ARTY HOURS: CREATE YOUR OWN MONUMENT

Ever dream of memorializing yourself as a sculpture in a public park? These lucky kids transformed dreams into reality this past Saturday by creating personalized monuments as part of Arty Hours on the High Line! In this innovative weekly program, kids create their very own masterpiece in response to a different sculpture in the group exhibition Busted, currently on view.

Inspired by Frank Benson’s Human Statue (Jessie), kids were encouraged to create a sculpted self-portrait as a monument using clay-like materials. Benson’s bronze statueis a life-size sculpture of a standing female dancer dressed in haute couture, with her arms gently open in an oval shape and a shield-like disc resting at her feet.

Arty Hours inspires kids to think creatively about the artistic process in relation to the art on view at the High Line.  In this week’s lesson, the High Line staff explained that artists often use body movement and specific objects in their work to convey meaning.  Thus, kids thought carefully about how they portrayed themselves and were encouraged to include a symbolic object in their self-portrait that reflected their personality.

Saturday’s Arty Hours was the second event of the program, which successfully kicked off last week by focusing on Goshka Macuga’s thought-provoking work, Colin Powell. For that event, participants contextualized the sculpture within the tradition of Cubism, specifically in comparison to works by Albert Gleizes and Pablo Picasso, and created “seed monuments,” of clay and seeds that sprouted flowers over time. Thanks to the High Line Education team, these kids will be art connoisseurs in no time! 

Join us for the next Arty Hours: Saturday, July 20th (Andra Ursuta's Nose Job) from 10 am – 12 pm | 23rd Street Lawn on the High Line at West 23rd Street | Free | All ages 

Photos by Elena Bernstein, courtesy of Friends of the High Line.