Events | MASS MoCA

On Friday, June 27th, the Highland Street Foundation sponsored Free Fun Fridays! at MASS MoCA. 771 people came from all over the world–a fact evidenced by an interactive activity that took place in the museum’s main galleries. Upon entering the gallery dedicated to the work of Teresita Fernández–a conceptual artist focused on how changing individual perspectives affects landscapes–visitors were asked to respond to one simple question: “Where are you from?” Approaching the table, that question became more narrowly defined in the form of a quote from Fernández herself:

“Landscape is a cultural construction informed by our own subjective view of the world – not only the visible, natural world (sky, water, land) but also those imagined places that form how we think…”

Children and adults alike responded to this prompt in a variety of ways. Using metallic stickers that mirrored the color and luster of the graphite and gold used in Fernández’s work, many visitors marked their current hometowns. Others marked multiple places they’ve considered home over the years. Children’s responses ranged from a few words to elaborate drawings. Some very creative responses included: “My mom,” “Middle Earth,” “B-612: The Little Prince’s Planet” and “Outer space.” In creating this human landscape, it quickly became clear how diverse our backgrounds truly are–ranging in setting from North Adams to San Francisco to London, Bordeaux, Puerto Rico, and beyond.

In Kidspace, things quickly became creepily cool. As our famous ArtBar has recently been transformed into a laboratory, our “specials” for the day included fun concoctions of play-doh, slime and goo made by our talented lab technicians. Reactions ranged from “This is the best day ever!” to “What is that?” to “EWWWW.” That said, “Free FUN Friday” definitely lived up to its name.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Free Fun Fridays! here at MASS MoCA.

We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

A special thank you to the Highland Street Foundation for your generous support.

There are some things that kids just love. For some reason, brayers (paint rollers) are solidly in that category. It doesn’t matter how simple a project is, if it involves paint brayers, kids are all over it. Yesterday with our after-school group, we made some tin foil monoprints, which we technically could have done without brayers, but the project was a big hit, probably because the kids got a chance to roll on paint using a tool they might not have used before. Give this project a try at home — with or without a fancy brayer!

You’ll need:

tin foil
tempra (washable) paint
q-tips
paper
a brayer (optional)

STEP 1. On a square of tin foil, spread out your paint using a brayer, a spoon, or even just your hands. Be careful to avoid getting too close to the edges.

STEP 2. Use a q-tip to draw in the paint.

STEP 3. When you’re satisfied with your drawing, place a clean piece of paper flat on the foil and apply even

pressure. (We used a clean brayer because they’re awesome, but of course your hands work just as well.)

AND… Voila! Just let dry. We love the texture that the tin foil creates — it looks like a linoblock print, but is way easier to make. Enjoy!

What if your Book Club was led by the very people who created the books you were reading? MASS MoCA has invited Johnny Carrera and Tom Phillips, exhibiting artists of “Life’s Work,” to lead discussion and join audiences for refreshments in our second adult-oriented Book Club educational program. At 6pm on Wednesday, April 3rd, you’ll have the opportunity to hear their thoughts on their own work, each other’s work, the books both projects are based on — and ask them those questions you’ve been wondering.

Phillips’ “A Humument” is a series of treated book pages on “A Human Document,” the Victorian novel by W.H. Mallock. For the last 40 years, Phillips has been continuously altering the individual pages of the book, each edition creating a new concrete text poem. The image above shows the transformation of one such page into a self-portrait of Phillips, accompanied by a few words thoughtfully selected out of the original text. Each page acts as its own individual artwork, yet the words also carry their own separate narrative throughout the volume, complete with recurring characters and story arc.

Maryland-based artist Johnny Carrera has taken on his own life’s work for over fifteen years. Carrera’s project, like Philips’, starts with an existing book: in this case, the original engravings of the 1859 American Dictionary of the English Language originally printed by the Webster’s company. Carrera’s Pictorial Webster’s Dictionary transforms his source to create a new lexicon of words, images and meaning. Together these projects not only offer insights into the working process of two artists but also allow viewers to rethink, books, images and the nature of time.

The event will take place in the “Life’s Work” exhibition, and is FREE to members and students, and $5 for all others. Coffee & cake, wine & cheese will be served.

Free Fun Friday!