Recent posts discussed miniature art and paper dolls. It seems fitting that we talk about clothing design that children and teenagers can indulge in.
We begin with two simple consumer products that will appeal to younger children and inspire them to create, express themselves and develop their dexterity. We found two companies that sell complete miniature kits. MasterMind Toys offers several kits including, clothing, knitting, tie dye, handbags and more. At, JrToyCanada, you can buy a fashion studio kit which includes a 30 cm mannequin.
There is also a lot of drawing and family fun to have with online seller Picture This Clothing. This company lets kids use their own images and turn them into wearable personalized items. Also worth a visit is DesignX. There, we find camps and courses that will appeal to children of all ages. Their captivating programs include textile design, toy design and upcycling. Have fun on the runway!
Collage in yellow. Yvon, c1965. Source: CDIC-CIDE.
We may be way beyond the golden age of paper dolls, but their enduring presence over centuries does not lie. They are fun, engaging for toddlers, and usually affordable for parents. Today, we owe their survival more to book publishers and artisans than toy makers. It can be tricky to navigate through what is on the market, if you are mindful of stereotypes, diversity and body image issues that can arise. In our opinion, Dansereau by Dominique Dansereau and Paper Thin Personas by Rachel Cohen offer the best commercial options.
Better yet, say Kelly Burstow of Be A Fun Mom, make your own, from family photos. Use your photo cutout to draw a silhouette and create a paper wardrobe. Drawing them is also so simple. Making a paper doll brings a fine opportunity to draw, cut and manipulate images and to stimulate imagination for family story telling.
There is of course the long history of paper dolls and a vast vintage market out there, for history buffs and collectors. Paper dolls and the fashion industry are inseparable. For this reason, like their 3D cousins, paper dolls too carry a long history of woman’s body representation and gender roles. For a brief women’s perspective on the history of this “innocent” toy, see this documented articles published in 2016 on the (American) National Women’s History Museum website.
On the contemporary arts scene for grownups, it is impossible to ignore the life size realistic works by New York artist October Lane. The Paper Doll Project makes you think and will serve as an excellent helper to parents with teens.
Clothing in color sample. Source: Dansereau.co, 23 January 2022.
With the successive imposition of lockdowns and access restrictions during the pandemic, artists and other creative people are rediscovering the charms of tiny art. Reports about free little galleries or FLAG, have proliferated in the past year. The Seattle Met, the Washington Post (twice), TimeOut, Urbanicity, the CBC, the Toronto Star, even the Smithsonian Magazine have all showed interest in little galleries.
According to these reports, FLAGs are already thriving across the United States in Seattle, Portland, Austin, Oakland, Phoenix Atlanta, Washington D.C., Brooklyn, Hyattsville, as well as in Edmonton and more recently Hamilton, Canada. Artist and self-proclaimed FLAG tracker Elaine Luther has spotted some in Sweden, Polan and Mexico. She created a website to help us follow the expansion of the empire.
This growing phenomenon is good news for artists. It provides a much needed outlet for their works and also a way to reach out to a diverse audience, both locally and online. It is also good news for kids and for community spirit, because it is inclusive of all sorts of works, as long as it fits the space, and everyone can leave or take a piece of their art. It is the same exchange system as the well-known free little library network.
Washington State artists are definitely leading the trend. Stacy Milrani was one of the first to launch and now seemingly has one of the busiest FLAG. Sculptor Jennyfer McNeely took the adventure to new dimensions with the creation of fictional curator Margaret Supperfield, a doll with her own Instagram account. As for long time professional doll maker, Katy Strutz, the appeal of free little galleries was irresistible.
Interestingly, this newly found passion in miniature art comes at a time when, at the supersize end of the spectrum, so called immersive art is also taking off. Now attracting renowned large museum institutions, immersive shows of images by Van Gogh, Klimt, Schiele, Klee and also contemporary artists are scheduled in places likes Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Toronto, Bordeau, Dubai, Shangai, Macao and Tokyo. These events use new technologies to attract new audiences to visual arts and boost tourism. Bea Mitchell’s top 11 list in her Blooloop article is enough to appreciate the contrast this is compared to miniature art.
Miniature art has long been part of major historical collections. It also never left the contemporary art scene, even if it had not been considered blockbuster by large institutions, with big buildings. The Biennale Internationale d’ArtMiniature (BIAM) has presented miniature works in the small northern town of Ville-Marie, Quebec for 30 years. More than 10 countries were represented last summer. Across the pond, in Paris, visitors have a few more days to visit the Small is Beautiful exhibition. At this event by Encore Productions and Fever, 20 artists present their miniature works, and children can take part in miniature art workshops.
Pictured below is the latest free little gallery that just opened its tiny door in Hamilton, Canada. As I visited it with a limited edition contribution of my own, a local artist was already there with her own contribution. An initiative by art teacher Matt Coleman, the Mappleside Museum of Miniature Art (MMoMA) is however a bit of a misnomer. We get the pun of the acronym, but a museum usually has a collection conservation mandate, as well as educational programs, while a gallery shows art for trading purpose. The MMoMA is actually a free little gallery.
Top: Artist busy at the newly opened Mappleside Museum of Miniature Art in Hamilton, Canada. Bottom: Northernlights, small limited print of pencil drawing. Léo Beaulieu, 2010. Source: CDIC-CIDE.
Winter has arrived all over the northern hemisphere. Now is a good time to reconsider how we draw or paint our snow. Sure your snow may still be white, but which white exactly? And why not another color? Time to step outside or dig into what art history has to teach.
Start with a safe palette of shades of the same color. John Hulsey and Ann Trusty of Hulsey Trusty Designs have the perfect to-the-point advices in this short article on Artists Network. Observation and an adventurous spirit are key. The pair have their own business at Artist’s Road. See their detailed how-to article Painting Winter: Exploring the winter landscape, and see what real plein air painting aficionados do.
This blog entry steps away from pens, pencils, chalks or paint brushes and sheds light on a different way of creating images, just as ancient. It is not crocheting or weaving, not bas-relief carving either. Let’s talk about pyrography, the art of drawing with heat or fire on wood, leather, metal of even glass. The most commonly used method however is on wood.
Our collection holds no sample whatsoever of such pyrographic works made by children. For sure there are some out there, because the pyrography tools are still selling aplenty. They were all the rage back in the 1950s and 1960s, when a wave of new consumer products became sought after items for crafty families.
Few artists excel in pyrography. One who masters the traditional figurative imagery is Julie Bender. Her small scale works, the beautiful fine art coasters, are as impressive as her large scale sport, pet, farm or wildlife works.
The one contemporary artist who took pyrography to another level is Cai Guo Quiang with his artworks made with gun powder and fireworks. His recent Exploding the self project is enough to convince anyone of his daredevil way.
Now why not turn up the heat and give it a try. Next is a video by Mercedes Grundy for CBC Art. In it, artist Aicha Lasfar makes a full demonstration in less than 3 minutes.
Anytime is a good time to celebrate music and drawing all at once. Let’s be thankful for music. It helps us going through the global pandemic and so many other dire experiences, or beautiful ones just the same. Put on your favorite or a completely unexplored playlist and draw lightheartedly while letting yourself transported by the sound of music.
For educators and homeschoolers, here are two nicely put together activity descriptions to explore with kids. The first one, Drawing to music, is from a quite interesting project called TeachRock, by the no less fascinating Rock and Roll Forever Foundation. Make sure to go read who the founders are on their web site. Like most of us, many visual artists are inspired by music. It is quite fitting that they suggest Kandinsky’s bursting Composition VII for this activity.
The second one, Musical Art, was shared on KinderArt by Geoff Simpson, a teacher from the Greater Toronto Area, where our Collection is based. Go on and revisit Piet Mondrian and Serge Tousignant’s works, only two of the many great painters who could not do without their musical inspiration.
Composition VII, 1913, by Kandinsky. Source: TeachRock.org, 10 November 2020.
As we get ready for a new decade, publications present their highlights of the 2010s. We look back at a most revealing and touching artistic perspective on the lives of children around the world. James Mollison‘s images from his book Where they sleep, remind us that there is still much to uncover and discuss about children’s place in our world. Do all children draw? Some authors seem to think so, but probably not all of them do. Do all children play? One can only hope so, but maybe not all of them do. One thing is sure, all children dream. Let’s hope we all do.
Where they sleep. By James Mollison, Source: jamesmollison.com , 15 December 2019.
In the United States, a network of public libraries and their sponsors reacted to cuts in arts education in the school, by creating after school programs: PROJECTART. Famous artists have donated their childhood art in support of their cause during the special exhibition titled My Kid Could Do That.
Matthew Ritchie’s “Soldier,” made with colored pencil when he was 5 or 6. Source: HuffPost, 05/01/2017 16:38 EDT
