GOMA a Go Go

This past Friday I decided to go into town and I took Blondie Boy to one of my favourite places in Glasgow, The Gallery of Modern Art or GOMA as it's more colloquially known. I'm a big fan of modern art in general and like all the public museums in Glasgow it is FREE! The building was originally the home of a wealthy tobacco merchant but has had many incarnations before becoming the museum which is the most visited modern art gallery in Scotland! It's also locally infamous for equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington which 9 times out of ten will have a traffic cone on its head.

The ground floor is where Gallery 1, which is a large space with a full wall of windows and massive ceilings, resides and it's normally the main exhibition. I have to say I was a bit disappointed because right now it's "Hertie Querty: Playful and Mischievous Works from the Collection" so sort of a best of if you will. The title is from old Scots. 'Hertie' means persons fond of fun, and merry. 'Querty ' means in good spirits, full of fun and mischief. A lot of the works on display were works that normally reside in other Galleries in the museum so I'd seen most of them before.

Blondie Boy seemed to like Roderick Buchanan's "Gobstopper" which is a film of children being driven through Glasgow's Clyde Tunnel, which is a road tunnel underneath the Clyde River. The children was mostly all trying to hold their breath the length of the drive which is about a minute. Blondie Boy loves watching other children so this didn't surprise me. The film was previously in Gallery 2 so I'd seen it before.

Blondie Boy wasn't sure what he thought of Jim Lambie's "Seven is Seven or Sunshine Bathed in Golden Glow" but Lambie was nominated for the Turner Prize and I'm a fan in general of anything with mirrored mosaic so it gets a mention. I also wasn't sure if I was allowed to take photos or not so this is one of the few pieces I thought I could get away with snapping a picture!

We went up to Gallery Two next but the film showing was in a really dark room and Blondie Boy didn't seem too keen so we went around the corner to the far back of the Gallery and I found what has to be one of the best kept secrets for children in Glasgow.

There was a wee nook full of children's creations and a shelf full of books, crayons, pencils, paper, projects, foam blocks and those beads on wire things if you know what I mean. Blondie Boy loved sitting in the just his size purple chair and colouring a picture for his Daddy.

I don't know about other children, but Blondie Boy loves exploring and speed-crawling (he's crazy fast) around new spaces he's never been before. So he really enjoyed just being able to crawl around and play with the blocks as well.

The strangest thing had to be when he pulled a book off the shelf, as he likes to do and I thought it looked strangely familiar. Umm, yes it looked familiar for a reason: it was part of a series of art books I modelled for when I was much younger.

I've seen the books in the States and I knew there were international versions since my Mom has Russian and Japanese versions but I'd never seen them in Scotland before. So here I am in all my glory telling children to put out a tablecloth and put on an old shirt before you work and for goodness sake's don't eat paint it's yucky!

I'm just like Gisele Bündchen, right? We had a really fun time together and I'm looking forward to taking him back again and exploring some of the other galleries. The museum has programs/classes for children during the school holidays and also every Saturday but they say they are geared for ages 3-11 so I'm not sure if it would be appropriate for Blondie Boy just yet.

GOMA is very child friendly and has two baby-change stations on the top and basement floors. There are high-chairs in the cafe in the basement and quiet breastfeeding spaces are available upon request. GOMA is a short walk (under 2 minutes) from Queen Street Station or a five minute walk from Glasgow Central Station.