The International Museum of Women is an online gallery that celebrates all things woman and with this series, calls attention to the important role mothers play all over the world. The idea behind the Mama’s Work gallery is that “at any moment, mothers across the world are telling each other stories.”
And if you happen to be in San Francisco this weekend, you can check out a pop-up photography exhibit Making Mothers Visible, another project of the IMOW.
In 1961, two years before Where the Wild Things Are was written, Larry and Nina Chertoff’s family friend Maurice Sendak drew them a mural on their bedroom wall. Last February, the Chertoffs donated their mural to the Rosenbach Museum and Libary and the museum took the mural from its Manhattan apartment, wall and all.
The Rosenbach Museum and Library is home to over 10, 000 Sendak objects, including original drawings, preliminary sketches, manuscript materials, photographs, proofs and rare prints of Sendak books. In other words, a veritable treasure trove for Sendak fans.
Hello I’m Wild artists bring fictional characters into the everyday
Artists Caroline Sauvage and Marion Audefray are the creative geniuses behind the Hello I’m Wild “Headshots” series. Hello I’m Wild is a French art collective and now our favourite ever name for an art collective. With “Headshots,” they’re questioning “how different life would be if we allowed our inner child to dictate our daily activities.”
While it takes great skill to make Woody and Jessie from Toy Story playing gameboy look so natural, we think anyone could attempt a version of this series. By either dressing up as a favourite character and posing doing some totally everyday activity, or getting some action figures to do the same, you and your kids could create similarly interesting photos. This might also be a perfect time to introduce your kids to the magic of Photoshop by combining elements from two photos to create a new one. Have a talk about why it’s funny to see a Sith Lord playing with a rubber ducky. Read more...
Polish artist Ilona Szwarc was immediately taken by American girls’ fascination with American Girl dolls
We don’t see or hear as much about American Girl dolls in Canada as Americans do south of the border, for obvious reasons. And yet somehow without necessarily even seeing any of the dolls up close, we know that they all come with elaborate back stories, have their own hospital (should your girl’s dolls lose an arm or something) and have a large collection of clothes and furniture you can outfit them with. Young Polish artist Ilona Szwarc has created a series of portraits of American girls with their American Girl dolls.
“When I first came to the US the phenomenon of the American Girl doll immediately caught my eye. Photographically it was a beautiful image — girls with their sculptural representatives, their twins, their avatars.”
American designer and author Todd Oldham, known for his fun and lighthearted approach to fashion, is currently collaborating with Target to give classic kids art supplies a seriously new look with tons of new uses. Inspired by his 2009 DIY guidebook Kid Made Modern, the collection promises to provide fun, crafty projects for kids of all ages.
Things look promising. Oldham’s take involves custom duck tape covered in neon patterns and comes with cover-able envelopes so you can make wallets or messenger bags, sassy art papers, pastel pipe cleaners, and over-sized crayons speckled with 64 different colours. Different edges and shapes let you make all kinds of crazy marks.Read more...
The ever-innovative International Museum of Women is the online destination for art, stories and ideas that celebrate women around the world. Today it debuted its Motherhood Around the Globe exhibit with a stunning selection of paintings and photographs.
The IMOW aims to inspire a global conversation about mothers’ lives and rights in the 21st century and to boost awareness on issues such as improving maternal health worldwide. Maternal health is a good indicator of how a culture is doing overall and it’s a big part of the UN’s millennium development goals.
We were bowled over with out dead-easy this pretty art activity is. Big ups to Craftsy for the idea. Simply cut off the bottom of a head of celery, apply some tempura (or fabric!) paint and stamp it on an appropriate surface. Plus, you could have a pre or post craft ants-on-a-log!
This isn’t to say we don’t still love the potato stamp. Believe us, we do. And while we can’t read any of this Russian (?) kids website, their ideas are also pretty great. We love the potato for its versatility and celery for its floral appearance, but don’t forget about starfruit, apples, citrus, the list goes on and on. We think decorating a few canvases or tote bags would be an excellent way to spend the last bit of winter break.
