Spotty, Dotty, Spotty, Dotty, Spotty, Dotty....!!

This is just so fabulous! It's an interactive art installation, at the Queensland Art Gallery, where kids can get involved with creating art in a gallery and watch it come to life and evolve.
 I know two little peeps who'd have loved to join in on this...

{images from Colossal}

Queensland Gallery of Modern Art  {GOMA}

Yayoi Kusama: The obliteration room, 2002

(19 November 2011 – 11 March 2012)

"Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is one of the most significant and influential artists working today. When she was a small girl she started seeing the world through a screen of tiny dots. They covered everything she saw – the walls, ceilings and even her own body. For 40 years she has made paintings, sculptures and photographs using dots to cover surfaces and fill rooms. Kusama calls this process 'obliteration', which means the complete destruction of every trace of something.

This summer the Queensland Art Gallery ǀ Gallery of Modern Art invites children and families to take part in playful works of Yayoi Kusama by participating in The obliteration room, a popular interactive installation first commissioned by the Queensland Art Gallery for Kids' APT in 2002".

(text from GOMA). 

© Yayoi Kusama / Image courtesy: Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo

Yayoi Kusama | Flowers that bloom at midnight (detail) 2010 | 

... And I thought what we did with sticky dots was fun!! ... 

Well actually, it was - it's a great simple idea for a non-messy craft for kids (fabulous for taking out to a restaurant for instance!).

All you need is paper, a black texta (Marker pen / felt tip) and a pack of coloured sticky dots,

(I bought mine from my local discount variety store).

1. Draw a large simple shape eg a kite, or a fish perhaps, or maybe an umbrella, (we did, amongst other things, an octopus), then let your little one loose with 'colouring-in' the picture with dots.

The ideal age is probably 3-5. (It worked really well for my 4 year old).

This post has made me fancy some bright, spotty dotty 'Smarties'!! haha!

Off to raid the fridge....

Love,

Sally xox

a new blog on the way....

I have decided to create a new blog for crafting with kids!

...I do a lot of crafting with kids myself!
Both at my boys' School & Preschool and at home. I love it. THEY love it. Win win!
So I thought I'd start a blog.
I'm stuck on a name a little at the moment and also deciding Blogger or Wordpress - something else instead?? Need to design my banner, prepare some projects, posts and so on. There will be ideas, tutorials, giveaways and more. Hope I get time to put it all in place very soon as I am super excited about this!!

Anyway here's some imagery to whet your appetite ~ hope you will join me when the time comes!

{All images taken by me!}

I do hope you'll join me.
I'd love suggestions, photos of your kids work, guest bloggers and so on.

Hope your weekend is bright and cheery - the weather certainly isn't here, but that doesn't mean we can't be in ourselves, right?! Hubby has just made me some delicious scrambled egg, so that's a great start...!

Love,
Sally xox

Artist Love - Alexander Calder

... (& 'About Me' ... working with kids!)


Something you may or may not know about me - is that I help out at my son's primary school, alongside the teacher, doing Arts and Crafts with the 'Kindy' (Kindergarten) class. These are the kids in my son's class, they range from age 4-6, there are 24 of them,  so it's quite hectic, sometimes noisy and ALWAYS lots of fun!!


At the end of this school term, the school will be having an Art Show! Not surprisingly I have been 'roped in' to help out!! Of course I am delighted to be involved.   :0)


One of the things we will be doing is making Alexander Calder inspired wire sculptures!
Here is some of the inspiration I have acquired for this project - the teacher, *Ms Superstar, and I have not yet worked out a project, with suitable processes, materials etc.  But I wanted to share these images with you, because whether or not you are familiar with Calder yourself, his work is just awesome!!
{* not her real name - but it SHOULD be!!}

{ images }

{image}

I have to be honest, as part of my Textile Design degree, we rarely touched on ANY art history, and although I was familiar with the name Alexander Calder, I was not terribly familiar with his work. It's fabulous don't you think?





Here's a brief bio:  ALEXANDER CALDER.

{Calder - image via Britannica}

Calder, was one of America’s most famous sculptors; he lived from 1898 - 1976.


He studied Mechanical Engineering but was to become a very versatile artist, creating lithographs, toys, paintings, tapestry and even designing carpets. 


He was responsible for the invention of the mobile. 


Calder's most well known work features perfectly balanced mobiles, which were comprised of brightly coloured shapes,  hanging delicately by wire, spreading out from a central wire. Hovering in the air, twisting and turning around - as if by magic!




He began with Toys in the 1920's, moving on to working with wire sculptures and mobiles.
In the 1950s, Calder began to focus on huge, monumental sculptures, many of which would become his most famous works. He created some such pieces for JFK airport in 1957 and UNESCO in Paris in 1958.

Bobine (1970), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia (image from Wiki )

Lithographs above from RoGallery
 1. Bird's Nest 1971
2.Derrier le Miroir (Abstract II) 1968
3.Derrier le Miroir (Abstract IV) 1968

Take care,
love Sally x0x