Tag Archives: kids and art

ArtsBeat: Nuit Blanche 2012

All sorts of interesting experiences await you on this wonderful, all night celebration of the arts. It’s a free event that runs from dusk ’til dawn, and if you’re lucky enough to have one near you, I highly recommend bringing along your kids and a bunch of their friends. Not only do they have tons of fun, but it opens up their minds about what art can be. They get to see some pretty unusual stuff, some of it interactive, and share their opinions about it. They also get to stay up later than usual, drink plenty of hot chocolate to stay warm, and wander the streets with thousand of others, in what is a very festive atmosphere. How cool is that?

Over 1oo cities are participating, although not necessarily on the same night. I’ll be checking out a few things here in Toronto, and hopefully you’ll have an opportunity to do the same near you.

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Lasting Impressions From The Show Off

OCAD University’s recent 2011 Graduate Exhibition had over 500 thesis projects on display, from 12 different disciplines, spread over 6 floors.  As always, it’s impossible to give everything proper attention, but the children I brought along loved the environment, were inspired by what they saw, and eagerly chatted with some of the artists. But after a few hours of this, your brain tends to get a bit cloudy, which could explain why I almost bought the kids pins with illustrations of serial killers. This is true. I innocently wandered over to look at Lauren Kaiser’s work, but in my distracted state, failed to immediately notice these were illustrations of famous serial killers as children, doing what I suppose future serial killers might do like beheading Ken and tying up teddy. Her humorously disturbing work was definitely not child friendly, so I quietly put the Charlie Manson pin down and engaged in some major distraction. This was clearly my cue to call it a night before I failed miserably at parenting 101. Below are a few of my favs.

Praxis by Callum Schuster was made with insulation foam, spray paint and enamel. It’s texture and unconventional beauty was truly stunning.

Untitled (Grid #1) by Charles Bierk. I liked the parts, but the whole was much more powerful and intense.

Memorium by Michael McDonnell. This was all about metamorphosis with the use of animation and video. The result was mesmerizing, and the hauntingly beautiful music was the perfect accompaniment.

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