Art To Tell Stories and More

I am heading off to NYC in a few days.  My trips to New York has been exciting and formative over the years. In my family, it was the tradition that our father took us on a short trip to NYC when we were 10 years old.  I am especially anticipating this visit because I have two destinations that tie directly into my current app development; the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

• China, Wine Vessel (Zun) in the Form of a Goose, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. Bronze, 11 1/2 x 6 3/16 x 17 1/2 in. (29.2 x 15.7 x 44.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum photograph

Recently I discovered that the Brooklyn Museum has made available for download and use many images from their collection. These images are available with a Creative Commons-BY license. This means I am free to adapt their images and share them with this license as long as I credit the museum. What a boon to media developers.  Congratulations to the Brooklyn Museum and other institutions who are doing the same.  The Portland  Art Museum is another resource I am tapping for this project. Both the Brooklyn Museum and the Portland Art Museum have extensive collections of ancient Chinese and ancient Egyptian art.

China, Eastern Han period (25–220 CE),earthenware
The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Collection of Early Chinese Art, Portland Art Museum

Since my trip to China in 2011, I have intensified my study of Chinese art history.  The Asian Art Museum (in San Francisco) has a very extensive offering of art history lectures on iTunesU.  At one point I realized I had watched over 45 hours of lectures about Chinese art history focusing on the Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties. I am fascinated by the early bronze sculpture and especially intrigued at how accessible they are for children. There are so many animal objects that reflect not only a realism and love of the creatures, but are humorous and delightfully entertaining. Case in point is the goose at the top of this article and the hedgehog below. It does add to the mystic for me that these objects were made over two thousand years ago.

Egypt, Hedgehog, ca. 1938-1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY

My project, which is designed for very young children, involves finding a selection of these animals and bringing them together in a story with animated components that bring the animals to life. I am working with sculpture from ancient China and ancient Egypt. Why these objects for this age group?  I am a great believer in introducing children to artwork from around the world to better understand of our shared history, our shared human experience.  I am also a great believer in starting this process as early as possible.

ABC Egyptian Art from The Brooklyn Museum of Art

The first book I bought for my daughter when she was a baby, ironically, was the ABC Egyptian Art from The Brooklyn Musueum. I was surprised to discover that it is still in print, originally published in April of 1988, a few months after she was born. 

I am making connections with the Education Departments at these museum to brainstorm about how to add to their efforts to make their collection available to children everywhere, regardless of whether they can come to the museum in person or not. As an educator and artist living in a small community in Central VA (after years in the DC area) I seek out those arts institutions that are invested in making their collections and exhibitions available online.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, another greatly anticipated destination this trip, has innumerable online resources for accessing their collection. Their new series 82nd & Fifth is a collection of short videos of artwork selected by curators to document work that has been significant to them. There are currently 16 in the series building to a total of 100. While at the Met I will be spending a lot of time in their Chinese galleries. 

I will also visit the MoMA Art Lab.  Not directly related to my current project, but I am looking forward to meeting Cari Frisch at the Sandbox Summit in April and would love to drop in and say hey while I am there.  I am a huge fan of MoMA's online presence. Their exhibition On Line with this virtual component has been a part of my college level drawing curriculum for a few years.


I am finding a robust and diverse collection of objects to incorporate into stories that introduce young children to artistic expression that has been a part of the human experience for thousands of years. This makes me very happy.  I am looking forward to sharing these stories soon.

Dragon Brush and the Asian Art Museum

China


A recent trip to China inspired continued research and involvement with Chinese culture.  One very satisfying way I have been able to do that is with iTunesU and my iPad.

My visit to the Summer Palace, Beijing

The Asian Art Museum has untold hours of content on iTunesU.  After finishing the Arts of China video lecture series for docents-in-training I checked out the Storytelling Videos looking for kid friendly content. 


It was a nice surprise to find a lively rendition of a Chinese folk tale that I had just become familiar with on the app Dragon Brush.  Both are variations on the same story.

Leta Bushyhead, Asian Art Museum storyteller uses objects from the museum collection to illustrate the story about a poor boy named Liang who loved to paint. He was so poor his family didn't have money for a brush, ink or paper.  One night Liang had a dream that he received a paintbrush with the instructions to use it only for good. When he woke up, he found a brush by his bed.The magic paint brush created artwork that became real. He helped the people in his village get food and other things they needed.  The magic brush got a lot of attention and eventually greedy people came to take it away from him. That is not where the story ends however.

Dragon Brush the app was published by Small Planet. John Solimine of Spike Press and Andy Hullinger of AndyHullinger.com are the creators of this entertaining adaptation of this Chinese folk tale. The audio track is especially noteworthy. One difference in the two renditions is that the little boy's name is Bing-Wen in Dragon Brush.


Why do I like it?


1. It is beautifully illustrated.  The illustrations reference classical Chinese art in a way that is familiar and comfortable to Western sensibilities.


2.  It is a story about an empowered child who is clever and resourceful.  In the end he "wins". 


3.  It employs a technique I have not seen before in an app. The reader must use a finger to wipe over the screen and reveal the image that the little boy is painting.  It took some of the three year olds I read this with a while to figure out how they needed to hold their fingers against the screen.  Three is definitely on the lower end of the age range for whom this app is appropriate. Eventually they caught on and enjoyed the story.

Prompt to wipe finger over the screen to reveal Bing-Wen's drawing

4.  It is not just a story with animated components.  There is an option to paint which includes a game to find ink pots hidden in the illustrations of the story.  Each pot allows a pattern or color to be added to the palette in the painting section. The painted images can be saved to the Photo Gallery or shared. As requested with other apps, it would be nice to have an undo.

The dragon I drew with ink pots I found in the story. 
The found ink pots are added to the palette allowing me to use the pattern and ink spots.

6.  This app is a rewarding experience that can be enjoyed over and over. It is appropriate for kids as little as 3 years old and as old as I am. 

Asian Art Museum - I'm a BIG Fan

Ancient Chinese art from the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco

After listening to hours of lectures on iTunes U from the Asian Art Museum, I was thrilled to realize that I was going to be in San Francisco last March.  I knew I had go see the Chinese collection I had heard so much about.

After my trip to China last October, I treat myself to learning as much as I can about all aspects of Chinese culture.  As an artist I have been very influenced by Asian art for many years.  My one regret about my trip was that it was a tour that did not focus specifically on art or art museums.

The Asian Art Museum has  many resources for kids.  I have just started to research what is available.  I found the movie clip above and wanted to share that resource immediately.


I have long had a fascination with ancient cultures and China has one that rivals them all.  I am particularly fascinated with the bronze sculptures of the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties. I think kids will love these objects too.

Bronze Horse Mask
Asian Art Museum

Shang Dynasty Bronze
Asian Art Museum