MoMA's Art Lab Shines

MOMA's Art Lab is tucked away in their education building. I had not been aware of it on previous visits. I was particularly interested in seeing the facility before I meet Cari Frisch in April at the Sandbox Summit. My efforts were well rewarded. Cari was kind enough to put me on the staff guest list and I spent a wonderful afternoon with Queena, Bek and numerous families at the Art Lab.

 
The education facility at MoMA is extensive. The Art Lab is on the ground level and designed for young children. Downstairs are multiple classroom studios for older students. There is also exhibit space so I was able to see examples of the kinds of projects they do with the older visitors.

Create Ability is a seven year old arts program for children and adults with learning or developmental disabilities and their families. This is only one of the numerous programs offered.

The ArtLab is a bright space that is very inviting with one long wall of windows. On an annual basis, the space is configured for a specific theme. This year the theme is people. At the entrance an animated segment with letters projected on the wall and configured into various faces entices little visitors. Actually, the space is designed for families. I was visiting in the early afternoon so, it was not too surprising that the children I saw we're all very young, some as young as a year old. The space is well designed to accommodate visitors of all ages.

Still from the animation that greets visitors to the Art Lab.

The first project on the wall as you enter the room is a large set of magnetized letters that can be arranged into faces. This kind of activity is replicated with many different materials at other locations in the room. There are blocks, laminated cards and drawing stations.

I could not resist playing with the letters myself. It was fun, the magnetized letters were large enough for small hands to manipulate and "sticky" enough to move around without undo effort but also securely stay in place.

One of my favorite games is exquisite corpse (wish it had another name). Their version was very clever. Three small doors are affixed to the wall, stacked on top of each other. This allows the player to make a head drawing and conceal it while a fellow player would draw the body, etc. Most of the little visitors when I was there were still into scribbling, but that didn't stop them from wanting to participate.

 
I am always on the look out for good ideas for the children's workshops I conduct at The Daura Gallery at Lynchburg College. The Art Lab provided inspiration on many levels but of special interest was a unique activity I would like to replicate. They constructed a shadow puppet theater and a workstation for making shadow puppets out of chop sticks and black construction paper. I am a huge fan of Indonesian shadow puppets. This activity would be a great opportunity to introduce children to that tradition. It was very helpful to see how they had constructed the theater. They may not have used plexiglas, but it could be made with plexiglas, tracing paper and a few reflectors and bright bulbs. I am envisioning asking the kids to come up with a story idea, probably for efficiency sake, a fairy or folk tale known to all, and then have them go to work making the puppets. I can also envision having the effort video tapped, why not...if it works.

Shadow puppets waiting to be called to action.  They are hanging on the window that faces the Sculpture Garden I walked through to get to the Art Lab.

Queena Ko was the arts educator/facilitator I spoke with when I first arrived. It was fun to realize we are both UCLA art school grads, she much more recently than I. Her co-worker Bek is from Australia working at the MoMA for 6 months. She is an arts educator in Sydney. Both young women were very friendly and helpful. Another pleasant conversation was with Sori and her mother. Sori is 20 months old and this is her second visit to the Art Lab. She was having a grand time putting together card faces and seemed to enjoy handing me cards!

I enjoyed talking to Sori and her mother while they made faces with smartly laminated cards
with photos of a large variety of objects.

Lucky toddlers and up who live close enough to the museum to make this a regular playground.