Winter break a chance to engage in arts

Istanbul Modern offers two different artistic workshop programs intended for children aged seven to 12, starting on Jan. 25



Istanbul Modern Art Museum is giving children a winter break program full of art during the school holidays between Jan. 25 and Feb. 5, with their Art Workshop Semester. Children aged seven to 12 will have two options, during the morning hours they can work with the museum professionals in workshops on art interpretation, or during the afternoon hours they can participate in artist workshops to produce art projects.In the mornings between the hours of 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. with the assistance of museum professionals, children can participate in workshops about art history, design, archeology, environment, museum theory, and even workshops that incorporate chemistry subjects with applied arts. These workshops aim to develop children in interdisciplinary thinking and creating. There will be workshops on Mondays titled "Drawing and Costumes," Tuesdays "Prehistoric Creatures," Wednesdays "Atlantis," Thursdays "The Museum of My Dreams," and Fridays "Pictures from a Microscope."In the afternoon between the hours of 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. in the Artist Workshops, children will work with modern artist Ardan Özmenoğlu to express their emotions with other materials, besides paint and pencils. The workshop lets them use a different technique each day of the week such as stencils, engravings, and silk screen printing to embody their ideas. Exhibition tours will take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in the morning workshops. The tours will be made to exhibitions in relevance with the content of the workshop.MORNING WORKSHOPSMorning workshops will be held between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. every weekday.Drawings and Costumes WorkshopFrom Jan. 25 to Feb. 1In this workshop children will test the boundaries of their imaginations by working with colors, stains, and different art materials. By watching a presentation with examples of paintings from master painters in art history, they will evaluate the periods and costumes that are presented in the paintings. Afterwards, children will design costumes on rehearsal mannequins, and later they will finish the workshop by drawing figures that will wear these costumes.Prehistoric Creatures Sculpture WorkshopFrom Jan. 26 to Feb. 2The subject of this workshop is extinct prehistoric creatures. After watching a short presentation about archeological digging, children will examine the creatures of the past to see how they lived in that time period. The workshop continues as children are encouraged to make a cardboard sculpture of the creature of their choice. The program finishes with a tour of the Istanbul Modern "Extinction: An exhibition on Nature and Continuation."Atlantis WorkshopFrom Jan. 27 to Feb. 3Atlantis, known as "the famous sunken continent," which is the subject of this workshop, is an applied arts program intended to trigger the imagination about humans and lifestyles. Children will make a model of the nature, architecture and the fantastic creatures which lived in Atlantis using styrofoam, colored cardboards, colored wires and felt. The program finishes with a tour of the Istanbul Modern "Extinction: An exhibition on Nature and Continuation."The Museum of My DreamsFrom Jan. 28 to Feb. 4The program starts off with a conversation about the concept of a museum. Afterwards, the children continue the workshop with a short tour of Istanbul Modern's usage areas, collections, and activities in museum theory. In the workshop the children create a 'new Istanbul Modern' with imaginary collections, using a specially made model of the museum itself.Pictures from a MicroscopeFrom Jan. 29 to Feb. 5This program, which combines the research techniques of science with plastic arts, starts off with the children viewing daily items such as onion peels, sand, leaves and other items through the microscope. Afterwards they recreate the images of the micro world using water based coloring techniques. The program finishes with a tour of the "The Artist and His Time" exhibition, which is a collection within the museum.ARTIST WORKSHOPS: PRINT IMAGESArtist workshops will be held between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. every weekday.Sticky PaintingsThis workshop is based on the fundamentals of image printing techniques. In the program, children will carve potatoes and use strings to create prints on sticky papers. The children will be using artist Ardan Özmenoğlu's pieces in this workshop to pick a process of creation, which they follow. By using one of his techniques they will create a big print image using many smaller ones in a group project.Street ArtBy using stencils, which lay the fundamentals of the art of graffiti, the street art of many cities is brought to the children. The program starts off with the children examining the impressive stencil prints of Ardan Özmenoğlu. Afterwards, they design stencils for their own print images, which they will use to cover the walls of the workshop using water based paints.MonoprintIn this workshop children use mono printing and linoleum printing techniques to create molds using materials like glass, plexiglass, and linoleum. The children meet one of the ways of reproducing images when they take their molds and use water based paints to transfer the images onto paper.Engraving and Wood PrintingIn this workshop the children start off with carving objects like wood and linoleum. After coloring the surfaces of the carved materials with water based paints, they use the molds to print on paper and fabrics. Children experience the art of engraving and woodprints in this workshop.Silk PrintingThe workshop program is centered on "silk printing," also known as serigraphy, and its many different uses in the textile industry, graphic arts and print images. Children create compositions on surfaces like fabric, paper, glass and metal by using powder with paint along a piece of silk.