Iris Apfel and our love of costume jewelry

Iris Apfel is well known for being a bit of a fashion icon, so much so that there's a documentary on Netflix out on her right now, which I suggest all you grown ups go watch. She's fascinating! Although she's in her 90s, she's just as active, inspiring and fashionable as ever. She's even had exhibits at the MET, and the Peabody Essex Museum.

Inspired by her love of costume jewelry we made a few bangle bracelets that I'm sure she would love!

IRIS APFEL INSPIRED BANGLES

gather
: cardboard coffee clutches or sturdy cardboard tubes
: hot glue or regular glue
: white/black paint & brush
: googly eyes or sparkles
: scissors
: wax paper




make
:If your using a tube that is too small to slip around your child's wrist, begin by cutting it.
: Next if you don't want any brown cardboard peeking through between your sparkles/googly eyes, apply a coat of white/black paint and allow to dry before gluing.
: Lay out your sparkles/googly eyes on the wax paper (eyes with white side up).
: Apply glue to the tube and slowly roll it over the eyes/sparkles.
: Completely cover the tube, let the glue dry and show off your fancy creation!

ask
: What does fashion have to do with art?
: How can fashion be self expression?
: What can fashion tell us about someone?  (For example it can tell us about what decade they're from if you're looking at a picture or what they're interests are etc.)

PS
If you want to use real wooden bangles you can get them here for cheap - bangles

How to: Eric Carle Collages

If you can't catch Eric Carle on display at the Montclair Museum, have no fear! You can still make some great Eric Carle inspired collages, using the artist's very own techniques. 

In the spirit of Halloween - we made Eric Carle ghosts! 

Check it out...

What do children's illustrators have to do with art?

Often when we think of the word "artist" we think Monet, Picasso, Rembrandt, but what about illustrators? Illustrators are, in their own right, professional artists and can inspire us just like many of the masters. For our children they play a part in their imaginative world, helping bring to life characters and experiences, much like looking at art in a museum can do for adult. The difference between an "artists" and an "illustrator" is you typically wouldn't find a children's book illustrator in a museum, until now.

And speaking of illustrators in museum -there are two exhibits going on right now that I want to share with you....

Displaying kid's art

(via Pinterest) 

How do you display your child's art? We have so many pieces it's hard to display them all, so at home we opted for multiple frames that we change out every so often. At work I have a large cork board where I hang art and change weekly. I also hang some pieces from a clothing line pinned up with clothes pins.

With so many different and creative ways to display your child's art there seems to be a method for everyone. Here are a few of my favorites, perhaps if we ever move we could steal a few of these ideas!

Born on this day in 1860

Happy Birthday to Anna Mary Robertson aka
"Grandma Moses!"

Born on September 7, 1860 in Greenwich, New York. Grandma Moses was known for her nostalgic paintings of rural American life and landscape. 

Learn more about Grandma Moses here. 

Celebrate her life with folk art coloring sheets:

Matisse: King of Color

We just read this great children's book called, Matisse the King of Color by Laurence Anholt. While you may already be familiar with Matisse, his famous cut outs, his beautiful, playful paintings, his outrageous use of color, what you may not know is that he also had a very big heart....


 In 1948 he commissioned and designed a chapel for his friend and former nurse, Sister Jacques-Marie, whose convent was too poor to have a chapel. At first the sisters were appalled by the work he was doing, the chapel was in no way traditional, but as time went on his vision and generosity seems to have won them over. Today you can visit this Chapelle du Rosaire du Vence in France.


For more on the chapel - check out this video by the BBC to get a glimpse into this beautiful work of art and when you're finished, scroll down for a lesson plan!

Now to the fun part, after watching this video and/or reading the book with your child you can get to work on some cool art projects. Today I have two suggested activities for you: Matisse stained glass and Matisse wall drawings.

Kids + Music + Photography = Amazing

This Picture: Music + Photography from Carnegie Museum of Art on Vimeo.

These students paired original musical compositions with photography from the Carnegie Museum of Art and I am blown away by how amazing they are! Check out the video, it's truly inspirational!

If you want, you should try creating your own composition paired with a work of art. Listen to the Ms. Dorris as she talks about how her students composed their pieces and consider these aspects as you and your child compose a piece of your own.

Water & Ink Paintings

This morning as we skimmed through Facebook we found this great video of an ink on water process that makes the most magical paintings. I showed the video to my son and he was amazed. He wanted to know "how do they do that?!" So we made our own version. It's a little more kid friendly (if you've ever worked with ink you'll understand) and we used materials that you probably already have around the house.

Here are the directions...

Tell me a story - story telling through art

The Widow, Botero 1997

The Getty Museum has some great resources for teachers. Here is one of their ideas- have your kids make up a story about the famous image above. You can use any image of your choice, I chose this Botero because  my kids love his style of characters.

Here are some questions to get your child started

:Where is this story taking place?
:Who is the story about?
:What is the name of the cat?

Here are some story prompts

:Ernesto always wanted to play with the kitty, but today Mama said no. They were going to the...
:Sara quietly sat on the floor next to her Mama, she was thinking about...
:Max spotted something shiny on top of the table, he moved a little closer to look at it, and then...
:Molly was a plump and fuzzy cat who loved her family very much. On Saturdays Molly would always...

image: http://rebrooksblog.com/tag/botero/

still life with preschoolers

 In a still life painting everyday, ordinary things become the prominent feature. A still life can feature any inanimate object. Sometimes you'll see natural objects like fruit and feathers or artificial objects like vases and jars.

While painting flowers and fruit can be a bit difficult for young children, you can help your child make their own still life with simple food made stamps...