Inspiration can happen anytime, anywhere and is the starting point for creativity and the seed of art projects. At Boston Children’s Museum each room, each wall, each ceiling presents sites and experiences that invoke inspirations. In the Museum’s Art Studio we create an environment where families are prompted to make art inspired by the other exhibits in the museum.
This month, December 2012, visitors to the Art Studio are creating collages of their neighborhood or community, inspired by the Museum’s Boston Black exhibit. They are invited to think about their own community or to create an imaginary or fantasy community or home. The studio has all sorts of diverse, wonderful collage materials for visitors to create with – old art work that has been left behind, maps, newspaper, and all different colored shapes. Collage is the perfect art medium to create about community – collage is ever changing, made from an assemblage of different forms.
Community, neighborhood, home. What does community mean to children? How many different communities are they already a part of? School, sports teams, girl/boy scouts, family, their neighborhood (apartment building, street, block), a religious community, after school programs…there are so many different ways that children experience and are a part of different communities.
And why is community important? Richard S. Kordesh, Ph.D. writes in Restoring Power to Parents and Places: “Community is the presence of shared values, common goals, a sense of history, and attachment to, even affection for, a common place. Children who experience community are more likely to become community builders themselves. Children internalize the values, goals, and affections that they gain from living in a community through practices established by its members.” Like a collage with many pieces coming together to make a new whole, a community is made up of a collection of people that share a common experience and become a new group. Come join us this month and explore your family’s community by making your own collages.
The Power of Play 