Learn how a unique collaboration results in Kaz Oshiro: Chasing Ghosts and how your family can make a date to create art at Charles White Elementary School this March and April as part of LACMA’s Off-Site Family Day programming.
FAMILY DAY: March 8 – Families can tour Charles White and do art projects
FAMILY DAY: April 6 – Tour the Charles White during CICLaVIA and make projects with Mobile Mural Truck
The Charles White Elementary School is the site of a unique collaboration between a major cultural institution, a local artist and kids in elementary school. In this unique partnership, LACMA selects a local artist and works with him or her to identify art in the museum’s permanent collection that can inspire a project to be completed in collaboration with the students at Charles White.
The work then goes on view at the school, and is open to the visit on a few select days of the year. The current exhibit Kaz Oshiro: Chasing Ghosts is open to the public on March 8, April 12, May 10, and June 7, 2014 (when the show also closes). Galleries on view from noon to 4:30 PM.
Oshiro is recognized for re-creating full-size replicas of everyday objects—including microwaves, dumpsters, and file cabinets—constructed mostly from canvas. The objects from LACMA’s permanent collection selected by Oshiro, and included in the show, includes works by artists Lee Krasner, John Altoon, and Mark Grotjahn. Also, Kaz Oshiro’s Dumpster (Yellow and Blue Swoosh) (2010), a recent gift to LACMA’s collection, will be on view in the Charles White Elementary School Gallery for the first time since being acquired in 2012.
So, how do the kids interact with the artist?
“To create the collective artwork, Oshiro first met the children through grade-level assemblies, where he discussed ways that unconventional tools and processes could be employed to create paintings. To a score of involuntary gasps from the children, Oshiro demonstrated both invented and established techniques for making art, including blowing paint through a tube and sweeping pigment with a broom.” (From LACMA’s UNFRAMED blog).
The coolest part is that Oshiro encouraged the kids to get paint on the wall in new, unconventional ways. Talk about a great art class — these kids are riding a stationary bike that sprays paint on the gallery walls!
Prior projects at Charles White Elementary include Shinique Smith: Firsthand and A is for Zebra.
