Families gather at the RISD Museum to collaborate with local artists and students on climate-conserving crafts, visit indoor “campsites,” and contemplate art and sustainability with members of the museum staff.
Last Sunday (Feb. 19) the RISD Museum opened its doors for its biannual Super Art Sunday. Super Art Sunday is not quite like any other day at the museum. The event, as Christina Alderman, the museum’s Director of Family and Teen Programs, explains, “is supposed to be a welcoming moment for people who don’t normally come to the museum—” The day’s plethora of fun activities and unique exhibits is meant to ensure that the “serious” stigma surrounding museums doesn’t deter families with younger children from sharing in the experience.
Visitors were invited to explore various stations created by local artists Mary Lindberg and Meredith Stern as well as Yimeng Yao, a current RISD student. United by the theme of “re-creation,” activities included collage-making, accessorizing, and even gallery design, all using primarily scrap materials. At Lindbeg’s station, participants worked with scrap fabrics and other re-used textiles to design unique patterns or “embellishments” for their clothing. With Stern’s assistance, other visitors arranged old newspaper clippings or various other discarded materials into unique collages. Yao’s group constructed their very own miniature museums, complete with tiny galleries and exhibitions.
The museum’s own resident exhibition, Take Care, served as the centerpiece for the event. Take Care features art dealing with sustainability and land stewardship. If these elements sound familiar, that’s probably because Take Care inspired the day’s overarching theme. As Alderman explains: “A lot of times we’re trying to look for connections between local artists in the community practice and what we have on view… I was talking with some artists who I was inviting, and they were kind of like, well reuse is a huge part of my practice, so let’s talk about that.” Interestingly, Take Care is primarily curated by members of the museum staff. These particular members are part of the Climate Emergency Sustainability (CES) task force, an organization devoted to preserving the environment. During Talk Care, another one of Super Art Sunday’s unique events, visitors were invited to converse with members of the task force who had curated the exhibition.
A temporary exhibit, Rest and Campfire, provided museum-goers the opportunity to relax and take part in “an immersive nighttime campsite experience” constructed completely out of reused materials. Visitors could stay in cardboard tents, warm themselves near “fires,” or explore a campsite populated by mushrooms, logs, and other faux vegetation.
The exhibit was designed by the RISD Art Circle (RAC), a collective of teen artists that meets at the museum every Sunday to explore different exhibitions and collaborate on various projects, often working with the surrounding community. The group possesses the unique ability, according to Alderman, “To design galleries or programs that really make the museum experience different from what it would normally be and have it with different vibes because young people have a different perspective of what the museum should be.”
If you’re interested in finding out about the next Super Art Sunday, continue to monitor the RISD Museum website for more information as its released.
Click below for more information on the…
For more information on the day’s events, see the attached pamphlet:
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