Red Grooms Week
Artist Red Grooms Crafts for Kids!
The Red Grooms Exhibit at The Brooks Museum was unexpected. It was child-friendly, adult friendly, whimsical, colorful and interactive. We wanted to bring a little of that color and whimsy to The Art Project this week and teach kids that art doesn't have to be a flat, square piece of paper.
Here is a little taste of the projects:
Shadowbox-ish Sculpture
On the left is my daughter sitting inside of Red Grooms' Thimble Theatre, 2014. Walking into Thimble Theater was like walking into a page of a storybook. He was able to meld painting and sculpture plus playing movie reel to invite you into a different place.
We tried to recreate this feel simply using Kwik Sticks, a piece of construction paper, a toilet paper roll, and some scissors. Simple project. Creates a similar feel. Invite kids to put their favorite character inside the scene.
Low Relief Sculpture
On the left is Red Grooms' Chicken Little (2002). It is acrylic on wood. We created a station where kids use cut up pieces of cardboard, masking tape, glue and paint to create their own low relief sculpture.
Cardboard Bus and Paper Dolls
At The Brooks, The Bus (1995) is the first piece of art you encounter when you head into the exhibit. It is literally a fully boardable city bus full of all sorts of characters! You can see my daughter seated among the characters. While the scale of this one is hard to recreate, we thought we'd give it a try. The color and shape of the characters and clothes were conducive to paper dolls! And, kids love to build out of our recycled materials area - perfect for building the bus!
