Do Art Make Stuff

"my name is alice and I make art out of junk!"

Recently I visited a friend and saw this on her dining room table. "It's here all the time. I can't move anything even an inch or she notices!" said Alice's mom. Alice is 6 years old and is a sculptress/installation artist, among other things. This summer Alice was in art camp with me. She especially loved the "junk garden" like a lot of kid-artists do. When Ethan age 9 saw Alice's art he exclaimed "That is so cool! I love it SOOO much!"

 

This is Alice's spot. She has her computer, books she's made, purses, flowers, even a cheetah skin rug - all made out of junk. The 3 tube object seen in front of the computer is her vitamin taker. "She can't take her vitamins in the morning without it." says her mom. Of course all this wouldn't be complete without her boxy little sports car.

 

At the time of this article Alice was also working on another sculpture. She got the idea for it when her mom told her about the clear platform shoes Elton John had once worn which contained a goldfish! This homage in progress is called Goldfish Chair. It is made from a plastic container and will be lined with the colorful pattern Alice has designed.

 

watercolors: an interview with marisa and natasha

Marisa and Natasha are sisters. I had a chance to sit down with them over pizza (well, Natasha had garlic knots not liking pizza) and talk to them about working with watercolors. At the mention of watercolors Natasha said "Can we do it again?"

When asked about her piece called Map Watercolor then later in the interview changed to The Map of Many Waters, Marisa age 9 said: "The paint would go anywhere and it would run down the paper and it looked like a stream. I saw the Chinese art you showed us and it reminded me of a map but watercolors have a mind of their own. When I would put more color it would make more streams and it kept expanding!"

artwork by marisa age 9, the map of many waters

In class Natasha, age 5,  yelled "This isn't doing what I want it to!" (to which Marisa responded with her watercolors having a mind of their own theory). In our interview I asked her why she yelled this. She replied: "The reason I said it wasn't coming out nice was because it was all sloppy. I put paint in it. I was using water crayons. I was trying to make a beautiful picture but the paints were messed up!"

artwork by natasha age 5, watercolor