Spent a delicious afternoon at the North Carolina Museum of Art with a bunch of smart and energetic 17 and 18 year old AP Art History students. I am so lucky.
Over the last few weeks each student was to select one work of art, study it, study the period, study the artist, study the medium and study the cultural association and create a videotaped presentation, along with an original piece of artwork in response to their selected piece.
For 2 hours I walked around, watched and listened as each kid shared with their videocamera and their presumptive audience, their knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for their selected piece.
I was so impressed (and humbled) by this display of youthful exuberance for art. It was refreshing and encouraging to see kids of this age exhibiting such sophistication and erudition in connection with magnificent art.
Worth mentioning was the conversation I had with one of the curators of the museum who was telling me about how impressed she was with knowledge and passion of the "little girl" doing the project on Andy Warhol's "Elvis." She went on and on for five minutes about how she listened to this girl's presentation twice and how good it was. I was quite proud to tell her that the "little girl" of whom she was speaking.... was Sabrina.
In between videotaping and question answering, I did manage to sneak away for a few minutes and check out some of the more recent acquisitions of the museum that I hadn't seen before. Even the pieces I have seen many times over the years - are always viewed with fresh eyes and a new appreciation. I never get tired of the Van Gogh's, the Klimt's, the Cezanne's and Manet's.
But something new, something really unusual caught my eye this time. I was particularly fascinated with the "sound suits" by artist, Nick Cave. The piece at NCMA just happened to be made of buttons, thousands and thousands of white buttons, sewn on with red thread and I was very enamored with it. But it wasn't until I spoke to my daughter that I found out this suit was not just a piece of visual art.
Cave's medium is textile in nature - and he made these suits to appeal to the viewer as a sculptural costume. But it wasn't until he put one of his suits on and moved around that he realized the artistic quality of his suit was not limited to the visual aspect, alone - that the sound created by the movement of the suit evoked an additional response by the viewer - a beautiful response, as each suit creates it's own, unique sound in response to the movement of the individual inside it. So cool.
Click here to learn about Nick Cave's art and hear his sound suits. He is a true artist in every sense of the word and I find him so inspiring.
I find my way to the NCMA at least 3 or 4 times each year, and am never disappointed. Next week I will force Blaise to take a break and walk with me through the 1.25 mile sculpture garden. A nice way to slow down and regroup after Christmas.
Over the last few weeks each student was to select one work of art, study it, study the period, study the artist, study the medium and study the cultural association and create a videotaped presentation, along with an original piece of artwork in response to their selected piece.
For 2 hours I walked around, watched and listened as each kid shared with their videocamera and their presumptive audience, their knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for their selected piece. I was so impressed (and humbled) by this display of youthful exuberance for art. It was refreshing and encouraging to see kids of this age exhibiting such sophistication and erudition in connection with magnificent art.
Worth mentioning was the conversation I had with one of the curators of the museum who was telling me about how impressed she was with knowledge and passion of the "little girl" doing the project on Andy Warhol's "Elvis." She went on and on for five minutes about how she listened to this girl's presentation twice and how good it was. I was quite proud to tell her that the "little girl" of whom she was speaking.... was Sabrina.
But something new, something really unusual caught my eye this time. I was particularly fascinated with the "sound suits" by artist, Nick Cave. The piece at NCMA just happened to be made of buttons, thousands and thousands of white buttons, sewn on with red thread and I was very enamored with it. But it wasn't until I spoke to my daughter that I found out this suit was not just a piece of visual art.
Cave's medium is textile in nature - and he made these suits to appeal to the viewer as a sculptural costume. But it wasn't until he put one of his suits on and moved around that he realized the artistic quality of his suit was not limited to the visual aspect, alone - that the sound created by the movement of the suit evoked an additional response by the viewer - a beautiful response, as each suit creates it's own, unique sound in response to the movement of the individual inside it. So cool.
Click here to learn about Nick Cave's art and hear his sound suits. He is a true artist in every sense of the word and I find him so inspiring.
I find my way to the NCMA at least 3 or 4 times each year, and am never disappointed. Next week I will force Blaise to take a break and walk with me through the 1.25 mile sculpture garden. A nice way to slow down and regroup after Christmas.
1 comment:
I did not know we had a Nick Cave suit at NCMA...will have to go back soon and check it out!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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