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Category: Education

Summer 2021 Family Programs!

Posted on by jmhatre

Screenprint titled "Humming Bird" by Avis Chitwood and Margaret Evelyn Whittemore, made 20th century from the Beach Museum of Art collection. Shows a nest in a branch of a tree with open mouthed humming bird babies inside. An older humming bird sitting near and about to feed the babies. Another humming bird flying in the air near a flower. Looking for cool activities during the summer? Check out our Summer 2021 Family Programs: 

Join Beach Buddies Facebook Group. Click here!
Enjoy posts about cool art, great books, fun activities, and more!

Virtual ARTSmart Classes: Posts through the week with PDFs available on Friday. Join us for a weekly art adventure featuring animal pairs from Two by Two exhibition. Includes zoological information about the animals, compare and contrast activities, books and stories, and instructions for at home art project. Participants can share thoughts and original art with each other through comments.

BMA Book Buddies – Posts on Saturdays
Introductions to illustrated biographies of artists for children.

Bird Watching – Posts on Sundays, June 6 – August 29
Explore birds through artworks by Maurice Bebb, Margaret Whittemore, and other artists in the Beach Museum of Art’s collection.

Workshops and Events
These events will follow social distancing guidelines. All events are free, but space is limited and reservations are required and can be made using the contact email below. The museum reserves the right to cancel the event if health restrictions are necessary.

Outdoor Nature Art in the Meadow – June
Participants will receive a free copy of On the Nature Trail activity book and art supplies. Each session will include rich language activities, Spanish vocabulary, magnification tools, and drawing. Funded by a USD 383 K-LINK Community
Partner Literacy Grant.
Please sign up for one of the following sessions (limit 10 children per group):
June 5, 9:30-10:30 | June 10, 9:30-10:30 | June 25, 9:30-10:30 | June 30, 9:30-10:30

Two by Two Open House – July 15
Activities include a compare and contrast game in the galleries, mask making, origami, and collage projects. Each family will receive a free copy of Becoming a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery and Rebecca Green there will be a drawing for a copy of Counting Creatures by Julia Donaldson and Sharon King Chai for each time slot. Funded by a USD 383 K-LINK Community Partner Literacy Grant.
Please sign up for one of the following sessions (limit 7 families session)
10-11:30 | 1-2:30 | 3:30-5 | 6-7:30

Free Draw in The Meadow, Tuesdays 9:30-10:30, June 7 – August 5, weather permitting
Drawing supplies provided on a first come first serve basis. Reservations are not required.

For more information contact: Kathrine Schlageck, Associate Curator of Education at klwalk@ksu.edu

Top image: Avis Chitwood and Margaret Evelyn Whittemore, Humming
Bird, 20th century, screenprint, 7 5/8 x 4 in., gift of Jim and
Virginia Moffett, 2006.83

Week of the Young Child Celebration

Posted on by Kelsey Longpine

Week of the Young Child Celebration
Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art
Saturday, April 21, 2018

The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration first established by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). It publicly focuses on the needs of young children and their families, while recognizing the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

The Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, the Kansas Association for the Education of Young Children, USD 383 Early Learning Centers, Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities and K-State Center for Child Development have partnered to celebrate the Week of the Young Child in our community.

Open House 1:30 – 3:00 pm

Visit stations around the museum with featured works from Picturing America produced by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Children’s Art on Display:  USD 383 Early Learning Centers families and children’s “Creative Minds at Work”  April 20 and 21, open hours
Classroom staff took a day and had the families come in and spend time with their child/ren putting their creative minds to work on the theme of water to go with the exhibition “Water Stories.” This is one way USD 383 Early Learning Centers staff and parents share the world of art with their children and are able to build on their school readiness skills and parents are able to be a part of the process.

Guest Blogger: Miki Loschky

Posted on by Kelsey Longpine

The Forever Museum of Contemporary Art (FMOCA) is located in the heart of Kyoto, Japan’s historic entertainment district, the Gion. The museum is now showing “My Soul Forever,” through Feb. 25, featuring the work of pop artist Yayoi Kusama.  The museum’s name is closely linked to a main theme of Kusama’s work: infinity.  By the end of a visit to FMOCA, one may come to appreciate Kusama’s use of the repeated patterns of dots and nets to represent the world in terms of its limitlessness and timelessness.  Pictured below is a 1992 work by Kusama (Yellow Trees, acrylic on canvas) in which a seemingly infinite number of tree root-like figures are intertwined in a seemingly endless manner.

As you enter the museum site, a giant pumpkin with polka dots greets you (Pumpkin, 2007, mixed media). This 5-meter-tall 3-D art seems to clash with the traditional Japanese architecture behind it. The building that houses the museum was originally a performance theater for geiko (the better known word geisha is referred to as geiko in Kyoto), and was built in 1873.  Inside the museum, her colorful, surreal style may look out of place in the subtle tonality of a traditional tatami (straw mat flooring) room to many eyes.

Without a doubt, the highlight of exhibition is A Boat Carrying My Soul (1989, Mixed media), which sits on the former Miyako dance stage.  Kusama used a life-sized wooden boat filled with fabric covered objects resembling colorful fruits.  As the title suggests, she created the boat as if it were a vehicle to ride to the next world or into eternity -certainly a departure from the current world.  For a short video filmed by Les Loschky, please click here. https://youtu.be/i0aHZqulCWc

For those who wish to enjoy Kusama’s work both inside and out, the museum offers light meals and desserts in the cafeteria, where they serve Kusama-inspired sweets, including strawberry roll cakes with polka dots.

My whole experience at FMOCA has led me to realize that even traditional Japanese art forms (e.g., Miyako dance, the traditional performance art of Kyoto geisha) were part of pop culture at one time. Thus, the installation of Kusama’s work at the former Gion Kaburenjyo Theater makes perfect sense. Like the art of Miyako dance these artworks transport the viewer to another place and time.

The photos above are of the only things visitors are allowed to photograph in Kusama’s exhibit.  Here is the link to additional views from their website. http://www.fmoca.jp/

Reported by Miki Loschky, Beach Museum of Art