Family Matters: Connecting Kids With Art

Family Matters: Connecting Kids With Art

 

Visiting an art museum can be magical at any age. Sharing the experience with our kids offers the opportunity to see the world in new ways, engage our senses, share our opinions, and possibly inspire us to make our own art. I have fond childhood memories of visiting the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo with my family. I was mesmerized by Amedeo Modigliani's portraits, I laughed at Andy Warhol's Tomato Soup Cans and was intrigued by George Segal plaster life size model of himself With Cinema. I thought walking inside the Lucas Samaras's Mirrored Room was the coolest place to be. I remember Sunday jazz on the lawn and art workshops for kids. I made art every chance I had.

Painting Air at RISD Museum

Now, here's a perfect opportunity to do your kids the same favor that was done for me. Take your kids to see Painting Air: Spencer Finch, the new exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist Spencer Finch at the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design. In this two-part show, the Museum debuts a large-scale installation by Finch, shown with more than 60 pieces, from ancient objects to late-20th-century art selected by the artist from the Museums collection. The show opened Friday, February 24 and runs through July 29, 2012.

How to engage kids

Kids may enjoy exploring his joyful colorful mixed-media work along with discovering what and pondering why Finch pulled what he did out of museum storage. The exhibition invites conversation. What are the different materials used to make the art? (E.g. Paint, glass, ice machine, pool of water.) What is the science and mechanics behind the art? (What happens when the ice melts?) How does light and space affect the art? (Are the hanging glass squares clear or colored?) Note: Because the large installations are fragile, you will need to hold your child’s hand while walking around the Finch exhibit. Bonus: This will give you more opportunity to discuss the art with your kids.

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Questions to ask your children: Which object(s) do you like? How does the art make you feel? What does the art make you think about? Does the art remind of you anything?

I adored Finch’s large Painting Air installation — suspended transparent, highly reflective glass panels in the middle of an expansive, mural comprised of 35 colors. The clear glass squares slowly moving and capturing the blocks of colors painted on the nearby walls. This piece reminds me of my childhood, building with a friend’s translucent-colored slotted plexi building blocks in their sunlit family room. My connection to the piece was both a pleasant childhood memory and a present day conscious feeling of calm elation and visual trickery watching the colors move in space. Our connections to art is varied and individual. All the more reason to share many forms of art with our children, ask questions and share opinions about what we see and provide opportunities to experiment with different materials to create our own art.

After the museum

Here are some easy things to do at home that will keep the kidos thinking like curators and artists.

Select 5-10 objects at home to put on display in your own museum. Why did you pick them and what story do they tell?

Look at art by other artists in the show including Andy Warhol and Claude Monet.

Make art at home. Optional art supplies: watercolor paints + paper / colored construction paper + string / colored tissue paper + scissors.

Anisa Raoof is the publisher and founder of Kidoinfo, the parents' guide for Rhode Island and beyond.

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