Tuesday 17 July 2012

Kids Get Arty – "strange" Magritte


Being an artist herself, my Mum got excited about the Kids Get Arty project when we joined in last time. She got the ball rolling with this one, introducing Cakey to Magritte (Belgian surrealist artist 1898-1967).

Mum showed Cakey some of Magritte's paintings. They talked about how he placed objects out of context and used scale to create surrealist or as Cakey phrased it, "strange" paintings. Cakey returned from a visit to my mum armed with a collage, an art book of Magritte's work and a stack of magazines. She giggled when she showed me her collage... pointing out how she had placed a large pair of slippered feet in a little ocean.

Le Chateau des Pyrennees by Rene Magritte
Cakey's first surrealist collage

The surrealist collages continued the following day, this time Boo got to join in. It was really very simple. I was on scissor duty cutting out requested images. Cakey and Boo, each with their own glue sticks, got to work putting together their collages.

Cakey wanted to make everything as silly as possible. There was definitely something about this project that appealed to her developing sense of humour. Cakey found it hilarious when she placed a girl on top of a rabbit and floated cupcakes in the sky.

Cakey stuck all her collages together, I am not sure which way is up
The details: Cakey told me that this is a stack of pancakes with a very small bottle of maple syrup (milk)
More details: A floating umbrella above a giant Princess Mary visiting a little Eiffel Tower

And, for the first time ever Boo actually glued paper to paper. It's an art miracle! Normally she just sits there and eats the glue.

Boo's collage

If this is your first visit to at home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along through our facebook page or subscribe via email or RSS. Cheers Ali

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Linking up to Kids Get Arty

24 comments:

  1. Oooh what fun! I love Magritte and it is a great fun bit of art to explore with kids - all that imagination and craziness! Brilliant. Love your collages, they look fabulous.

    Thank you for joining in at Kids Get Arty!!! :-)

    Maggy (off to pin now!)

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    1. I am loving your series.... and now I am thinking who we are going to do next.

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    2. I know, we are pondering what to do next! Love how much I (!) am learning ;-)

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  2. fun! Have to read more on surrealism. Thank you for introducing this artform.

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    1. No problem at all Mansi. Magritte has some weird and wonderful paintings.

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  3. What fun! So nice to have a Grandma who can inspire and enjoy your little ones.

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    1. We are very lucky in that regard, we have very involved grandparents.

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  4. Love you creativity Ali and that the girls are embracing everything you introduce to them...Henry used a paintbrush on paper yesterday without painting his hands. From little things, big things grow x

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    1. Thanks Sarah, my girls favourite thing to do is art and craft.... or actually it is their second favourite thing to do. I think tv is their first. that is funny about henry, my girls still paint their hands and their arms and their legs....

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  5. What a great artist to explore it's looks so fun and I know a little boy who would have great fun having a go although I think T is still very much at the eating glue stage (so glad she's not the only one)

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    1. Oh Cerys, the glue eating drives me nuts.

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  6. Haha SO much more fun than eating the glue.

    What a fabulous artist to explore and a really fun project. x

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    1. thanks..... yeah she really likes the taste of glue, go figure!!

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  7. What a great way to let your kids explore this artist!

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  8. Magritte was one of my favourite artists when I was a teenager. I think your collages really do his work justice.

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    1. Magritte is so cool, floating rocks and umbrellas in the sky - so much to love :)

      Thanks for visiting.

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  9. What an interesting post!Those collages look like such fun and they are really clever!

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    1. Thanks Jode, They were fun and we will definitely be doing more and more.

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  10. This is wonderful! I love that you witnessed an actual art miracle! Awesome. My daughter finds doing magazine collages hilarious, too. There's something really funny about mixing all those photos together, I guess. What a great artist for kids to learn about- I'm glad I found you through the linkup!

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    1. Thank you, I can't wait to come and visit you too.

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  11. This is wonderful. We opted to do something a bit differently this time as well and went with photos of Pop Art (Warhol). It is so wonderful to introduce many different forms of art. I haven't even heard of Magritte so I learned something new today myself - yay for Kids Get Arty! :)

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    1. I will have to pop over and have a look at your Warhol pieces.

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  12. Welcome to a new Linky Party for Kid-Focused Bloggers. Monday Kid Corner is a place to share your kid-friendly activities and crafts. Please join us at www.mondaykidcorner.blogspot.com. See you there!

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