Museum celebrates legacy of history’s greatest Renaissance man
Grace Eyre works on creating her own stop-motion movie at The Leonardo in Salt Lake City. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
Caleb and Grace Eyre "paint" on the computer screen through a drawing program at The Leonardo in Salt Lake City. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
Caleb and Grace Eyre work on creating a stop-motion movie at The Leonardo in Salt Lake City. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
Grace and Caleb Eyre design with geometric shapes at a demonstration table on the first floor of The Leonardo in Salt Lake City. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
Caleb and Grace Eyre work on creating a stop-motion movie at The Leonardo in Salt Lake City. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
One of history’s most fascinating people was certainly Leonardo da Vinci. His view of the world and his work in science and art has shaped much of what we know today. In downtown Salt Lake City, in what used to be the public library, is now The Leonardo, a museum that celebrates the merging of science, technology and creativity.
This museum is a mix of history and science, with some exhibits that are for eyes only, and others that are begging to be handled. One wing has extensive information on water: the history, the power of water, what it’s used for, how it’s used and how much is wasted. It’s definitely more for older kids and adults. My 6- and 4-year-olds blew through it pretty quickly.
But then we got to the art wing. Here is where this museum really came to life for them. Here there is information on how movies work. There are opportunities to draw self-portraits, create a short film using a strip of paper that has individual frames on it that inserts into a wheel. When you spin the wheel, the pictures on the frames blend to together and you get a “moving picture” — a running horse or a dancing couple for example.
A green screen is set up with a changing background. The kids had a blast “playing at the beach,” “running through the desert” and “swimming in a river.” Holding up a green blanket in front of their bodies was great too, they laughed and laughed watching their floating heads in the scene.
I was in awe of all the technology at our fingertips. Digital SLR cameras were set up at several different stations, some with paper characters, some set up in 3-D with physical objects, like action figures and doll furniture. The kids were able to set up scenes, take a picture, move the scene, take another picture, and so on, and then replay their series of pictures to watch their stop-motion animated movie.
Other stations included computers with a drawing program. Caleb and Grace both loved sitting down with a real paintbrush, and “painting” on the computer screen. But this isn’t just for kids. A couple of adults were oohing and ahhing over the program just as much, and I’ll admit I was tempted to sit down myself, but 1-year-old Lucy wasn’t cooperating with me that day.
Museum employees and volunteers are easy to spot in their bright pink shirts, and are very helpful with information, showing the kids how things worked, getting them set up at different exhibits. It was a really great experience for them.
On the first floor, there are tables set up where the museum sets up various projects to demonstrate different materials or concepts. For example, there was a table of geometric blocks and black paper, where they could trace the blocks with colored pencils — the object was to compare how the colors looked on the black background versus white paper.
A favorite was designing something on a piece of scrap cardboard for the “flower garden.” We all sat down and created our own flowers with paint pens, cut them out, and put them on a bamboo skewer, and added it to the “garden” of caterpillars, flowers, bugs and bees. It was a fun project at the end of our visit — and one we plan to do on our own at home.
The Leonardo is definitely on our list to return — this time without the baby, so we can really sit down and work on our movie. Lucy was a little grabby and didn’t like all the waiting around. This is a museum that is welcoming of young children, but definitely skews older. There were several exhibits that were more about science that looked fascinating and interactive, but much too old for my kids, so we didn’t spend much time on them. But older kids would really get a lot out of it.
There is street parking all around the museum, but there is also underground parking at Library Square, just next door, and The Leonardo offers a voucher for sale that is cheaper than the meter.
The Leonardo
Where: On the corner of 200 East and 500 South in downtown Salt Lake City. Underground parking is accessed on the south side of 400 South.
Hours: Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday
Admission: $9 adults; $8 seniors, youth (ages 13-17), students and military; $7 children (ages 3-12); memberships available
Etc.: The museum offers special events and classes as well.
Info: (801) 531-9800, www.theleonardo.org