Blogs Field Guide

Free First Saturday Teaser

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I got so excited about this Saturday’s event when I received the shopping list for the art-making activity. I had to share it. Check it out! And if that is not enough to make you come, here is a trailer that Open Eye Figure Theatre made especially for their Saturday performance. And if you still need [...]

I got so excited about this Saturday’s event when I received the shopping list for the art-making activity. I had to share it. Check it out!

 

Shopping List for Playthingy. Art-making with Ilene Krug Mojsilov

And if that is not enough to make you come, here is a trailer that Open Eye Figure Theatre made especially for their Saturday performance.

And if you still need more convincing check out these cute pictures from the other activities.  Hope to see you there!

Jump On In! by Robin Schwartzman

 

 

Mobile by Verena Fels

Erase/Create

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There’s a new breed of poets–the erasure poets, who have been composing by erasing portions of existing texts to provide commentary on the original and to create something wholly new. With the help of our longtime friends and co-presenters at Rain Taxi Review of Books, we’ve invited three erasure poets, Matthea Harvey, Janet Holmes, and [...]

There’s a new breed of poets–the erasure poets, who have been composing by erasing portions of existing texts to provide commentary on the original and to create something wholly new. With the help of our longtime friends and co-presenters at Rain Taxi Review of Books, we’ve invited three erasure poets, Matthea Harvey, Janet Holmes, and Travis Macdonald, (whose first book, The O Mission Repo was an erasure of The 9/11 Commission Report!) to share their work on the Walker stage on Thursday, April 7th. You can try your own hand at erasure poetry at this site or just come and learn from the pros in April!

The erasure poets took their inspiration from the art world and artists, like Robert Rauschenberg, who set a precedent for this kind of rebellious creativity when he literally rubbed out a drawing by one of the fathers of modern art, Willem de Kooning (how’s that for Freudian drama?!). He talks about his piece “Erased de Kooning” in this great video from SFMoMA‘s archives:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free First Saturday Stop-Motion Animation

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3 Animators, 5 hours, 210 children = this 8 minute and 25 second stop-motion animated piece made March 5, 2011 at the Walker Art Center.  After creating their own clay characters, children lined up to work at one of three animation stations set up by Minneapolis animators Katie Maren, Schell Hickel, and Holly Thorstad.  The [...]

3 Animators, 5 hours, 210 children = this 8 minute and 25 second stop-motion animated piece made March 5, 2011 at the Walker Art Center.  After creating their own clay characters, children lined up to work at one of three animation stations set up by Minneapolis animators Katie Maren, Schell Hickel, and Holly Thorstad.  The kids chose refrigerator magnet letters and a few spare props, and had fully imagined their plots by the time they got to their turn.  When animators asked the kids if they had a story in mind, they’d immediately begin talking about their character and all the things that were going to happen.  Usually they’d be in pairs or groups of three, and a brief pre-production moment would occur before they made the first set up and the camera took the first shot.  The kids learned how to move the characters and letters just the right amount for each frame, and by the end of their session had animated a few seconds of pure magic.  With instant play-back, they could preview their contribution to the Animation Station’s collaborative stop-motion movie.  This is the final assemblage.

Enjoy!

Deb Girdwood, Childish Films

 

“A treasure hunt to make a drawing”

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My eight-year-old friend Mani, who loves both math and art, was especially taken with the Sol LeWitt exhibition. One of LeWitt’s wall drawings and its instructions so inspired Mani that he went home and made his own drawing. He described LeWitt’s instructions – which might seem a little dry at first glance – as a [...]

My eight-year-old friend Mani, who loves both math and art, was especially taken with the Sol LeWitt exhibition. One of LeWitt’s wall drawings and its instructions so inspired Mani that he went home and made his own drawing. He described LeWitt’s instructions – which might seem a little dry at first glance – as a “treasure hunt to make a drawing.” Here’s Mani’s account (mostly in his own words) of his art adventure:

Me: Do you remember what first interested you in that exhibition?

Mani: My mom said that the activities at the Walker on that day were about geometry, which interested me immediately. [T]he first thing I did was look at the “eight dots” drawing (“Wall Drawing #224”) The drawing is as big as a wall and contains eight points that are somehow related.  There are also instructions for each point printed next to the points. There are also some lines that Sol LeWitt used to help create the drawing.

What did you think of the instructions?

My first reaction to the “Wall Drawing #224” was that I was not very excited at all. Eight dots didn’t seem that cool. But then my Dad asked me to read the instructions for the eight points out loud.  I could follow the instructions for the first three points, but as I read, the more confusing the instructions got. I couldn’t even finish reading the eighth point out loud, because I was laughing so hard that I fell over.  “The eighth point is drawn where two lines would cross if the first were drawn from a point halfway between the seventh point and a point midway between the first point and a point midway between the midpoint of the bottom side and the lower right corner to a point midway between the midpoint of the left side and a point midway between…” Those were the instructions for point number eight! It was funny that he kept saying “the midpoint of the midpoint of the midpoint.”

Did it seem like a good way to make a drawing?

Yes because it’s like you’re giving somebody a treasure hunt to make a drawing, and it makes this wall with just eight dots on it seem pretty cool.

Mani's drawing based on Sol LeWitt's instructions

Mani's drawing based on Sol LeWitt's instructions

I saw your drawing. How did you end up doing that?

I started sketching the first 5 points at the exhibit, but stopped because I didn’t have a ruler. Then, at home, my dad challenged me to draw the eight dots. At some point I needed to draw lines along with the dots on the paper because all the points except the first few involved finding the intersection of two lines. When the instructions got difficult, I took a different sheet of paper and broke up the instructions into different sections, which helped me understand the instructions.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Everything was easy up to point 3, points 4 and 5 were a little hard because they involves finding the intersection of two lines, but points 6, 7, and 8 were extremely hard because not only they involved finding the intersection of two lines but the lines had millions of midpoints in their instructions.

What was the most surprising thing about working on it?

It surprised me that the first and eighth points are surprisingly close. I wonder if it’s because their instructions are similar. I wonder what would happen if you took the midpoints of the eight points. Would some of the midpoints be in the same place?

Did you exactly follow the instructions or did you make your own variation?

I followed the given instructions, but I have an idea for a variation of a set of instructions. I’m planning to do it in Scratch! Take 4 points. Connect them with lines and find their midpoints. Connect the midpoints and find the midpoints of them. Do this 20-30 times until you see some sort of pattern.

[Note: Scratch is a programming language designed for kids. See scratch.mit.edu for more info.]

American Sign Language Tours Every Free First Saturday

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In the Walker’s ongoing effort to provide equal access to its programming we’ve begun offering ASL-interpreted tours at 2pm on the first Saturday of every month. The tours are free, begin in the Bazinet Garden Lobby, last about one hour, and are open to anyone.  It’s so easy. You don’t even need to register. The [...]

In the Walker’s ongoing effort to provide equal access to its programming we’ve begun offering ASL-interpreted tours at 2pm on the first Saturday of every month. The tours are free, begin in the Bazinet Garden Lobby, last about one hour, and are open to anyone.  It’s so easy. You don’t even need to register.

The topics vary, but generally focus on a current exhibition or, when there’s a little less snow on the ground, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. This Saturday’s interpreter is Lisa Sindt.

Come on in and join the conversation. Bring a friend!

Questions? E-mail access@walkerart.org.

Assistive listening devices are also available.