My children gave me a chance to see the exhibition “Making Africa” more deeply. It sounds like a joke, but they are teaching me to look at art. You can read about that part in yesterday’s post. While walking through the contemporary design exhibition “Making Africa,” it became clear that if I was going to …
From Art
Kevin Cole
When do you talk to your children about racial injustice? September Gray, a gallery owner in Atlanta, will open an exhibition at the end of the month that is all about the dialogue. The upcoming show, “IF NOT NOW…WHEN?,” showcases six artists who have something to say about the history and present of racial injustice. …
Family Art Review: Tape Des Moines
At “Tape Des Moines” by Numen/ For Use (2017), we took photos, we laid on the floor, and we talked. I asked my son why he thought it was made of tape. He said, “Because the artist wants us to think about it.” Why do I take my children to see art with me? Because I …
Tape Des Moines: Photos
Numen For/Use is a collective of artists based in Europe (starting in Croatia). Their art installations include organic forms made of translucent tape that are suspended in space. They are made entirely by hand and without any computer modeling. “Tape Des Moines” is Numen For/Use’s first art installation in the United States. It is situated …
Article for The Other Journal
I wrote about The Floating Piers, an environmental art installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, for The Other Journal. In this take, I unpack what the subject of this artwork really is through our story to get there and attempt to show how the real experience of a temporary, celebrity art installation is different than it will …
Frank Stella: Play
Frank Stella is an abstract painter and printmaker who loves car racing. His print Talladega Three/II is inspired by the famous race track in Alabama. The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts’ “Race to Abstraction” is a display in the children’s gallery explaining the context of this piece. Along with photographs of the Talladega race track, there is …
Travel to Gee’s Bend
I had two things on my mind when we started this road trip a few weeks ago. First, I am raising three white boys in Alabama, and I wonder what they will grow up to think about race and power. Second, I am so loved. My partner-in-crime surprised us by arranging an adventure to see …
I Don’t Want to See My Neighbors Anymore by Carlos Garaicoa
My 3 year old took off weaving through this installation. Even though most of the walls came up to his waist (at most his shoulders), he suddenly started wailing because he felt trapped between the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall. “Yo no quiero ver mas a mis vecinos,” (I Don’t Want to See My Neighbors Anymore) is …
Anish Kapoor
“One of the constants in the work of Anish Kapoor is the creation of openings on the crust of the world,” says Pier Luigi Tazzi (source). Earlier this week, I wrote about our experience of Anish Kapoor’s artwork “Aima.” His whirlpool “Descension” is in Brooklyn Bridge Park all summer. Below are more moments of descension and ascension the …
Anish Kapoor at Castello di Ama
In 2004, Anish Kapoor opened up the floor of this chapel at Castello di Ama. I visited it last summer with my husband and two preschool aged boys. I’ve been writing about our trip for a while, including my experience touring this art collection and winery. Walking into the oldest chapel in the village, there is …