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Elan Portal

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Great Art Exhibits to check out with family!

Spring time is an excellent time to go out and enjoy time together in parks and zoos but their are some great indoor exhibits for families to check out as well.

Before going to any museum it is good to have a plan and agenda. Scavenger hunts, research projects and art inspired projects after visits can make visits more meaningful and entertaining.

THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM has a couple exhibits that can excite young minds.
Palatable: Food and  Contemporary Art is a great exhibit for spotting food in art. You can discuss the reasons the food is a part of the composition, what kind of food was used or represented, and later create your own composition using food as a theme. This can mean using collage, painting or creating actual culinary sculptures that can be eaten after created.

Romare Bearden, Family, 1969

Miguel Luciano, Pure Plantainum, 2006
Inside is a rotting plantain that was plated in platinum
EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO has the Illusive Eye exhibit is an international survey on Kinetic and Op art. The exhibition offers a broad intellectual context for Op art and geometric abstraction, one that goes against the grain of formalist art history. The selection provides a special focus on artwork from the Americas and features major artists from eighteen countries in Latin America and beyond. 
This is a great exhibit to explore line, shape, movement, illusion and sculpture. Fun projects can be to make your own opt art or mobile. 


More images of this exhibit can be found at http://iamstyleoverfashion.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-illusive-eye.html 

 and at the NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY  Printing Women: Three Centuries of Female Printmakes, 1570 - 1900. Beside being a magnificent main branch located in the middle of all the action of the city (42nd street) their early collection of pr a great surprise.
 As stated on their website: Physically demanding and technically challenging, printmaking has often been considered man’s labor. As the Library’s unusual collection by forward-thinking Henrietta Louisa Koenen (1830-1881) demonstrates, engravings, etchings, woodcuts and lithographs executed by female printmakers have been around almost as long as artists started creating prints in the late fifteenth century. From 1848 until 1861, she collected an astonishing array of sheets by women artists from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Executed by experts and amateurs alike, these women pursued their craft as part of larger family workshops, as a means of self-realization and for the thrill of making and sharing pictures created in multiples.
This can lead to a fun print making project that needs foam, a stylus or blunt pencil, paint, paint brush (or brayer and ink) and paper. 







These are just three of many, many exhibitions that are going on in New York City. I suggest always checking the institutions website first and then planning your trip. Happy Museum Visiting!!!! 

ps I plan to add more as I check out new exhibits all year long. 


MO Willems and more at the New York Historical Society


I haven't taught Pre-k to 1st grade in a while now and I miss it so. I use to read books to kids in classrooms and I still read to my son even though he is now ten going on eleven very soon. I love children's books and I have written my own and plan to publish them one day so that I can continue teaching and reading to young children. I say that because I was so lucky to watch Mr. Mo Willems present his books and introduce his recent exhibition at the New York Historical Society
He was funny, engaging and it was an awesome performance that I definitely learned from. 

Here are some photos from our visit to the New York Historical Society. The exhibition was not open the day we went but I have two photos at the bottom of the space. It was a great visit none the less.


Below are images from the Silicon City Exhibition up until April 17th.
















PineCar Derby


My son is in the Cub Scouts and as a Cub Scout he was a part of the 2016 Pincar Derby Races. And what made this year so special is it was the last year he could participate because he will turn 11 years old making him a Boy Scout and only Cub Scouts can enter this race. It was a good time and although he acted as if it wasn't fun he made friends and came in 29th which was not bad for a first time racer and being one in a 100 racers.
His car was a neon yellow with the toxic symbol and red wheels. When we got there we learned he could add more weight to the car. As long as it is 5oz or less it can race but the heavier the back end of the car is the faster it can go. I also attached his batman teddy bear which slowed it down a bit but we have no regrets. The other scouts loved watching the bear fly down the track. It was a great experience.









Chemical Reaction Painting



Science fair season and my son and I were experimenting with different science project ideas. A classmate and friend had a project that my son wanted to try so one evening we caused a chemical reaction.
With a lemon, baking powder and food coloring we created a chemical reaction that later we decided to use as paint. My son began with blue and by the time we were done he had added all of the food coloring colors to see what they color they would create. Photos by my son M.R.F.











Art of History: Slavery

April 1, 2016 I finished teaching the Art of History: Slavery program on behalf of the New York Historical Society. The Art of History is a unique classroom-based program combining social studies content with visual arts learning, follow the link to find out more. As stated on the New York Historical Society website This five-session mini-residency teaches American history, art history, and art making. Students engage with historical content and visual culture by analyzing historic artifacts, documents, and images. They then learn techniques to visually document their history learning through art making. Every residency ends with a classroom exhibition of the students' work. 
Below are images from the Young Woman Leadership School in the Bronx. Their artworks are great because the step by step learning increased their understanding of the history and art theory.