CORNING, NY – Timed with the kick-off to summer vacation, The Rockwell Museum announced today new activities in the Family Exploration Studio. A drop-in gallery with 8+ activity stations for kids and their grown-ups, The Family Exploration studio is designed to make art accessible to kids, and inspire an appreciation for art at a young age. Each station has a collection connection and parents become gallery experts to guide their families through the story of art throughout America. The Family Exploration Studio is open every day, during regular museum hours of 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. all summer long. Kids and teens 17 & under are always free and residents pay $5.00, 50% off regular admission (residing in zip codes beginning with 148, 149, and 169).
Create Your Own Scenic Landscape
A landscape is a picture of land, which includes many landforms such as mountains, cliffs, gorges, valleys, deserts and caves. The types of landforms differ from place to place in the United States.
Design your own landscape by overlapping the variety of transparent landform shapes.
See what happens when you overlap different colors. Take a picture of your creation and share on Facebook/Twitter with #RockwellMuseum.
Collection Connection: Look at the landscape paintings in the third floor Galleries and see if you can identify any landforms in them. Do you see a bluff, a waterfall, a forest, a lake etc.?
Still Life Drawing
Artists study everyday objects such as flowers, fruit, vases, pitchers etc. Everyday objects can make a beautiful picture called a still life.
Draw your own still life:
1) Set out on the turntable near you, the objects you wish to draw. Feel free to turn it to adjust the angle.
2) Use a viewfinder to help frame your still life in a defined space
3) Look through the hole of the viewfinder to study the shapes, edges of the objects, light and space around and in-between the objects
4) Draw using the colored pencils
5) Remember to fill the page – it’s okay if lines go to the very edge of your paper
6) Have fun!
Collection Connection: Look at the painting titled, “Don’t Look Back” by Jason Cytacki on the 3rd floor in the Cowboy Gallery. This scene was painted from a diorama (a miniature scene) composed of old toys, objects and pieces of cut-out cardboard.
Illustrate a Magazine Cover
Imagine you are living back in the 1900s, at a time before photography was used in books and magazines. You have been hired to illustrate (draw) the cover of The Rockwell’s newest magazine.
Draw a picture of something you experienced or saw today in the Museum.
Then write a story about what’s going on in your illustration (picture).
Bonus: Share your masterpiece with the world using #RockwellMuseum
Collection Connection: Look at the illustrated works on display in the American Illustrators Gallery on the 3rd floor.
About The Rockwell Museum: A Smithsonian Affiliate
Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016, The Rockwell is an evolving community center which showcases the best of America through compelling exhibitions and imaginative programs. The diverse collection includes a mix of contemporary American art with traditional bronze sculptures, landscape paintings and other works that embody the American experience. Housed in the beautifully restored 19th century Old City Hall building, The Rockwell is active in the local community and holds special events and educational programming with area public schools. The Rockwell provokes curiosity, engagement and reflection about art and the American experience.
