Suitcase Tours

Docent Kitty Donnan got us this wonderful photograph of Mrs. Worthington's first-grade class at Oconee County Primary School, where our docents have been visiting all the first-graders for the last two weeks, bringing our Suitcase Tours to teach kids about art.

Suitcase Tours are a traveling tour for elementary schools in the Athens area inspired by hthe museum's founder and first director, Alfred Heber Holbrook. Mr. Holbrook used to take his collection of 19th- and 20th-century paintings throughout Georgia in his “Artmobile” and share them with schools and communities around the state. Suitcase Tours are designed for students in grades K-3 and feature the works of five artists from the museum's permanent collection. Through a discussion of these paintings and related hands-on activities, students learn about the elements of art and gain a better understanding of how to look and talk about art. Follow-up activities and information about the museum are included. These presentations are 50 minutes long, free and limited to 30 students per presentation. For more information or to schedule a Suitcase Tour, please contact the education department at the Georgia Museum of Art at 706.542.GMOA (4662).

Backpack Tours (Again)

Remember our last post about GMOA's Backpack Tours? Well, they keep growing in popularity, and we're posting more photos to our Flickr page of cute kids interacting with art. The felt board seems to be especially popular. Why not stop by the museum with your kids or grandkids and check it out? It's 100% free, and snacks are available for purchase from Ike & Jane Café in the lobby.

Backpack Tours

GMOA added free Backpack Tours for children this fall, and the initiative is starting to take off. First, the Red & Black wrote an article about it. The AP picked up the press release. Georgia Magazine featured it. And now we have kids coming to take them, as documented in the photos above. Warning: they are extremely cute.

To learn more about the backpack tours, click here.

Oh Baby!

Do you find that your toddler is overly fascinated with the works of Pablo Picasso? I mean we’re all in the mood for the strong lines of Cubism every now and again, but is your baby clamoring at the sight of the “Three Musicians”? Have no fear. In a new study published by researchers at the University of Zurich, they found that babies around the age of 9 months prefer the works of Picasso to those of Claude Monet. Participants were shown works by both artists and judged based on the time they spent looking at a specific painting. Researchers credit Picasso’s bold colors and strong, contrasting lines as the reason for their appeal to infants. “Monet, on the other hand, used equiluminant colors to create blurry, shimmery effects. It is possible that infants prefer paintings with clear contrasts in luminance.” Perhaps, though, this is just proof that we begin developing a taste for the visual arts at an extremely young age. All the more reason to join us for Family Days at GMOA!

Art Space for Children

Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership

The Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., is transforming its Tee Riddler Miniatures Museum building into the new Art Space for Children. The expansion of the building and other changes will allow for an increase in programming.

Construction will cost between $1.5 and $2 million, with an added $1 million needed to run the space. A museum trustee, L. Ronald S. Gray, will make an 85-mile bicycle trip called “Cycling for Kids and Art” from Greenport to Roslyn Harbor. He is selling sponsorships to raise money for the renovation. He will make the trip this Saturday, October 2.

The rendering (above) “shows a modern white building with large windows and blocks of color surrounded by a plaza and amphitheatre for outdoor performances and classes.” The expansion of the building will allow for galleries, workshops, offices, a kitchen and a space for events.

Gray’s bicycle trip will end with a party on Saturday afternoon for “Beastly Feasts! A Mischievous Menagerie in Rhyme.” This exhibition is based on the writings of Robert L. Forbes and includes illustrations for his book by Ronald Searle.

While GMOA’s expansion does not include designated space for children, we will have new offerings for kids and families. Backpacks will be available for checkout at the front desk that have activities in them correlating to the permanent collection. In addition, we will have family conversation panels on the walls next to some of the works in the galleries and plan to have interactive stations that families can visit after seeing the galleries.

"Art for Athens Kids"

“Art for Athens Kids,” an exhibition on display at the Lyndon House Arts Center (LHAC), includes art by children from the Pinewoods Learning Center. The kids, ages 8 to 10, worked with Toni Carlucci (a frequent instructor for GMOA’s Art Adventures program), Juana Gnecco, Karina Lopez and Beatris Ramirez to create ceramic tiles for the exhibition.

The children took drawing and painting lessons, created images to reflect their stories and then transferred them to clay. According to LHAC, this project is meant to “foster an appreciation for Hispanic folk art” and is “an opportunity for children to be able to tell an aspect of their life stories through art, and develop a sense of place and belonging.”

“Art for Athens Kids” is on view in the Lyndon House lobby through August 28 and is free and open to the public. Hours of operation are Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 9 p.m. and Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This program is supported by the Grassroots Arts Program of the Georgia Council for the Arts.

KidsFest is this Saturday!

This Saturday, GMOA will be helping kids to personalize their very own cardboard cut-out guitars as a part of KidsFest celebrations. KidsFest, a portion of AthFest geared towards Athens' youngest music fans, will take place on June 26 and 27, from 12 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. GMOA's table will be set up on Hull Street all day Saturday, June 26, so drop by between noon and 5:30 p.m. to decorate your guitar with us!

For more information on KidsFest and other Athfest activities, please visit the AthFest website.

New children's book about contemporary art

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (MOCA) recently published a new children’s book on contemporary art called “Breaking the Rules: What is Contemporary Art?” by Susan Rubin. According to MOCA, the book is “the first to make the museum’s world-renowned permanent collection accessible to young audiences.”

The book introduces the work of artists from MOCA’s collection, including that of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Chris Burden and Maurizio Cattelan, among others. The book uses full-color print reproductions of the pieces along with quotes, texts and artists’ biographies to give children a better understanding of contemporary art and interpretation.

MOCA director of education Suzanne Isken describes why the book stands out from other children’s art books:

“Breaking the Rules” fills a gap in the kind of art presented to young audiences. While art books for children about Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein multiply, texts about the more contemporary artists are few and far between. “Breaking the Rules” expands the canon and includes leading contemporary female artists as well as a multicultural group of some of the most groundbreaking and exciting artists of our time.

MOCA has about 6,000 works in its collection created since 1940 in all visual media. The 64-page hardcover book introduces 25 contemporary artists and “explores some of the most intriguing works in the museum’s holdings, leading young audiences to examine the creative process of artists working today.” The book showcases works that “break the rules” of traditional art.

MOCA plans to donate 200 copies of the book to Los Angeles County Schools as part of the museum’s Contemporary Art Start program (CAS). “Breaking the Rules: What is Contemporary Art?” is available online or at MOCA Store locations for $14.95.

Creating Young Artists

This craft project from Instructables involves using spaghetti to paint your own Jackson Pollock. It makes us wonder about what other leftover food we could use to mimic famous artists.