Monday, August 6, 2007

Bambi Meets Warhol

Written by The Good Woman from My Wee Scottish Blog


One, two three wheee!

I like to think Andy Warhol would have approved of Bambi's entrance at his exhibition in Edinburgh. But, as an artist who unashamedly was out to make money, the fact that we'd gleefully handed over the entrance fee would probably have been enough to get on his good side.

She briefly considered the portraits of Debby Harry, Liza Minnelli and James Dean and pronounced them happy (although not one had cracked a smile – such is the power of colour!). She accurately identified the entire 'Pictures for children' exhibit ('Aeroplane! Boat!, Robot!,'Doggy!') thoughtfully all hung at her eyeline. And then she spent an entire hour gently prodding at silver clouds. Literally hundreds of visitors to this exhibition now consider my daughter to be part of the installation.

And then we played together in the studio downstairs. We made stencil prints of butterflies, created dramatic tissue paper backdrops for stark black screens and made our very own time capsule with the contents of my handbag. I doubt the entire exhibition was deigned with children in mind, but children, including those of the 'inner' kind, were well catered for.

Did Bambi leave with an understanding of pop art? Probably not. But then that wasn't the point. This was an exhibition to enjoy. She experienced art and she had a brilliant time.

Later, when I showed her this portrait I made of her, she laughed and said, 'I match Andy Warhol!'. If that's not early art appreciation, I'll eat my easel!

The Good Woman is a South African expat wife, now living in Scotland. Read more of her adventures and thoughts at her wee Scottish Blog. Please drop by. She loves visitors.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If only you could sell Bambi's piece for a fraction of what a Warhol goes for...

August 6, 2007 at 3:36 PM
The Good Woman said...

Aye Nutmeg - that would at least be her birthday taken care of....

August 7, 2007 at 1:09 AM
lady macleod said...

what a brilliant day! and how fun for me to read about it, thank you for sharing the experience. This is one of my soap box issues - this kind of experience is SO IMPORTANT if we want the next generation to appreciate art. We have to take them when they are young to exhibits like this, the ballet, and theater; and make it, as you did, an experience they remember with joy.

Well done Mom! and great article.

August 7, 2007 at 12:45 PM
Anonymous said...

I loved reading about your art appreciation day. I love doing these things with my boys and have always been pleasantly surprised at how much they love it.

Well done.

August 13, 2007 at 11:40 PM

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