Make a colorful light mobile using repurposed plastic, wire, and a wooden stick!
Make a colorful light mobile
The art of weaving: An interview with Katrina Sánchez Standfield
Fiber artist Katrina Sánchez Standfield’s giant textile sculptures take weaving to a whole new level.
Patricia Piccinini: Art in childhood series
This post is the third in the ‘Art in Childhood series’ that looks at the experience of famous artists in childhood! The first blog post looked at Australian painter Ben Quilty who shared his story of growing up on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia.The second post zoomed in on Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu who talked about growing up in East Arnhem in Australia. Patricia Piccinini is one of Australia’s most acclaimed contemporary artists. Her hyperreal sculptures explore themes such as people’s relationship with technology, nature, and culture. Patricia represented Australia at the 2003 Venice Biennale. She is also currently the Enterprise Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Melbourne. In this story, Patricia shares what art was like for her attending a public school in Canberra, Australia. Louisa Penfold: You were born in Sierra Leone and then immigrated to Canberra as a child. Were there any experiences that you had in your…
Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu: Art in childhood series
Image credit: Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Art Centre This post is the second in a series that explores the childhood experiences of artists. In each post, a different esteemed artist shares their account of the people and experiences that inspired them to pursue a career in the field. The first post featured the story of Ben Quilty who shared his story of growing up on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. This blog post features the work of Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu. Djerrkŋu is an Indigenous artist based in Yirrkala in East Arnhem Land, Australia. Born near the Mata Mata community on Inglis Island, she is part of the Gumatj clan. Djerrkŋu’s art practices draws on weaving, healing, printmaking, and painting techniques to share ancestral stories. She was a finalist at this year’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in Australia. “Weaving ancestral stories” -Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu’s story of art in childhood When I was young,…
John Wolseley: Art in childhood series
John Wolseley, aged four. Image: the artist This post, featuring artist John Wolseley, is the fourth story in the ‘Art in Childhood series’ that looks at the experience of famous artists in childhood! The first blog post looked at Australian painter Ben Quilty who shared his story of growing up on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia.The second post zoomed in on Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu who talked about growing up in East Arnhem in Australia.The third post featured Patricia Piccinini who shared a story of how her high school art teacher at a public school in Canberra shaped her lifelong love of fine art John Wolseley is a British-born, Australian-based artist whose paintings and tapestries have been inspired by nature and environmental systems. John has exhibited solo shows at the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Museum of Australia and holds an Honorary Doctorate in Science from Macquarie University. John Wolseley’s story…
The Leap then Look podcast
Artists Lucy Cran and Bill Leslie, otherwise known as the creative duo ‘Leap Then Look,’ have spent the last year putting together participatory art projects across some of London’s most renowned art and education institutions including the Royal Academy of Art, Tate and the Thomas Tallis School. Above: Artists Lucy Cran and Bill Leslie, the creative duo who form ‘Leap and Look.’ Image credit: Alun Callender Their work is underpinned by the philosophy that contemporary art practice should and can be made available to everyone and that people of all ages can greatly benefit from playful ways of making, thinking and looking. With funding from a-n The Artists Information Company, Lucy and Bill have recently put together the ‘Leap and Look’ podcast series featuring interviews with artists working at the intersection of art and education. It features interviews with contemporary artists Natalie Zervou-Kerruish, Pester & Rossi as well as Annis Joslin &…
Eamon O’Kane’s Fröbel-inspired installations
Frederich Fröbel’s founded the first kindergarten in 1700s Germany. Since this time, his work on education has influenced many people including a myriad of teachers, artists and architects. In this blog post, Eamon O’Kane – an Irish-born, Norway-based visual artist and Professor at Bergen University – talks about how different early childhood educators, including Fröbel, have inspired his art practice. Eamon O’Kane’s installation ‘Frobel’s Studio.’ Image credit: Eamon O’Kane “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw “In every real man, a child is hidden that wants to play.” Friedrich Nietzsche Can you talk a little bit about your background as an artist, an educator and now academic? I have been working as an artist for over 20 years. For the past 19 years, I have also worked full-time in universities in Ireland, England and more recently in Bergen, Norway.…
Peabody Essex Museum’s Play Time exhibition
This post features an interview with Trevor Smith, curator of the Present Tense at Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Trevor is also curator of the museum’s current PlayTime exhibition. In our conversation, Trevor discusses the dynamic role of play in contemporary art and culture – a core theme driving the show. Play and artistic practice have a long and enduring history from Surrealist games that aimed to unlock subconscious creativity to more recent participatory live art practices. Play can be understood as a significant catalyst for artistic, social, cultural and technological change. The Peabody Essex Museum takes this rich conceptualization as a starting point for their PlayTime exhibition. The show features nearly forty works from renowned contemporary artists such as Lara Favaretto, Martin Creed, Teppei Kaneuji and Nick Cave. The museum has also put together a FANTASTIC PlayTime digital publication that is free to access online at playtime.pem.org. The publication includes contributions from distinguished artists, poets, writers…
The Ipswich Art Gallery, Australia
This post features the children’s exhibition program at the Ipswich Art Gallery, Australia. From 2011-2015 I worked as a children’s curator at the Ipswich Art Gallery in Queensland, Australia. The Ipswich Art Gallery is a special place for children’s creative learning with a well established program for young children and their families. The city of Ipswich is home to a very diverse and predominantly low socio-economic community. The art gallery is currently one of the most visited in regional Australia. In my travels around the world, I have never come across anything quite like it. Over the past 15 years, the Ipswich Art Gallery has developed and presented over 40 in-house children’s exhibitions. The children’s program is informed by a set of guiding principles that include: Children’s exhibitions are curated for children not adults and Learning begins with creative play. The Children’s Gallery is open daily from 10am-5pm with almost all activities being…