Kids’ Korner

Clean and Organize!

The start of a new year is a great time to take stock of your art and creative materials and perhaps make up some new storage devices and organizational changes.  When you get ready to draw and paint, it is a drag to have to dig to find your materials.  But if you create a special way to organize and store your pens, pencils, markers, glue, etc., you will be able to find them quickly and be creating in minutes. 

Why not start with a simple project—a personalized box in which to put all your items?  You will need the container—an empty shoe box (bigger is better, but any size will do) or any sturdy lidded box.  You will need fancy wrapping paper, wallpaper or the like to cover the box; scissors to shape the paper; and glue to attach it.  Permanent glue stick is easy to use and it washes off easily.  It sticks very well once it is dry so you don’t have to worry about the paper coming off the box.

To cover the lid of the box, measure the width and the length of the lid.  To these measurements, add the height of the sides of the lid.  Cut a piece of paper that is at least one inch bigger on all sides than these measurements.  Do the same with the bottom of the box. 

Center the lid on the first sheet of paper.  Use scissors to cut exactly from the corner of the paper to the corner of the box.  Apply glue to the area of the paper that will be folded around the lid and to the one inch that will be folded inside the lid.  Do one side at a time, but be careful to keep the lid centered so there will be plenty of paper to complete the cover.  Repeat with the bottom of the box.  If your corners are not neat, you can fold the paper rather than cut it if you choose.

The resulting covered box can be further decorated with paint, markers or stickers to personalize it – your way.  You can create a box for each of your artistic interests, each with a different paper.  Imagine how cool your room will look with all your art things stored in your originally designed boxes!

Guide to Art

Faces, Places and Inner Spaces:  A Guide to Looking at Art by Jean Sousa (published in association with The Art Institute of Chicago) explains how artists use faces, places and inner spaces to express themselves.  Featured are an African mask, a West Mexican clay-pole dance scene, a Hindu sculpture, a Chinese screen, a Japanese actor print, a box by Cornell and paintings by Van Gogh, Seurat and many others.  After exploring each of these topics, young readers will be prepared to take a new look at art and will understand how artists help shape our views of the world. 48 pages, hard cover.  Abrams Young Readers.

Interactive Sites for Kids

—The Museum of Modern Art (NY) has recently re-launched their website for kids ages 5-8 at www.moma.org/destination.  Through a close look at shapes and colors, demonstrations of techniques and brief artist biographies, the Web site introduces highlights of the Museum’s collection and basic concepts in modern and contemporary art. 

—The National Gallery of Art now presents Dutch Dollhouse, an interactive inspired by 17^th century Dutch paintings, at www.nga.gov/kids/zone/dollhouse.htm (requires Shockwave plug-in). Works by well-known artists such as Pieter de Hooch and Johannes Vermeer spring to life as children mix and match a variety of colorful characters and traditional decorative objects, exploring elements of contemporary domestic life in the kitchen, living quarters, artist’s studio and courtyard.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 17 No. 4 — February 2007