Mess Fest Saturday, June 25
Displays of children’s artistic expression are often limited to the family refrigerator. Any child, upon seeing his or her creative endeavors hanging in a real art gallery gets a memorable and validating experience. It doesn’t happen every day, except for the artists whose work appears in the Museum’s Good Show! Gallery.
Filling the Good Show! Gallery with children’s thoughtful work offers many unique opportunities for local students, their families, and for Museum staff in investigating the impact of creating art on critical thinking and creative development. Targeting title one schools, the Museum’s Arts Specialist, works closely with school administrators and teachers to develop art projects that support art, math, science, and literacy curriculum.
Art, Math, and Science Collide
Students in grades 2 and 3 at Naper Elementary had the opportunity to be artists, scientists, and mathematicians. They explored the concept of radial symmetry through playful experimentation and created a piece of art all their own!
Radial symmetry happens in nature — flowers, fruit, and snowflakes are examples. Humans also make things with radial symmetry — like in art, architecture, gears, and wheels. The young artists took their creations in all kinds of wonderful directions.
The students’ artwork expresses their budding understanding of art, math, and science concepts while highlighting their innate ability to imagine, experiment, and see how shapes and colors work together.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.