You ART What You

EATFall 2009

Last year at Kidspace you saw Illuminations, which featured technology-based work about birds, nature, language, and

patterns by ADAM CHAPMAN.

He challenged you to look at the world around you and look for patterns that you may have taken for granted.

Or maybe you saw CRIBS…An installation by Matt Bua. He challenges what can be used as art material – think: RECYCLED – and how people can display their collections – remember the guitars on the wall?

This year you’ll visit Kidspace to view work by 5 artists who challenge the idea of what can be used

as art materials…

They use FOOD!

Here’s a work by CHANDRA BOCCI

What do you think this is?

What do you think it’s made out of?

What effect does the material have on the artwork?

Which one of your five senses might you use when observing this work? For example, what might it smell like?

CHANDRA created an interpretation of the BIG BANG THEORY using Gummi bears!

Scientific illustration of the Big Bang explosion

Another artist’s work you’ll see is LIZ HICKOKShe makes cityscapes.

But NOT like this painting by Eugene Boudin that you see at the

Clark…

Rue Saint-Romain, Rouen, Eugéne Boudin

If you were going to make an interpretation of the Clark’s Rue Saint-Romain painting using food, what would you choose?

Can you guess what food Liz uses for her work?

LIZ HICKOK uses JELL-O!

This is her version of San Francisco

Here’s what San Francisco usually looks like.

How would you describe it? Strong, sturdy……

But sometimes things happen to cities that destroy them, like the earthquake that hit San Francisco in 1989.

Now how would you describe the city?

Liz says the JELL-O represents how fragile cities can be. Let’s look at what she means…

JOAN STEINER also creates cityscapes using food and a variety of found objects for her Look-Alikes series of

books.

For example, Joan made a version of the famous Indian monument, the Taj Mahal.

This is a photograph of the real Taj Mahal.

These structures are called minarets. What food would you use to represent these towers?

What other materials can you imagine Joan used for this work?

How many different foods can you find? Other objects?

The minarets are made of garlic! And a flute!

SAXTON FREYMANN uses fruits and vegetables in his books.

SAXTON says he likes to use the natural lumps and bumps in fruits and vegetables to make characters that express emotion.

What would Saxton find APPEALING in a banana?

SAXTON saw it as a dog, an octopus, and a duck!

LUISA CALDWELL use the waste from food for her art.

One is a painting made with labels from fruits and vegetables.The other is a curtain made from candy wrappers.

Like ADAM CHAPMAN, LUISA CALDWELL looks for patterns.

She uses fruit stickers to create the patterns in flowers.

Do YOU know what it means to be HEALTHY?

Is it healthier to eat this

Broccoli dog made by SAXTON FREYMANN

or this?JELL-O city by LIZ HICKOK

Which looks tastier? Which do you think smells better? Why?

• Foods like JELL-O and Gummy Bears are loaded with sugar which is NOT healthy… but why might they be appealing to us?

• Fruits and vegetables are filled with vitamins, fiber, and nutrients which ARE healthy… do you think they’re appealing too? Why or why not?

How does our brain decide what we find appealing?

Find out when you visit WCMA for Landscapes of the Mind: Contemporary Artists Contemplate the Brain.

Three Museum Connection

Three Museum Connection

When you visit the Clark, take a trip back in time to see how artists incorporated food in their artwork, and try to envision reinterpreting cityscapes using food.

Three Museum Connection

What other materials do artists use?

What senses can their materials appeal to?

Find out when you view the Material World and the work of Anslem Kiefer at MASS MoCA