Children's Museum of the Arts

This week in After School, we studied self-portraits, facial proportion templates, and Albrecht Dürer. Our project was to create self-portraits that were half-realistic and half-abstract first in pencil, and then in either acrylic or watercolor. One student invented a new kind of watercolor wash technique that looked like tye-dye!

Taking place this Saturday at 11 AM, Club CMA Para Familias focuses on the theme of Nuyorican Printmakers and draws inspiration from Taller Boricua: A Political Print Shop in New York, currently on view at El Museo del Barrio. Taller Boricua was an East Harlem-based Nuyorican collective workshop and alternative space known for cultural empowerment and political activism. In the 1970s, the studio produced hundreds of prints that centered on issues of Puerto Rican independence, workers’ rights, and anti-imperialism. Saturday’s online workshop will be presented predominantly in Spanish while providing translation to English as needed. Click here to sign up: https://cmany.org//activities/view/cma-live-club-cma-para/

In honor of heroes like the late Rep. John Lewis and young activists such as Greta Thunberg, participants will explore the power of speaking out through movement games and pantomime during Movement with Mackie this Friday at 1 PM. For Kids: Journal or draw a picture to answer this question What is something about being a kid that grownups just don’t understand? Share this with a grownup in your life.... For Adults: If you’re able, it’s time to get out the vote! Election Day is November 3.

"Untitled" by E. Lane, Age 11. Part of CMA’s Permanent Collection, on view at Queens Museum as part of Ulrike Muller and Amy Zion: The Conference of the Animals

Check out this masterpiece created during last Saturday's Inclusive program for children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. The project was homemade stamps, and folks soared to the occasion using wine corks, sponges, apples, lego bricks, and so much more!

Artist Mona Chalabi created 100 New Yorkers to help us see what New York City looks like across different ages, races, genders, abilities, and neighborhoods. Can you see yourself in the image? Lower Manhattan Cultural Council invites you to show us what your slice of New York looks like. Using a sheet of paper, create a drawing of yourselves, each other, your family, or the people that represent New York City to you. For this competition, Mona will select 10 winning images. ...These images will be displayed in the Oculus of Westfield World Trade Center from November 12-15, alongside Mona’s work. All submissions will be displayed on the LMCC website. Submit your work by Monday, October 26, 2020 to LMCC.net/competition. View 100 New Yorkers by Mona Chalabi across 22 screens in the Oculus, presented by LMCC and Westfield World Trade Center, with support from The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey as part of River To River 2020: Four Voices.

This week in Animation and Character Design, it was all about creating the foundation, or skeleton, for our characters. In order to be able to move and animate our characters, we need to make sure that they have a strong flexible foundation. The key to a flexible foundation is armature, which we created out of wire and tape. A few students didn't have wire for their armatures, but they got amazingly creative one student taped paint brushes together, while another student used wire from a hanger. We also looked at Aardman Animation Studios and viewed clips from the movie Chicken Run. To let off steam, we played freeze dance, and it was really fun for everyone to let loose and show their dance moves. TGIF!

Celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday from 5-6pm by learning about the work and process of Tzotzil photographer Sasaknichim Martinez. The artist will be joined by her former photography students from the Tzeltal and Tzotzil Mayan communities, Julieta Esperanza Gomez-Vazquez and Susana Petrona Perez de la Cruz, who have gone on to form the Stsebetik Bolom art collective. RSVP: https://cmany.org/.../cma-live-indigenous-peoples-day.../