Join us on on Sunday, May 6 to celebrate the Haitian culture with workshops inspired by traditional and contemporary arts practices. CMA is collaborating with Haiti Cultural Exchange which will present Krik? Krak! Storytelling & Songs: connecting children and families to the rich oral traditions of Haiti. Join us at 12:30 and 2:00 pm with Riva Precil whose work embodies the beauty of her Haitian heritage through singing, dancing, jewelry designs and writing. Families are also invited to taste the teas of Haiti with the Haitian Creole Language Institute and their Haitian Tea Party! The Haitian Tea Party is an opportunity to learn how Haitian people use natural remedies to heal themselves. Haitian Tea Party workshop participants will learn about 4 teas that can heal 4 common, everyday ailments. Participants will be able to taste the teas and the workshop will be accompanied by traditional Haitian snacks.
Workshops include:
Fine Arts:
Just Bead It!: Looking closely at the beaded “Haitian Paintings” by contemporary Haitian-American New York artist, Vladimir Cybil Charlier, visitors will create paper beads and decorate illustrations inspired by their everyday life. Vladimir Charlier takes inspiration from Haiti’s traditional beaded Vodou flags used in ceremonies honoring ancestors, while the practice itself celebrates the cycle of life and our bond to nature. Using her heritage for inspiration, Vladimir incorporates the beading tradition to recreate paintings depicting her memories of Haiti. Using paper beads, young artists will ornament their illustrations to highlight their own special memories.
Colorful Doorways Inspired by Duval Pierre: Make your own colorful doorways! In 2015, artist and activist Duval Pierre made it his mission to strengthen the spirit of the Jalouzi community, whose land was devastated by the 2010 earthquake. To date, with the help of community members, over 1,000 city structures have been restored and painted in all the dazzling colors of the rainbow. Pierre’s mission was to ignite hope within his community through color and collaboration. Visit Fine Arts to learn more about this community and others like it in the beautiful country of Haiti.
Clay Bar:
Coral Reefs of Haiti: Explore Haiti’s coral reefs. Critically endangered due to overfishing, these reefs are home to an enormous spectrum of marine life. Come learn about the corals and animals which make up these reefs and create a miniature clay coral reef of your own.
Media Lab:
Préfète Duffaut Inspired Animations: Create an animation inspired by renowned Haitian painter Préfète Duffaut. Dive into his intricate, detailed landscapes. Explore winding ports and colorful hillsides in both 2D and 3D form!
Sound Booth:
Compas Inspired Beats: Compas, a modern meringue style of music from Haiti, features drums, synthesizers, keyboards, and guitars. Come explore this unique musical genre and create a collaborative, original track!
Gallery:
Wall Art: In the celebration of Haitian cultural festival young artist will recreate amazing handmade wall art. Oil drums are often purchased in the capital of Port Au Prince, Haiti, but then recycled and made into steel drums, and then into works of art! Young artists will also get a chance to upcycle, using tin foil and wires to create their own 2-D designs to hang up!
Haiti Cultural Exchange is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to develop, present and promote the cultural expressions of the Haitian people. Learn more at haiticulturalx.org.
For this project, young artists will explore Dustin Yellin's dimensional collages as inspiration for their very own Sci-Fi cityscapes! Yellin's works focuses around themes of imagined words and possible futures. Join teaching artists as we learn more about this artist and his fantastical creative practice.
Nigerian artist Nnenna Okore creates intricate installations, utilizing recycled materials along with weaving techniques. Come collaborate on a large scale sculpture using recycled yarn, and even create your own yarn out of recycled plastic bags!
Looking closely at Christopher Boffoli's whimsical miniatures, museum guests will create and design a collaborative sculpture of everything one might find in the deep sea! Young artists will use sculptural materials like toothpicks, art straws and pipe cleaners to complete their constructions.
For this project young artists will inspect Sally Curcio's "bubble worlds" as inspiration for their three dimensional miniature maps! Museum guests will chose their favorite place to illustrate through sculpture using both upcycled materials and art supplies.
Inspired by CMA's new exhibition, Scale: Possibilities of Perspective, museum guests will design and create finger puppets! For this project visitors will use soft materials such as felt, yarn and fabric.
Create your own escape! Inspired by the work of Patrick Jacobs, young artists will create miniature, three dimensional worlds of their own design. They will then connect the two to create a magical tableau!
Looking closely at Bobbi Russon black and white miniature portraits, young artists will create collaged grey scale "selfies!" Museum guests will experiment with mixed media to create their compositions.
Inspired by CMA's new exhibition, Scale: Possibilities of Perspective, museum guests will design and create their very own teeny tiny tools! Using toothpicks, young artists can learn to build miniature cutlery, pencils, hammers, nails and more!
Inspired by Christopher Boffoli's clever photographic vignettes, young artists will work collaboratively to build a miniature day at the zoo! Join Teaching Artists as we play with form and experiment with small scale sculpture.
Today in Fine Arts, museum visitors will use a magnifying glass to create close up illustrations of tiny objects! For this project, you can choose to bring a small object from home or examine the still life set up in our studio.
Check out our July Reading List from Children's Librarian Kristy Raffensberger of the Hudson Park Library! Read more