the MOA wasn't always a season-long event.

Originally the Family Arts Festival, the MOA has hosted its family-centered art festival for over a decade. Past years have featured origami, art from the American West and Play-Doh.

Summer at the MOA used to be a one-day affair, but that ended up being more crowded and less conducive than a summer-long event.

This years theme has been broader than years before, with the month of July being focused on Tings artwork, even including handmade bags designed and made by student employees.

Student employees make Summer at the MOA possible, helping plan, execute and follow up on every stage of the project under the direction of full-time staff.

Riley Lewis, the MOAs marketing and public relations manager, gets to work with the 100-odd student employees at the museum. Since the museum only has about 18 full-time staff members, the rest of the museums operations are carried out with the help of students.

Lewis explained that Summer at the MOA wouldnt be able to function the same without them.

I really dont think we could do our jobs without them, theyre so vital, Lewis said.

Lewis also commented on the reasoning behind the event.

We love seeing children having fun with art, both the art they see in the galleries and the art they create themselves. Theres no better time for them to do that than at Summer at the MOA, Lewis said.

The fun isnt just for kids to enjoy. According to Emily Munger one of the student employees who helped make Summer at the MOA happen months of work go into making the event a reality.

Though its primarily geared towards kids, Summer at the MOA ends up entertaining the older crowd, too.

We have all ages come in, including senior citizens and it is always so much fun to have them here, Munger said.

While a highlight of the season, Summer at the MOA isnt the only thing the museum offers. The building also holds a large permanent collection numbering more than 18,000 pieces, including art from Minerva Teichert, Maynard Dixon and Carl Heinrich Bloch. Bits and pieces of the permanent collection are consistently rotated in and out, keeping the exhibitions fresh.

Want to go to solve the riddle before the time's up? Visit the MOA's website here.