Aspiring & Abstract Art: Display

Art is inspiring for all ages. How should you display it?

Ideas:

• Sketch pad notebooks, you can start more than 1 at a time. 
• Add artwork to your refrigerator with magnets, rotate new art to display.
• Tape art to the wall for a set period of time, gallery style.
• Add a frame and rotate images around your room or the house, customize your frame as its own art.
• Write a short description (a few adjectives or a full sentence) and the date (date/month/year, month/year, year) on the back of your work.
• Purchase a digital frame and add images of your art work or artwork that you love.
• Take pictures of the artwork and store in a dated digital album, set as your wallpaper or print as an album.
• Place artwork in sheet protectors and fill-up a binder or storage bin. Keep stored on shelf to avoid water damage.
• Visit art galleries and museums, both well known and local, to see and experience different styles of art and display.
• Invest in the supplies that you love and also look for ways to try something new, collaboration art?

Create your own abstract style and add a comment below:

How do you display your art? Post a picture and describe why you chose this display style.

Aspiring & Abstract Art: All Ages

Art is inspiring for all ages. Find the supplies you like and try out ways to creatively express your unique style.

Ideas:

Brushes, pens, pencils, fingers.

Crayons, markers, glitters, glues.

Inks, paints, fabrics, chalks.

Charcoal, graphite, carbon, wax.

Acrylic, oil, watercolor, pastel.

Permanent, washable, fountain, fine tip.

Don't forget about digital art!

Support local art stores and larger distributors with physical and digital purchases to find exactly what you need.

Walmart, Target, Amazon, Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Joann's, Blick, U.S. Art Supply

Create your own abstract style and add a comment below:

What art supplies do you use? Post a picture and describe how you use them to create art.

Aspiring & Abstract Art: 5-12 Year Olds

Art is inspiring for all ages. Encourage 5-12 year olds to explore their creativity independently and invest in materials that will help them take their art to the next level. Be willing to learn new art techniques with them or respect if they prefer to do this as an activity by themselves.

Materials: pencils and a sharpener for shading, cotton canvas for painting, charcoal or oil pastels.

Activity ideas: choose a piece of artwork that you specifically love and offer to purchase it to teach them the value of their work, invest in an art class or how-to book to learn specific techniques, watch videos online and try to draw along with them.

Pro-tips: They may start work and not finish it, try not to put any extra pressure on their creative process even if you've invested in specific supplies. Remember to stay patient and understanding as they start to explore their identity through art, look for ways to encourage and remind them that you value their unique artwork.

Aspiring & Abstract Art: 3-4 Year Olds

Art is inspiring for all ages. Encourage 3-4 year olds to explore their creativity by introducing new materials with supervision and at the discretion of what each unique child can handle. This can be fun and very messy! Encouraging anything and everything that the child creates is important, letting them know that you are interested in what they have made even if you don't understand it or they can't fully explain it. 

Materials: multi-colored pack of construction paper, coloring and activity books, crayons, washable markers, tape, stickers, glue sticks or liquid school glue, glitter, variety of washable paints (watercolor, puff, tempera), scissors.

Activity ideas: introduce 1 coloring and sticker sheet at a time, create an extended canvas by pulling out paper from an easel roll and taping it down on the table or the floor, take time to relax and do art with little ones.

Pro-tips: dedicated time and space for art, consider purchasing an easel, look for coloring books that have 100+ pages and sticker books with many sheets and varieties, try not to stress about the mess, encourage children to take responsibility for cleaning up their art area and do this with them as an incentive to continue doing fun and unique art projects.

Aspiring & Abstract Art: 1-2 Year Olds

Art is inspiring for all ages. Encourage 1-2 year olds to explore their creativity by setting out paper as a canvas for their scribbles. Holding a crayon or marker is most important to start getting familiar with the spacial awareness of their canvas.

Materials: multi-colored pack of construction paper, crayons, washable markers, tape, stickers.

Activity ideas: draw outlines of shapes and call out the shape to help them identify as they fill in the color of their choice, put stickers out on the table for them to grab and put on their paper.

Pro-tip: set out a few crayons or markers for them to choose from so that they can be creative without creating a mess with too many supplies.

  

 

 

 

  

Create your own abstract style and add a comment below:
Post a picture of artwork from your child, niece/nephew, grand daughter/son, neighbor.
What art supplies did they use?

Global Art: Museums

Visit art museums by taking a tour and exploring exhibits both digitally and physically!

• Google Arts & Culture
• 20 Famous Art Museums You Can Visit from Your Living Room
• The 75 Best Virtual Museum Tours Around the World [Art, History, Science, and Technology]
• World-Class Museum Tours and Exhibits to Visit Online

Global Art: Community

Art is healing and calming for our minds and bodies as individuals and as a community. Support performing arts, centers, organizations, foundations, education, alliances by participating, attending, and encouraging yourself and others to express creativity locally and globally. 

• Americans for the Arts
• Art & Healing Organizations & Programs
• Autism Speaks
• Council for Art Education
• Global Foundation for the Performing Arts
• Google Arts & Culture
• International Society for the Performing Arts
• Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
• Morgan Autism Center
• National Endowment for the Arts
• National Public Radio
• Performing Arts Alliance
• The Art of Autism

Global Art: Street Cred

Street cred: reputation, credibility, or authenticity

Street art, graffiti, and murals all paint a picture of creative expression, especially when done well and with respect. Some of this art is done with political activism in mind or as a form of self expression. Sometimes this is seen as vandalism and sometimes this is seen as a form of enlightenment.

See: Bansky; known, unknown.

See: other; you'll have to explore your local area and other local areas you visit to find true street art. Take a picture and save it, share it, or don't. The art might not be there the next time you visit and that's the point.

Global Art: Unique Styles

Exploring unique art styles from the food on your table to chalk art festivals and sand sculptures around the world.

• Ceramics
• Architectural Digest
• Chalk Art
• naturalsciences.org
• theidearoom.net
• Search online for "Chalk Art Festival"
• Food
• Foodie Faces
• Super Simple
• Metalworks
• webneel.com
• Interesting Engineering
• Sand Sculpting
• The Sand Sculpture Company

Do a creative challenge and add a comment below:

*Choose an art style above and try it.
*What did you choose and what did you make? Post a picture below.

Global Art: Artists

Exploring artists from around the world. 

• Stacker.com: Famous works of art from 30 countries around the world
• Harper's Bazaar: The 20 Female Artists You Need to Know
• Artland: The 30 Most Popular Artists of Today
• Boca Do Lobo: Some of The Most Famous Artists Of All Time

Do a creative challenge and add a comment below:

*Explore a map of the world and choose a continent.

 Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe, North America, South America

*Search for an artist from that continent and explore their work.

*Who did you choose and there are they from? Add a link in the comments below.

Art History: Contemporary Art

Exploring art history from the 20th-21st century.

• Google Arts and Culture
• My Modern Met
• The Museum of Contemporary Art

Art History: Romanticism to Modern Art

Exploring art history from the 18th-19th century that inspires current modern art.

• Romanticism:
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Google Arts and Culture
• Modern Art
• The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
• Google Arts and Culture

Art History: Renaissance to Neoclassicism

Exploring art history across Europe from 14th-18th century.

• Renaissance
• Google Arts and Culture
• Oxford Art Online
• Italian Renaissance (14th - 17th century):
• My Modern Met
• History.com
• Neoclassicism (17th - 18th century):
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• My Modern Met: Baroque and Rococo

Ancient Rome - Giovanni Paolo Panini - Italian - 1757
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437244

Art History: Medieval Art

Exploring art history and gothic style medieval architecture.

Visit #ichoosemyarchitecture to see a feature on Medieval styles of architecture from the middle ages.

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• My Modern Met
• Medieval Art Research

Art History: Ancient Classical Art

Exploring art history, starting with ancient classical art.



Ancient Egyptian Art:
Google Arts and Culture
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
World History Encyclopedia

Ancient Greek Art:
Google Arts and Culture
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Roman Art:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
World History Encyclopedia

DIY Art Style: Vision Board Collage

Do-it-yourself (DIY) art style that you can try with limited supplies!

Photo credit for image above and vision board activity idea below: Kristen

Materials: cardboard/card stock or paper, magazine clippings or stickers, scissors, glue stick

Activity ideas: fun to do with kids, thoughtful gift idea, cut out images to glue or choose stickers that stand out to you and arrange them as a collage on your cardboard/card stock or paper -- you could also do this and instead of gluing take a picture and re-arrange to come up with different designs.

Not sure where to get magazines? Ask your local library or doctor/dentist office what they do with their magazines when they rotate in new issues. They might be willing to let you take a few older issues to create your vision board. 

  

Create your own DIY style and add a comment below:
Create a vision board collage! Post your picture as a comment below.

DIY Art Style: Graphic Design

Do-it-yourself (DIY) art style that you can try with limited supplies!

Materials: graphic design software, a graphic designer, a unique image/idea that you can describe or draw, creative ideas.

Graphic design software: Adobe Creative Cloud (20+ apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, XD, Acrobat DC), Corel products (CorelDRAW, PaintShop Pro, Painter, VideoStudio), GIMP, Microsoft Paint 3D

Activity ideas: draw or describe a unique drawing of an image or idea and partner with a graphic designer to create it in a digital format, download or purchase graphic design software to start practicing with ideas.

Create your own DIY style and add a comment below:
Design your own custom graphic design and post your picture as a comment below.

DIY Art Style: Custom Designed Jacket

Do-it-yourself (DIY) art style that you can try with limited supplies!

Credit for images and activity ideas: Jaclyn Rose Jackel

Materials: jean jacket (or jacket of choice), fabric pen or Sharpie, acrylic paints, little cups or bowls for paint, Q-tips or paint brushes, design idea or pattern that you'd like to draw or represent.

Activity ideas: choose a character, quote, slogan, or other creative idea you'd like to represent, try different color patterns and styles, take pictures of your custom designed jacket and share with friends.

Create your own DIY style and add a comment below:
Design your own custom clothing and post your picture as a comment below.

DIY Art Style: Decorating Rocks & Stones

Do-it-yourself (DIY) art style that you can try with limited supplies!

Painting Rocks:
 
 
Photo credit for images above and activity ideas below: jawscmouse

Materials: small to medium sized rocks, paint marker pens, creative design ideas.

Activity ideas: fun to do with kids, go for walks and hide painted rocks for others to find.

Photo credit for images above and activity ideas below: Laurie Jackel

Materials: medium to large sized stone , acrylic paint, creative design ideas.

Activity ideas: fun to do with kids, add to your landscaping in the front or back yard.

So what is the difference between a rock and a stone? Good question!
"Stones and rocks and boulders and pebbles are all the same things: rock material. The main difference is size. Stone is generally used for large amounts, rock is just the generic term, boulders are pieces of rock bigger than a foot across or so, and pebbles are smaller than 2.5 inches - roughly. The actual size ranges are calibrated by something called the ‘Wentworth scale’." - Pamela Z.

For more information, or to add your comment to this discussion, visit Quora.

Create your own DIY style and add a comment below:
Find or buy some rocks or stones and decorate them! Post your picture as a comment below.

**Disclaimer: please be mindful to the care of your nearby areas if you choose to make art with rocks or stones, including being specifically respectful of naturally preserved lands, nearby parks, or your neighbors yard that may prohibit removal of these items or other native earth elements.