Make
Hands-on art making experiences that enhance our understanding of art and the world around us. Below you will find activities and video tutorials to do right from home.
Exhibition Inspired Making | Make Breaks | Artful Connections
Exhibition Inspired Making
Drawing inspiration from our current and previous exhibitions, we've compiled a few art making activities for students, teachers and parents to do from home. Share your creations with us @VirginiaMOCA or #VirtualVAMOCA.
MICHAEL KAGAN: MARK MAKING
This art making activity is inspired by I Was There When It Happened, Michael Kagan’s first solo museum exhibition that debuted at Virginia MOCA in 2019. The packet includes information on Michale Kagan's techniques, high resolution images of his painting process, and downloadable outlines of the artworks to practice your own mark making. To find out more about Michael Kagan, visit his website michaelkagan.com.
Make Your Mark - printable.pdfDownload the art making directions here by clicking on the image above.
Download the outlines by clicking on the images below.
ALBUM COVER
ASTRONAUT
COCKPIT
ROCKET
VIRTUAL STUDENT ART START
Looking for a way to make up your missed field trip to Virginia MOCA? We’re still here for you!
In this video, we’ve adapted our Student Art Start activity for students, teachers and parents to do from home. Join Katherine Custer, Manager of School and Educator Programs, for a look at three works of art from our upcoming exhibitions and a related art making activity. You can also download printable directions for the art making activity on this page. Share your creations with us @VirginiaMOCA or #VirtualVAMOCA!
Printable SAS Directions+Vocab_FINAL.pdfDownload the art making directions here by clicking on the image above.
Every Friday, our team will release a new activity in our Make Break series. This series is compiled of short making activities for you and your family to do at home. Share your creations with us @VirginiaMOCA or #VirtualVAMOCA.
T-books can be made with just some simple slits and folds!
Cascading books are a level up from traditional book making. Tell your story with style!
Accordions are a great way to showcase artwork or stories in an interactive way!
This simple skill can jazz up your life and your art!
Here are some painting techniques to give your artwork a brush with greatness.
Here are some ways to take your collage skills up a notch and create some truly fine art.
Sculpture doesn’t require fancy materials. Here you will find some techniques to get you started.
There are so many ways to experiment with drawing. Try some of these fun challenges.
Weaving can be a great way to recycle used materials from around the house!
Make prints using many items from around your house.
ARTFUL CONNECTIONS
Art can be a great way to learn about other subject areas. This collection of activities touches on a variety of disciplines, from science to design, all with an invitation to learn through a hands-on experience. Share your creations with us @VirginiaMOCA or #VirtualVAMOCA.
DO IT (HOME)
Download the directions here by clicking on the image above.
Virginia MOCA is proud to partner with Independent Curators International (ICI) to offer do it (home). As many around the world are experiencing social distancing and orders to stay at home, ICI is relaunching do it (home). A version of do it envisioned by Hans Ulrich Obrist in 1995 and produced by ICI, do it (home) assembled a set of artists instructions that could easily be realized in one’s own home. Since then, “do it has always taken place in public and in private—spheres of life that for many have coalesced in recent months,” says Obrist.
This new version of the project is a growing selection of instructions distributed online, and simultaneously through over 30 collaborating art spaces from within ICI’s international network. It contains existing and newly commissioned contributions by artists, currently available in English and Spanish. do it (home) will take you away from your screens, and recreate an art experience at home. You will respond to the artist's call, follow their lead, enter their world, and realize an artwork on their behalf. When you're ready to return to the screen, share that you did it! Make connections with other doers on Instagram by tagging #doithome
Click here to view and download all do it (home) instructions!
do it (home) is curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI), New York. do it (home) is made available to art spaces internationally free of charge, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, with the support of ICI’s Board of Trustees, contributors to ICI’s Access Fund, and the Jeanne and Dennis Masel Foundation.
The relaunch of do it (home) joins ICI with the Serpentine Galleries in London and Kaldor Public Art Projects in Sydney, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Google Arts & Culture for do it (around the world), a new chapter of Hans Ulrich Obrist's exhibition-in-progress. To access do it (around the world) on Google Arts & Culture, click here.
Do it (home) is made available to art spaces internationally free of charge, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, and made possible by ICI’s Board of Trustees and contributors to ICI’s Access Fund.
THE PAPER SCULPTURE MANUAL
Download the directions here by clicking on the image above.
Virginia MOCA is proud to partner with Independent Curators International (ICI) to offer The Paper Sculpture Manual. This online project is based on The Paper Sculpture Show, a traveling exhibition curated by Mary Ceruti, Matt Freedman, and Sina Najafi in 2003 and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI), Cabinet, and SculptureCenter.
Lively and unconventional, The Paper Sculpture Show explored the nature of the art object and the identity of the artist as a traveling exhibition from 2003-07. Virginia MOCA hosted the exhibition in 2004 when we were known as the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia. Twenty-nine international artists and collaboratives each contributed a design for a three-dimensional sculpture that could be assembled out of paper by museum visitors.
As many around the world are experiencing social distancing and orders to stay home, ICI is sharing the designs from The Paper Sculpture Show as a downloadable, printable, and shareable manual to take you away from your screens and recreate art experiences in domestic spaces.
Interactive, nonconformist, and witty, The Paper Sculpture Manual still raises many questions about authorship, original versus copy, art and craft, product and process, two dimensional and three dimensional objects.
Download The Paper Sculpture Manual. What are YOU going to make? Tag us with #thepapersculpturemanual and #VirtualVAMOCA.
Artists: Janine Antoni, The Art Guys, David Brody, Luca Buvoli, Francis Cape and Liza Phillips, Seong Chun, Minerva Cuevas, E.V. Day, Nicole Eisenman, Spencer Finch, Charles Goldman, Rachel Harrison, Stephen Hendee, Patrick Killoran, Glenn Ligon, Cildo Meireles, Helen Mirra, Aric Obrosey, Ester Partegàs, Paul Ramírez Jonas, Eve Sussman, Fred Tomaselli, Pablo Vargas-Lugo, Olav Westphalen, and Allan Wexler.
The Paper Sculpture Manual is made available to art spaces internationally free of charge, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, and made possible by ICI’s Board of Trustees and contributors to ICI’s Access Fund.
HOME SWEET HOME: HABITAT AND ANIMAL EXPLORATION
Watch the video Home Sweet Home: Habitat and Animal Exploration to learn about animal adaptations, habitats, and the work of past Virginia MOCA exhibiting artist Andrea Dezsö. Afterwards, create a work of art by inventing your own unique imaginary creature and habitat. This activity is appropriate for students, teachers, and parents in a home setting. After you watch the video download the packet for instructions, materials list, and more.
Habitat Home Sweet Home Packet.pdfDownload the art making directions here by clicking on the image above.
About Home Sweet Home: Habitat and Animal Exploration
This activity is an adaptation of a Virginia MOCA Outreach program. Outreach is a longstanding school program by Virginia MOCA that brings new learning opportunities for students straight to the classroom. These fast-paced and hands-on courses for elementary school aged students emphasize critical thinking skills and integrate visual art while reinforcing the Virginia SOLs. Home Sweet Home meets 3rd Grade VA Science Standards 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6 and Art Standards 3.9 and 3.11, but is appropriate for 1st-3rd grade students.
DESIGN CHALLENGE: BUILDING FUTURE COMMUNITIES
Watch the video to learn about a design challenge from a real architect that you can do at home. Building Future Communities encourages creative thinking and problem solving by imagining how we will adapt to the future. It’s also an opportunity to explore working with everyday three-dimensional materials. This activity is intended for students, teachers, and parents in a home setting. It is appropriate for all ages with simple modifications. After you watch the video, download the packet for instructions, materials list, and more.
Building Future Communities printable packet.pdfDownload the directions here by clicking on the image above.
About "Building Future Communities"
Virginia MOCA in collaboration with the ViBe Creative District developed a program for From One Hand to AnOTHER’s Summer of Innovation Camp. Local ViBe architects from Waller Todd & Sadler Architects and animators from Sugar Skull Creative worked with educators from Virginia MOCA to create a video that highlights the job of an architect and challenges students to design a building of the future. MOCA educators and ViBe volunteers visited local FOHTA sites to help 1,000 students construct their buildings.
Header image by Fresh Look Photography.