Installation Art & Playing to Learn

As the Director of Education here at the Mattress Factory, I spend a lot of time thinking about how our programs can engage people of all ages and shape the way they experience art. For those of you who have visited, you know that the space itself serves as an amazing educational laboratory. But we don't just provide opportunities to learn more about our artists and exhibitions. I think the Mattress Factory is an incubator for learning itself.

A recent op-ed in The New York Times called "Playing to Learn" got me thinking about this point. Author Susan Engel (a psychology professor at Williams College) suggests we should seriously consider a complete overhaul to the standard public school curriculum.

She argues that the traditional curriculum is counter-intuitive to the ways in which children actually learn, which is by experience. Instead of cramming facts and figures, Engel believes children should "develop ways of thinking that will lead to valuable knowledge and skills later on."

Engel doesn't explicitly mention the value of art in her article, but she does talk about how play can satisfy a child's curiosity about things that interest them. I couldn't agree more, and I feel the same way about art. Installation art can help children learn about the world around them. It can also allow them to develop their own ways of thinking about the issues addressed by the art.

The Mattress Factory is like one big experiential learning environment - one that is filled with art and opportunities to stretch one's brain in new and interesting ways. Do you think about the world differently after a trip here? Feel free to let us know by leaving your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Pittsburgh Green Bridge Project

The Pittsburgh-Green-Bridge Project is a collaboration among students at CAPA High School and the University of Pittsburgh; the Mattress Factory; artists Constance Merriman, JoAnna Commandaros, Karen Page, Heather White and David Pohl; and residents of Pittsburgh’s urban community and Greenspaces. Under the guidance of artists and with the resources of the Mattress Factory, young people are creating individual and collaborative works of public art that bridge and connect Greenspaces with Brownfield or industrial sites, providing corridors of movement and interaction among people plants and animals.

Working within the structure of high school and college art classes, as well as the Mattress Factory’s teen program, a group of 15 high school students under CAPA teacher Karen Page have been matched with 15 Pitt students in JoAnna Commandaros Eco Art class. This interdisciplinary project includes study, observation, documentation, discussion, implementation and celebration.

The project is providing an opportunity for budding artists in Pittsburgh by encouraging the creation of effective and environmentally-sensitive artwork. The collaboration has been centered around Japanese Knotweed, an invasive species not native to Pittsburgh that is currently impacting Schenley Park. The groups teamed with restoration ecologists to clear a pathway and collect the knotweed. An installation reflecting the experiences of the artists, students and the community will open here at the museum this Saturday from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.  The piece will also be on view December 13th from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

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'Tis the Season for Families at the MF

This week we welcome the beginning of the 2009 holiday season. I really enjoy this time of year here at the museum because it's a popular time for families to visit. As an arts educator, watching children experience the artwork here at the MF is an amazing thing. Their enthusiasm, awe and eloquence describing their experience is continuing inspiration for me in my position as Director of Education.

Having said that, I'd like to invite you and your family to join us on the day after Thanksgiving (November 27th) for Family Day at the MF. Every year on Black Friday, the Mattress Factory offers an alternative to long shopping lines and crowded department stores. This year is no different! Beginning at 10:00AM, we'll have a lobby full of hands-on art activities including a contemporary portraiture project related to our current exhibition, LIKENESS. And as a special addition this year, our good friends from Artists Image Resource will be here leading a screen printing activity.

As if this wasn't enough, guided tours will be given at 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM, and the BoxSpring Café will be open for lunch. All Family Day activities are FREE with regular museum admission, so forget the mall this Friday and join us for an afternoon of art the whole family can get into! I hope to see you here.

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Artist & Curator Harvest Talk

Naturally, the thing I look forward to most during a run of an exhibition here at the Mattress Factory is the educational programming my department produces. Through workshops, lectures, outreach events and artist/school partnerships, I love helping create opportunities that connect MF artists with the public and programs that encourage viewers to consider the relevance of art & creativity in their own lives. The next such event will take place this Saturday, November 7, here at the museum.

I invite you to join Gestures 13 curator Katherine Talcott and exhibiting artists Stephanie Armbruster, Jeremy Boyle, Jonny Farringdon, Nayda Collazo-Llorens, Amanda Long, Lindsay O'Leary, Drew Pavelchak, The Urban Gardner & Dror Yaron for an evening of artistic discussion and fall harvest treats. There will be a guided tour of the exhibition at 6:00PM and the discussion will begin at 7:00PM. Admission is $10, but as always: MF members, PITT + CMU Students are FREE with I.D. I hope to see you Saturday evening!

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STRANGE DEMOCRACY: An Evening with Guillermo Gómez-Peña

One of the (many) great things about Pittsburgh is it's vibrant art community. The Mattress Factory is fortunate in that we partner fairly regularly with some pretty amazing sister organizations to bring equally amazing artists and performances to town. One such partnership is the upcoming collaboration between ArtUp, Bricolage, the Three Rivers Arts Fest and the Mattress Factory to bring La Pocha Nostra to Pittsburgh for a series of performances and educational workshops.

There are a number of events happening around town in association with the partnership, all of which can be found HERE (.pdf after the jump). But naturally, we're most excited about STRANGE DEMOCRACY: An Evening with Spoken Word Brujo Guillermo Gómez-Peña, which happens here at the MF on Sunday evening, 5/31. (Add to FaceBook)


Guillermo Gómez-Peña photographed by Zach Gross, 2007

In his new solo-performance, STRANGE DEMOCRACY, post-Mexican writer and performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña deals with the end of the Bush era and articulates the formidable challenges facing Obama. He also denounces the anti-immigration hysteria and assaults the demonized construction of the US/Mexican border—a literal and symbolic zone lined with Minute Men, rising nativism, three-ply fences, globalization, and transnational identities.

To this effect, the "border artist extraordinaire" uses acid Chicano humor, hybrid literary genres, multilingualism, and activist theory as subversive strategies. Shifting between languages, Gómez-Peña morphs into various performance personae and bombards audiences with his infamous, border savvy techno-ideology, ethno-poetics and radical aesthetics. In this journey to the geographical and psychological outposts of Chicanismo, Gómez-Peña also reflects on identity, race, sexuality, pop culture, politics and the impact of new technologies in the post-911 era.

Gómez-Peña continues “to develop multi-centric narratives from a border perspective,” creating what critics have termed "Chicano cyber-punk performances" and “ethno-techno art.” During these performances cultural borders move to the center while the alleged mainstream is pushed to the margins and treated as exotic and unfamiliar, placing the audience members in the position of "foreigners" or "minorities in his performance country.

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"Won't You Be My Neighbor?" Day is Tomorrow!

Each year on March 20th, thousands of people around the world celebrate the birthday of Mr. Rogers by wearing a sweater and sharing neighborly good deeds. This year is no different! To celebrate the legacy of Pittsburgh's most notable neighbor, we're offering FREE admission all day and hands-on art-making activities in the lobby from 11:00AM - 4:00PM.

The activity we've planned for tomorrow is called Pixel Pages. It's a great, fun project that explores the colors and concepts of Jacob and Jessica Ciocci’s installation, The Dark Side of Light. Using simple materials like graph paper, transparencies, highlighter markers, and tape, participants make layered and colorful compositions from images in the piece and from geometric forms. The activity simulates the stitching together of pixels to create digital images in a distinctly non-digital way. Visitors will also be able to contribute to a collaborative wall mural made of colored paper “pixels” and images.


The Dark Side of Light by Jacob (Detail) & Jessica Ciocci

I hope to see you tomorrow! And don't forget to wear a sweater, we'll all be wearing ours!

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Family Day at the Mattress Factory - THIS SATURDAY!

Last month, I blogged about two Family Workshops held here at the Mattress Factory. The first, dealing with Mary Temple's diaristic art-making practice, was an engaging session designed to show families easy ways to incorporate art within their daily lives. The second workshop paired an exhibiting Mattress Factory artist (Gretchen Skogerson) with families who were interested in using light-sensitive materials to create one-of-a-kind artworks.



   



Our next family-friendly event takes place this Saturday from 11:00AM to 4:30PM. Family Day at the Mattress Factory will include hands-on activities including Pixel Pages, Flipbooks, and Gretchen Skogerson inspired Glow-in-the-Dark Drawings (images above). A guided tour will take place at 2:00PM. All Family Day activities are FREE with museum admission. I hope to see you and your family on Saturday!

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Making Art With The Whole Family.

It seems like just yesterday that we were having our Community Art Lab reception showcasing and celebrating the wonderful artworks created by North Side youth this past summer. Based on the feedback we received from a number of parents whose children participated in that program, we've decided to present a series of family workshops during the winter months. It might just be the perfect thing to do to get the whole family out of the house just as cabin fever begins to set in!

More information about the two upcoming Family Workshops is below.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2009
Diaristic Art-Making
10.30AM - 12.30PM
FREE w/ museum admission

Find out what Diaristic Art-Making is all about and how you can start your own diaristic practice with your family. Enjoy "behind the scenes" details of Mary Temple's installation, Untitled, and learn about other artists (including families) who have diaristic art-making practices. Then, get creative by making a collaborative artwork with the group and plans for your own family diaristic practice.

Diaristic Art Making is a process accessible to everyone. All you need to do is decide on an idea, the information you want to collect to make a physical record of the idea, and how you will organize and present your information. TRY IT! This workshop promises to provide lots of hands on ideas to get you started.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2009
Black Light Art-Making
Teaching Artist: Gretchen Skogerson
10.30AM - 12.30PM
FREE w/ museum admission



This workshop begins with a tour of the current exhibit PREDRIVE: After Technology by artist, Gretchen Skogerson. She’ll talk about the ways each PREDRIVE artist used time, controlled light and harnessed darkness in their pieces. We'll learn more about the use of black light in her work by making a piece from a selection of materials that glow under black light. We'll also create individual pieces to form a larger piece and decide how it changes in incandescent light, black light and darkness.

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If you are interested in attending one or both of the family workshops please give us a call to reserve your family’s space (412.231.3169) or email us.

Happy New Year and I hope to see you (and your family) soon!

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Images from CAPA Workshop - Day 1

Below are some images from last night's educational workshop, which paired students from CAPA High School with Inner and Outer Space artist David Ellis. David continues to work with the students through Wednesday evening and gives a public artist talk on Thursday.

Photos by Justin Merriman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.









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