Swell Sculpture Festival - Gold Coast QLD

If you live near the Gold Coast, this weekend is your last chance to see the Swell outdoor sculpture festival along Pacific Parade, Currumbin.

This years festival features 50 sculptural pieces which blend into the grass, dunes and sand between Currumbin Rock and Elephant Rock.

The Swell Sculpture Festival was started 6 years ago by two mothers, Natasha Edwards and Kylie Mitchell-Smith, who wished for an art space that was easier to take children to than a gallery. Whilst the sculptural pieces aren't aimed at children, we only noticed one "do not touch" sign, and for the rest of our morning joined swarms of school children touching, climbing on, and contemplating sculptural materials, processes and intentions.

On the final Sunday of the festival, 21 September, there is going to be a large kite installation for kids at 2pm led by Ruth James. The festival is free and highly recommended.

Images from top to bottom: Scorpsi by Daniel Clemmett, Grass Cubed by Shelly Kelly, Alchemy by Susie Olsen and Forest Meets the Sea by Clyde Watts and Dean Nikijuluw

Ipswich Art Gallery Holiday Workshops - QLD

Ipswich Art Gallery is holding a number of free workshops for kids these school holidays. The workshops will cover circus skills, drumming, recycled art and relaxation/meditation. You do not need to book your attendance at the workshops which span the period of 30 June - 11 July. See this page on the Ipswich Art Gallery website for more details.

Yo Picasso Kids - Qld

Yo Picasso Kids is on at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, from 9 June - 14 September 2008.

Children have the opportunity to make paper masks using pencils, scissors and elastic, and paper sculptures as shown in the photo accompanying this post.

Yo Picasso Kids is not particularly inclusive of younger age groups but from my obsevations the 5-8 year old groups enjoyed themselves.

For secondary school students the GOMA has an I Love Art History program to develop an understanding of the Picasso and his Collection exhibition from an historical perspective.

What Does Red do on Thursday? Review

We saw the performance What Does Red do on Thursday? at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre today as part of the Out of the Box Festival.


The piece was performed by Joachim Torbahn, one of the founders of the German touring performance company Thalias Kompagnons.

The performance revolved around a transparent canvas, in a darkened room, and told the story of a red dot. Torbahn's narration was minimal. He told us that the story was in seven chapters, and at the start of each chapter he explained in a few words what red was about to do.

The story of red then came alive as Torbahn stood behind the transparent canvas and painted each chapter to classical music.

The children in the audience were entranced with the performance from start to end, gasping when Torbahn used a huge paint brush, spontaneously clapping when he painted something impressive, and calling out the names of things they recognised.

The Out of the Box Festival is a highly organised event and despite the crowds of children its attracting, we had no trouble with parking, eating or moving around with a double stroller!

If you live in South East Queensland I highly recommend you go to Southbank this weekend, book yourselves a ticket to What Does Red do on Thursday? and take in the free events which are spread around the arts complexes.

Art in Queensland - Beautiful One Day, Perfect the Next!

We moved to Queensland in January 2007. We were excited to be moving back to a city after living in the Hunter Valley for 10 years. It was with some trepidation that we ventured out into the South Bank Precinct as our only exposure to the area was World Expo in 1988.

To our pleasant surprise South Bank is a fantastic area for families, kids, parents and everyone in-between. You have a wonderful expansive view of the city and river, everything is well planned and most importantly, the main galleries, performing art centres and libraries are all in the same area of South Bank.

Most definitely Brisbane is now a city to rival Sydney and Melbourne as it seems to have a better balance between culture and lifestyle. The Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) is our favourite building and art space. Beautiful architecture, wonderful feeling of space, lovely large white walls for exhibiting and a great cafe as well.

Will bring you more from the city dubbed BrisVegas as soon as I get my Hasselblad 501c out and start photographing!!

Cheers
Merc
--
Tours for kids
11.30am & 1.00pm every Sunday (GoMA)
September October November 2007
Tours of works in the Queensland Art Gallery Collection are offered for children aged 4-10 and their family or carers. The 25 minute, interactive tours encourage children to discover the unexpected in the ordinary and to consider ways contemporary artists use many elements to make one art work. Meet at the Information Desk, GoMA.
No bookings required Suitable for children aged 4–10, and their families. Meet at the Stanley Place Information Desk, QAG.

Ultimo Science Festival - Review

We visited the ABC centre in Harris st to visit the Ultimo Science Festival.

Children were invited to take part in hands on activities such as looking through a microscope to count the number of eyes on a funnel web spider. They could solder their own flashing light toy and engage with the many scientists who were also there assisting and encouraging.

The highlight for my 9 year old was Ruben Meerman, the surfing scientist who demonstrated some impressive experiments with dry ice, balloons and potatoes.

Stand up mathematician, Simon Pampena, gave an hysterical dancing and screaming performance sharing his passion for numbers with the audience.

My problem now is: How do I explain again to my son those answers he gave for 0 divided by 0?

Review by Kathryn Cronshaw

Other activities included

Calico Bags Block Printing
Using hand carved stamps and artists quality paint to depict processes and systems in nature on a canvas shopping bag. Choosing from an insect’s life cycle, root system of a native grass, stormwater waste stream, fresh water pond life and much much more.

Leonardo da Vinci: Models of Genius
A talk about the working models based on the artist's sketches and notebooks. Demonstrating Leonardo da Vinci's uncanny foretelling of 'modern' innovations such as paddle wheel boats, double hulls for ships, the anemometer and hygrometer.

MCA Art Baby

The Museum of Contemporary Arts Art Baby had big shoes to fill after the thrill of a bus ride from Randwick to Circular Quay for my 18-month old Layla! Having booked a handful of spots for some mums from Playgroup (bookings are essential but no need to pay in advance), we rendez vous'd down at Circular Quay on a spectacularly sunny day for the 10am start.

The MCA's staff were delightful. Friendly, helpful, understanding (the tour is actually designed for parents and carers of children under 2yrs, not the kids themselves), and informative. We were split into two groups to tour the MCA and the Craigie Horsfield exhibition, a stunning collection of photography and multimedia installations.

The benefits of MCA's Art Baby are many - tour the current exhibition with your baby or toddler in tow without that nagging feeling you might be annoying those around you (you're all in the same boat), get some excellent insights into the artists on show from the tour guide, introduce your baby or toddler to the wonderful world of art, multimedia, and the stunning MCA itself, and the opportunity to relax afterwards with other parents and carers in the sun-drenched cafe for a generous morning tea including tea, espressos, biscuits, and fruit.

This was a great morning out and thoroughly recommended. As the exhibitions at the MCA change regularly, there's good reason to keep on keeping on with Art Baby.

--

The next Art Baby events are on Tuesday 17 July and Tuesday 28 August 2007. Admission: $12/$10 MCA Members (kids under two free, morning tea included).
Bookings essential (Mon - Fri): 02 9245 2484 or education@mca.com.au to join the MCA Art Baby mailing list for updates on these popular events!
Find out how to get there at http://www.131500.com.au.

Participants at MCA Art Baby event, Museum of Contemporary Art, May 2007