Press Release: Inside Art Debuts at LICM

What would it be like to step inside a painting? Find out when Long Island Children’s Museum opens Inside Art: The World Inside the Frame™ on Saturday, February 3, 2007.

During the exhibit’s three-month stay, children can don a pair of overalls and join the other farmhands for a meal in Grant Wood’s vintage farmhouse scene, Dinner for Threshers. Then arrange a ceremonial pillar of flowers in Diego Rivera’s Corn Festival mural. Or maybe you’d like to explore the turn-of-the-century campsite in John Singer Sargent’s Camp at Lake O’Hara? Feel like taking a ride on a giant chicken? Climb on and grab the reins in folk artist Clementine Hunter’s Big Chicken.

Inside Art will enable children and adults to be exposed to and make a connection with art providing one of the necessary keys to aesthetic development. Children enter the Inside Art exhibition by stepping through a framed painting and walk into a world that immerses them in several featured paintings by well-known artists. Each work is re-created as a three-dimensional, walk-in environment that includes a print of the artist’s original work, as well as important facts about the artist’s life and painting style.

“Inside Art is an exciting way to encourage children and adults to value and participate in the visual arts,” says LICM Executive Director Suzanne LeBlanc. “At the Children’s Museum we believe that there is a vital need for public spaces that exhibit creative works. This exhibit allows us to expand the museum’s art focus. ”

Inside Art™ draws upon the research and theories of psychologist Abigail Housen and her stages of aesthetic development, Inside Art™ also uses the Visual Thinking Strategies by Visual Understanding in Education, and supports the National Standards for Arts Education for K through 4th grade. The exhibit text is presented in English and Spanish.

Visitors to the Children’s Museum are surrounded by artistic elements that enable children, from the earliest age, to spend time with art. From the brushed silver sculpture entry that defines the popular Bubbles gallery to David Byer-Tyre’s original tactile art in the Changes and Challenges exhibit, families are invited to develop an appreciation of various artistic styles.

LICM aids families in their aesthetic growth by providing opportunities to learn from visiting artists. During its Salvage City exhibit (June–September 2006) children were able to work alongside artist-in-residence Shirley Panton Parker as they constructed art pieces from recycled materials.

Each month the Children’s Museum features the artwork of local children in its Community Gallery. “Exhibiting the artwork of our community’s children is one way to encourage them to value and participate in the visual arts,” notes LeBlanc. “Inside Art will help children and adults to make personal connections to art that will, hopefully, initiate a lifelong appreciation for art. ”

During their time “inside the frame,” additional activities will draw children into explorations of art around the world and throughout history. Visitors can build a sculpture; investigate original artwork made by children, go on an art hunt or become the Mona Lisa. Exhibit text is presented in English and Spanish.

Inside Art: The World Inside the Frame,™ a traveling exhibit created by KidZibits, LLC, of Minneapolis, will run from February 3 through April 29, 2007 at Long Island Children’s Museum. LICM is open Tuesday–Sunday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Museum admission is $9 for adults and children over 1 year old, $8 for seniors and free to members and children under 1 year old.

All activities will be held at the Long Island Children’s Museum, 11 Davis Avenue, Garden City, NY. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Museum admission: $9 for adults and children over 1 year old, $8 seniors, FREE to museum members and children under 1 year old. Additional fees for theater and special programs may apply. For additional information, contact 516-224-5800.

Museum Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Closed Monday.

About the Long Island Children’s Museum
Long Island Children’s Museum (LICM) is a learning laboratory where hands-on exhibits invite visitors to experiment, examine and play. Through lively interdisciplinary activities, children and adults can share in the excitement of the learning process as they explore the world in which we live. The museum is designed for infants through 12 and their grownups. LICM is a not-for-profit institution chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. For more information, visit http: //www.licm.org/.



Inside Art: The World Inside the Frame™

#1 - Step through a framed painting to experience Inside Art at Long Island Children’s Museum

#2 - Visitors can explore how one of the most famous art images has been reinterpreted through time.