SHOOT SOME HOOPS WITH ART

OSCAR TUAZON: PUBLIC ART, PIER 1 BROOKLYN

July 19, 2012- April 26, 2013

Oscar Tuazon creates sculptures that enliven natural environments.  Three sculptures reside in Brooklyn Bridge Park that are so entwined with the landscapes that it is hard to even find them.  A cement block hangs in a tree, a fountain stemming from a tree, and a basketball hoop just out of reach.  This is the last month to engage in his landscapes-- your kids will love finding these interesting spaces.  Additionally, it's a good excuse to check out the new $5 million dollar pedestrian bridge-- it bounces!

From Public Art Fund:  Inspired by the resourceful creativity of urban neighborhoods, the structures suggest sculptural variations on familiar playground designs. // Tuazon’s work deals inventively with the fundamental aspects of sculpture such as balance, volume, and weight. At the same time, his installation creates a playful dialogue with built and natural forms against the Manhattan skyline. 

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

1. The artist hopes that his pieces can be so integrated and utilized that the viewer can forget they are "art."  Let the kids explore and discover!

2. How is experiencing sculptures outside at the park different from inside a gallery?

3. Are there any similarities between the three pieces?

4. This is the last month to see these works.  What kind of public art would you like to see up next?

LINKS TO DIVE DEEPER:

* Public Art Fund website about the project and interview with the artist.

* "Art You Are Supposed to Play With" article by The Art Newspaper

* "Between Art and Architecture: Oscar Tuazon" video from New School

EXTENSIONS:

Make your own environment out of cardboard boxes.  Depending how extensive and detailed you want to go-- make a building or a sculpture.  Keep it up in your playroom permanently or use it for an hours entertainment!  Check out this Australian Artist, Annalise Rise, for inspiration for your cardboard city.

GONE NUTS!

STEVE CASINO: PAINTER OF NUTS

Everyone has found an oddly shaped peanut, that looked like an animal or a person before.  This guy, Steve Casino, takes it to a new level and makes extremely detailed celebrity portraits on peanuts!  The completely engrossing website Laughing Squid featured Steve's nuts a few weeks ago, and our family was hooked. From Star Trek to Elton John, he takes popcorn culture and makes it peanut worthy.  For $175, you can commission a portrait that will certainly wow everyone you meet.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF:

1. Have you ever found a nut or a rock in the shape of a face?
2. Why is it so much fun to find art in the unexpected?
3. Who would you like Steve Casino to make a portrait of if you could choose anyone?
4. What other medium could you use to make surprising art?


LINKS TO DIVE DEEPER:

Share this video with your kids on how Steve Casino does it and the intricate process behind the little peanut people.

EXTENSIONS:

When the kids are begging to give it a try on their own, try this simple and joyful project by the educational and motivating blog Tinkergarten.   I can only imagine how much fun it would be for my son to find one of these in the park or playground.  As they say on the website, this is a great way to teach compassion without having to say a word.

 (Photo by Tinkergarten)

1. Gather a whole bunch of acorns. We used about 30. (What a great reason to use a bindle?!).
2. Use permanent markers to draw a smiley face on each acorn (kids help too!). Young kids like ours can use a washable marker to make their “faces” and feel a part of it all.
3. Go to your favorite park, trail or playground—wherever you’d find acorns. Let kids know that you are going to leave the acorns in spots where other people may find them. We called it "spreading smiles."
4. Then, start sprinkling the acorns around, looking for fun spots to tuck the little friends. You can see some of the spots we chose in our acorn people photo gallery. 
5. Talk about what you are doing with kids as you sprinkle the acorns. Ask them questions like these, and prompt them to think about what you are doing and why you are doing it:

• Who do you think will find this acorn?/these acorns?
• What do you think they will think when they see it?
• How do you think they will feel when they see it?
• What do you think they will do with the acorn?

ROCK ART

The Cobblestone Painter: Stephane Jaspert

We may think of Rock Art as something archaeologists studied in caves-- but it takes on a whole new meaning when actual rocks are just painted.  The artist, Stephane Jaspert, pulls Parisian cobblestones out of the street and paints extremely detailed images on them and places them back where he found them.  Art and Science Journal explains that the artist hopes to "inspire critical consumption of cultural images and their tangible connections to history while also adding some whimsy to one’s walk."  Like any great street art, coming across one of these on your own would be parallel to finding a hidden treasure.  

Here's a video from NHK TV about the complicated process of tearing out the street in order to get the cobblestones for the pieces.  

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELVES:
1. How would you feel if you stumbled across one of these stones while walking down the street?
2. Which one of these stones is your favorite?
3. How do you think the artist comes up with the ideas for each piece?
4. Why do you think the artist uses stones as his medium?
5. If you could paint anything on a stone, what would you paint?

  
LINK TO DIVE DEEPER:
Additionally, here's another video about rock balancing (via the wonderful Handbook of Nature Study) that is really impressive and would be easy for us to try to emulate in our backyard (if we had one).  It reminds me of the rock piles that you see while hiking-- but taken to a new level.  These are really awe-inspiring, gravity defying pieces of magic. We're looking forward to stacking and balancing rocks at the beach this summer!

EXTENSIONS: 

Fortunately, to do our own rock art, it's not necessary to go through all that work to have a great end result.  Today at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, I found some painted rocks that while simple, had a message.  These were laid out around a tree dedicated to firefighters that gave their lives in 9-11.  There's something about painting on rock that seems very permanent.  Try it out!