Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Immersing Children in Water

© Hannah Phelps
Detail of Big Wave Day
oil on canvas

Great things are happening this coming summer!

The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire has asked me for a few paintings for their upcoming group exhibit: Water - Blue Gold: Essential to All Life on Earth.

Tess Feltes, an artist herself and the curator of the Museum’s fine art space, Gallery 6, describes the show as “centered around this question, ‘Which is more precious - water or gold?’ You might predict a child would choose ‘gold’ but before answering, we are asking visitors to consider the facts outlined in the exhibit.”

All of  the artwork will feature water in some way. Some of it will be serious, but there will be some fun too - like a dog playing in the ocean perhaps....?

The Children’s Museum of NH has interactive exhibits all over the museum, but Gallery 6 - the central corridor that slopes from the first to second floors - is dedicated to fine art. 

The current exhibit, Black and White, showcases pen and ink drawings, photographs, scratchboard prints, collages and other interesting, colorless work. Tools of the trade hang next to artwork with explanations about how artists use pencils, brushes and other accessories to express an idea without using hue.

Children and their parents can rush from one game-like console to the other without looking at the artwork if they wish. 

But more likely, something catches their interest and they stop and study a piece and maybe wonder how it was done. Or where or by whom. And that starts them thinking about the process of art just as they wonder about the task of digging a dinosaur skeleton out of the ground or how a tiny seed becomes a giant tree.

To experience the magic of science and art for yourself despite your calendar age, be sure to visit Water: Blue Gold this summer!  

6 Washington Street
Dover, NH 03820

May 25 - Labor Day 2011
Reception: June 1st 5:30 - 7 pm
Psst: I promise that there will be delicious adult beverages at the reception....



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2 comments:

Barbara Carr said...

What fun! I will certainly try to be there!

Hannah Phelps said...

I think it is going to be a great show, Barbara. You could paint Great Bay or something to make the drive worthwhile!