Campus & Community

‘A Big Dig’ opens season of Sackler Saturdays

2 min read

Free children’s programs being Oct. 18

Sackler Saturdays programs include games, stories, art projects, and – sometimes – dress-up. (File photo Kris Snibbe/Harvard News Office)

This fall the Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM) will return with a third year of the successful Sackler Saturdays program. Families with children ages 6 to 11 are invited to explore artworks from ancient cultures and distant lands such as China, Japan, Korea, India, Greece, and Rome. The program, which is free and open to the public, takes place in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. The first event – “A Big Dig: Finding Out About Buried Treasures in the Sackler Museum” – will be held Oct. 18.

Activities include games, hands-on art projects, sketching, storytelling, and self-guided activities families can do together. The program runs from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on a drop-in basis, though families are encouraged to arrive a little before 10 a.m. Future Sackler Saturday programs are scheduled for Feb. 14 and March 20, with themes to be announced.

On Oct. 18, children will get the chance to try their hand at digging up artifacts and reconstructing them. Gallery activities will teach children the connection between archaeology and the art objects they see in the museum. The event will feature appearances by a working archaeologist and an archaeological illustrator, both of whom have worked on Harvard’s Sardis project. The Archaeological Exploration of Sardis is an interdisciplinary program of excavation and research focused on the site of ancient Sardis, currently in western Turkey. Families will be encouraged to visit the Fogg Art Museum to see “The City of Sardis: Approaches in Graphic Recording,” an exhibit that shows how documentation of the archaeological site has changed over the past 250 years. There will also be storytelling by librarians from the Cambridge Public Library and opportunities to sketch in the galleries.

“We’re pleased to bring Sackler Saturdays back for a third season. This successful program fosters an appreciation for art, supports creative fun, and promotes active looking and learning in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere,” said Lynne Stanton, coordinator of public education at HUAM.

Admission is free and registration is not necessary; children must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, contact the Public Education Office at (617) 495-4402.