Imagination Stations to be funded
The Fort Wayne Museum of Art is pleased to announce a gift of $100,000 from the Lincoln Financial Foundation to create Imagination Stations as part of the $7.5 million renovation and expansion of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art scheduled to open in early 2010.
Imagination Stations are an interactive exhibition that will engage young people in a range of hands-on activities created to introduce them to the world of American visual art. The Imagination Stations were developed in collaboration with local educators with an emphasis on stimulating creativity and motivating learning.
According to Charles A. Shepard III, “Our goals for the Imagination Stations are to provide children and families with an interactive introduction to art and the museum’s collection and to cultivate a habit of lifelong learning in museums. Emphasis is on attracting visitor interest and curiosity rather than communicating large amounts of factual information about art and artists.”
Two examples of these exciting and engaging activity stations are:
The Artists’ Palette: presents visitors the opportunity to create a “painting” on a giant scale. Standing before a table-sized artist’s palette, participants pick up a wireless paintbrush, select the type of line they would like to create, and dip the brush into one of the palette’s primary colors. Clicking the brush to select a color, the young artist can now make brushstrokes appear on the 12 foot “canvas” on the facing wall.
Recycling in 3-D: is based on a major, life-size sculpture being developed by local sculptor Sayaka Ganz whose work is produced from a complicated assemblage of things recycled from everyday life. This Imagination Station will have three main elements: a life-size sculpture in 3-D, a wall installation that shows exactly every single recycled object that she used to build the finished sculpture, and an activity table with materials that visitors can use to make their own (smaller) sculptures to take home.
Six Imagination Stations were developed by a collaborative team of Museum staff, tech designers, local and regional art teachers, and the Scholastics advisory committee and were made possible through the generosity of Lincoln Financial Foundation.
For more information regarding the Fort Wayne Museum of Art renovation and expansion plans, visit the website at www.fwmoa.org.