Mia is Family

 

Lilyana has been going to Mia all of her life. She especially loves the art of Claude Monet. So, when she learned that the museum was reopening after lockdown, she was motivated to do what was necessary to return: practice washing her hands until she had filled a week on her sticker chart.

Lilyana is 3 years old. Her parents, Vanessa and Andrew, are both from Michigan and grew up visiting the Detroit Institute of Arts. For Vanessa, it was a family touchstone, where her father had taken art classes and wandered the archives. It was even where her family visited Santa Claus every year.

After they moved to Minnesota, Andrew proposed to Vanessa on the front steps of Mia, and they moved into the Fair Oaks apartments across the street. Andrew was earning his PhD in political science, and he would walk over nearly every day to work on his dissertation. When the writing became unbearable, he sought consolation in the galleries, inspired by artists who had faced their own challenges and persevered.

The museum, Vanessa says, is an “nourishing” place to ground and orient herself “in the presence of so much history, beauty, and differing human perspectives.” The family became paid members as soon as they could, yet with free admission they don’t feel bad if their visits are rushed. “Paying a membership fee makes us grateful to support people who can’t,” Vanessa says, “and it makes it easier for us to bring young kids who may only last an hour or less.”

When Lilyana returned, she was celebrating her third birthday. “There’s nowhere else in her little world like Mia,” says Vanessa. She ran to the museum, announcing, “We’re coming Monet, we’re coming!”