Kidsburgh: Bringing your children to the Carnegie Museum of Art
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art is the oldest recurring art exhibit in the U.S., featuring works by local, national and international artists.
It may seem intimidating to bring kids, so Kidsburgh asked the museum's director of education to share five pieces to start a conversation with your kids.
1. The Carnegie Museum is filled with new art everywhere, but when kids see the balloons, they'll be hooked.
An artist, from Istanbul, Turkey, created each balloon bouquet to represent a human right, like freedom and equality.
"The artist is really asking, 'What happens when we aren't working together to hold up our human rights?' And so the balloons become that metaphor, and over time and over the course of the exhibit, they will slowly start to deflate as the helium goes," said Dana Bishop-Root, director of education for the Carnegie Museum of Art.
Ask your children: "What rights do you have? Who doesn't have rights?" And begin a conversation about what happens when people don't support those rights.
2. From balloons to envelopes, kids will see that art can be made with all kinds of materials.
Artist Ali Eyal uses manila envelopes for drawing memories of his home in Iraq after having to leave.
Ask your child, "What kinds of objects and plants make you think of home? How could you collect those memories?"
Many of these drawings are on a child's eye level, giving you a good opportunity to teach them why visitors can't touch the art.
"It's not just don't touch the artwork. It's help us preserve this artwork for other visitors, for other families so they, too, can enjoy the artwork," Bishop-Root said.
3. For the third piece, kids will love trying to figure out where the sounds are coming from when they walk inside a room filled with sound.
You could tell your child to shut their eyes and ask them how they see it.
The artist, Togar from Amsterdam, recorded sounds of the sea and mixes them with automated ocean drums, shruti boxes, gongs, and other sounds to create this piece.
"Togar invites us to move in this space, to relax in this space," Bishop-Root said. "Again, I think sometimes we get kind of stuck in how we're supposed to look at art, but this is a really wonderful invitation that if you want to move your body, if you want to take a deep breath, that really to take in the sound of the landscape he creates."
4. The fourth piece is by artist Gateja called "Soils of Life." Gateja creates paintings and sculptures using handmade beads attached to a barkcloth surface. Each bead is made from recycled materials like retired school textbooks and flyers.
Ask your child to look closer at the paintings and sculptures to see what they are made of. Ask your child, "Like this painting made of lots of small beads, how can lots of people come together to create something bigger?"
5. For the last piece, you can take your child to the Hill District, not far from the museum, to see artist James "Yaya" Hough's mural titled, "A Gift to the Hill District."
The mural was created with the help of community members at workshops. On the mural, you will see a quote by Pittsburgh native and playwright August Wilson. He said, "Have a belief in yourself that is bigger than anyone's disbelief."
Ask your young ones, "What does it take for you to believe in yourself? How are you affirmed?"