Friday 02nd September 2016P.S. Art
Most artists create for the sheer joy of it. No matter what your medium of choice is, it's an impossible urge to ignore. Art for art's sake is all well and good, of course, but sometimes it's nice to get some recognition of our efforts as well, and there are few better ways of getting recognized than to have a gallery show. But the gallery show is actually a distant cousin of the real prize: getting your work into a museum.
To make that giant leap to greatness can take many artists their entire careers. Some only attain the honour posthumously, once they can no longer appreciate it - but not Cliffanie Forester. She's managed to attain this incredible dream at the tender age of 18.
Her piece titled Uganda is hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, along with 88 other selected pieces from high school students. The piece features a young Ugandan girl looking wistfully out of frame, and was painting from a photograph she took during a drop to Uganda.
Her reaction on social media was amazing and spread far and wide, as you might expect from someone so young and so talented. On Instagram, she posted:
"WHO JUST COMPLETED THEIR LIFE GOAL AT AGE 18? ME. AS OF 6/14/16 MY PIECE IS IN THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART."
And then later, she followed it up with:
"People think I'm stopping here bc I achieved my ultimate goal... Lol, I'm getting another piece in the MET one day & nothing will stop me."
If you've been working diligently throughout your artistic career without this kind of milestone, don't worry. Try not to be discouraged in your own work, instead look on her and her fellow winners as an inspiration! She's an amazing girl and she'll no doubt become a force to be reckoned with in the art world in a few years, along with her fellow winners. Congratulations, Cliffanie and all the P.S. Art winners!
To learn more about the P.S. Art project run by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and New York School Department, visit their website here. You can see all the entries from the students in a wide range of ages, as well as more about each of the winners.
Posted on September 02nd 2016 on 08:39pm
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Friday 31st October 2014Museum Hack: The Non-Tour Tour
As surprising as it may be for those of us in the art world to believe, there is a type of person out there who doesn't appreciate museums and galleries, and doesn't understand why they're enjoyable. Sounds almost impossible, right? But there are a huge number of them out there, and they are finally about to get their first chance to really change their minds. At least, if they are in New York City and are considering visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Met as it is affectionately known by those of us who already appreciate it. A new start up named Museum Hack is attempted to shift the hearts and minds of those who see museums as dull, boring places with a set of tours specifically designed for the recalcitrant visitor. Nick Gray, the founder of Museum Hack, was just one such person, until a date (who was apparently an excellent tour guide) showed him around the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
OK, so that might be a bit of an oversimplification - it's not just targeted at grumps who feel dragged along to museums, but also at those who already know they appreciate museums but are simply looking for another way to experience the beauty of the artifacts they showcase. While it's a bit of a cliche at this point to refer to something as a 'hack' (no, using a CD spindle as a bagel holder should not be considered a 'life hack'), their tour of the Met, which is named the UnHighlights Tour, appears to be a favourite among those who have taken it, completely opening the eyes of the participants.
Unlike most tours, which tend to be a what's what of the most famous or prestigious works in the museum, the UnHighlights Tour is focused especially on the stories that make the works interesting, regardless of whether or not they have been specially singled out by the museum itself. To that end, Museum Hack hires tour guides from a wide variety of disciplines and backgrounds, as each guide has a unique take on what makes the museum an appealing place to spend time.
For the moment, they are only offering tours of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History, but they hope to expand soon to the Brooklyn Museum and then on to other American cities. So if you happen to find yourself in New York City, and you're on the fence about whether to visit the venerable Met, take the plunge and sign yourself up for a Museum Hack tour and experience an art museum in an entirely new way.
Posted on October 31st 2014 on 01:18pm
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