This event is free and open to the public. RSVP requested. 

This youth program is for age 10 and above to learn about chess and magical realism in Samuel Bak’s paintings. Participants will engage in a brief history of chess followed by a lesson on how to play chess. This program is designed for beginning players and seasoned chess players who enjoy helping others learn. You can learn more about War Games at the end of this page. 

Join us for a family friendly introductory chess program on the following Sunday’s from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM:

• April 13
• May 4
• June 15
• June 29

Samuel Bak explores chess as a metaphor and re-occurring motif in his art that are on display in the current exhibition, War Games. Besides being a recreational hobby, chess can also help develop planning and decision-making skills, teach fair play, empathy, and improve critical thinking, spatial reasoning, and memory.

Please RSVP in pairs - limited to 12 attendees. Youth participants must have an adult partner in attendance.

About the "War Games" Exhibition (Open January 22 - June 29)

War Games explores how Bak relates his childhood experiences - from his direct renderings of the Holocaust in his watercolors from 1945 to 1948 to a selection of his contemporary paintings and drawings. Through the presentation of toys and game pieces, Bak draws our attention to the realities of childhoods spent in zones of conflict and how children are pawns used by warring parties. The exhibition will dedicate one room to historic and contemporary instances of children human rights violations. The final room of the exhibition will showcase Mr. Bak’s 2024 series Tools of the Trade. These works represent his fears for children whose lives and futures are destroyed by war and the escalation of violence in the Middle East. As much as he mourns this age of destruction, he also depicts his unending belief in humanity’s ability to mend and his hope that somehow peace and reason will triumph.