Finally. I found the time to check out our city art gallery's new and improved family-centered art programming, known as The Making Place. [I posted on its ancestor, Super Sunday, here].
REVIEW
With an enthusiastically engaged staff and 3 well thought-out projects, each carefully relating in some way to an exhibit or specific piece in the art gallery itself, there was bound to be something of interest to Spud. And, as it turns out, he had the time of his life. And therefore, so did I. He really focused on just one of the projects; the collaborative reinvention of a map of our province. What a treat to be able to work in a such a large format.
MATERIALS
· Black construction paper, spanning one end of the room and so tall the children needed to stand on a stool to reach the top
· scissors and magazine clippings from tourist and city magazines
· white chalk and oil pastels [with a few other colours tossed in]
TASK
Each child was asked to add a place that meant something to them [either draw or glue magazine clipping or both] and draw a road or river or some other connection to the Art Gallery, situated in the centre. Spud spent 2 hours doing just that! The amount of love and focus that went into it was astounding.
He really made sure the province had an extensive [and terribly complicated] road and transit system.
Well. We'll be doing that again.