From Hara Museum ARC, Gunma
The museum was recently host to some very cute visitors: a group of students from Seishin Kindergarten in Maebashi, accompanied by their art teacher Mr. Yuta Nakajima and Ms. Madoka Maki of Showa Women’s University, a researcher in the field of art appreciation education. The round-trip journey to the museum was made on public transportation, so it was quite a little adventure for the little toddlers!
First on the agenda was a tour of the artwork, which the students thoroughly enjoyed. Here they are talking enthusiastically with Madoka in the contemporary art galleries. Later, they trotted outside for a good look at the outdoor installations.
The museum staff also lent a hand, answering questions like “What do you do at the museum?”
After their tour, the students took part in an outdoor workshop together with Mr. Yuta Nakajima.
The goal of the workshop was to have the children have fun with colors and get some exercise by making an artwork themselves, like the ones scattered around the ARC. This one, however, would be large enough for all of them to get into.
With the children in the center, the teachers encircled them with a large sheet of canvas. The children then ran and skipped in a circle inside, drawing freely with white-colored crayons onto the canvas surface, which sometimes moved as well.
The canvas sheet was taken back to their school, where the students will use their feet to apply color paint in order to make the white crayon marks become visible. It will be interesting to see what appears!
We will long remember the energy and happy faces that the children brought with them that day and hope they will come again!