Matisse at MoMA Makes a Great Trip and Project!

A new exhibit of Henri Mattise's work at  New York City's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is just the thing to inspire young artists. During the last years of his life, Mattise moved away from painting and created a series of stunning cut-outs, which are now on display. These works of art were made using only white paper, a type of paint called gouache, scissors, and pins or glue. The resulting images are similar in style to many of his paintings, but their effect is more dynamic and three-dimensional, thanks to the layered paper. 

Matisse is a particularly accessible artist for young people. He favored bright colors and simple shapes that lend themselves easily to experimentation. Exquisitely detailed pieces, like oil paintings by da Vinci or Rembrandt, are fun to look at but can be intimidating. Even very young children will enjoy looking at Mattise's colorful paintings and cut-outs, however. As you walk through the exhibit, encourage kids to describe the kinds of emotions they think Matisse may have been feeling as he created the different pieces. Ask them to pick a favorite and to explain why they like it best. Challenge them to consider how certain pieces would feel different if he'd used different colors or shapes. Ask whether they like Matisse and why they think others enjoy Matisse so much.

The exhibit began earlier this month and runs through February 8, 2015. Timed tickets are required for non-members of the MoMA. Visit the exhibit's website for detailed information.

To take the fun one step farther, invite children to make their own cut-outs. Young artists may enjoy watching a short video of Matisse working on a cut-out. Then they can try to replicate one of Matisse's pieces or invent their own. Colored construction paper could be used, but for a more authentic experience begin by painting rectangles of white paper in solid colors. Invite kids to experiment with paint application; visible brushstrokes can add exciting texture to the finished piece. Painted papers should be weighted as they dry so that they don't curl. Once they're dry, kids can cut shapes and arrange them on white paper. Some of Matisse's cut-outs are shaped like plants, animals, and people, while others are simply abstract shapes; kids should experiment with both! Once he was happy with his arrangement, Matisse used either sewing pins or dabs of glue to fasten the shapes in place. If you use glue, be sure not to anchor the shapes down too firmly. Part of the fun of cut-outs is seeing the different layers.

Memory of Oceania - Henri Matisse - created 1952-53

For more information on the technique and on Matisse himself, check out the MoMA's wonderful online resources .

Fall News You Can Use

It's hard to believe that today is the start of Labor Day Weekend and that summer is essentially over, even if our calendar tells us we still have a few weeks left. If school hasn't begun for you or your kids, it certainly will do so next week.

So, we figured it would be a good time to corral all the "Back to School" news and fall events that have filled our mailbox over the past week or so and share some of these with our readers.

Manhattan's Symphony Space will be holding its Thalia Kids Book Club this fall, featuring favorite children's books and their authors. Special treats include appearances by author Lois Lowry (joined by actor Sean Astin and his wife Christine), in honor of the 25th anniversary of her Newbery Medal-winning book Number the Stars (October 19th); David Hyde Pierce and Jane Curtin celebrating E.B. White's classics Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little (November 16th); and Natalie Babbitt, who will mark the 40th anniversary of her book Tuck Everlasting (January 25, 2015). Past year's events have sold out quickly, so don't delay getting tickets.

On Sunday, September 14, the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn is holding a free program for children with special needs called "Special Day for Special Kids." Kids and their families can explore the museum before it opens to the public.

Another program at the New York Transit Museum recognizes the particular appeal that trains hold for many children on the autism spectrum. The fall Subway Sleuths program for 2nd-5th graders has opened registration. Contact the Museum's Education Manager Elyse Newman at elyse.newman@nyct.com to learn
more.

The Museum of the City of New York has a series of family "drop in" programs scheduled for fall weekends and school holidays. These are free with museum admission.

Advocates for Children of New York has a Start of School fact sheet for New York City parents whose children receive special education services under an IEP (Individualized Education Program). And a fact sheet for families who are new to the public school system, whose child has not been assigned to a New York City school, can be found on the website of the New York City Department of Education.

March 14 is Pi Day

Tomorrow, March 14th, is Pi Day -- the day to celebrate the Greek letter that represents the the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. What's so special about Pi (π)? First, it is a constant number, meaning that for all circles of any size, Pi will be the same. It's infinite -- to date it has been calculated to over one trillion digits. And it has no pattern, so that it includes no repeating strings of numbers.

The use of the letter π to represent the ratio dates back to 1737 when it was used by Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler.  

There are numerous celebrations of this amazing mathematical number, including an annual Pi Day in Princeton, New Jersey to celebrate both the number and one of its greatest users, Albert Einstein, who resided in Princeton for over 20 years and whose birthday was -- you guessed it -- 3/14! The fantastic Exploratorium in San Francisco is holding its 25th Pi Day celebration both on premises and via virtual reality on its Second Life website. And, here in New York City, the new MoMath museum is holding a scavenger hunt after school for students 11 and up. 

So, make your plans for tomorrow --  attend an event in person or via virtual reality, or just bake a pie and then use π to figure out its circumference!

Photo: CC by Dano272

MoMath, the New Math Museum in Manhattan

Here at The Yellin Center, we've got math on our minds. While it seems that a great deal is known about what happens in the brain when people process language, comparatively little information exists about the way the brain conceptualizes numbers and amounts. So we've been reading new studies about the brain and numbers with great interest and are expanding our knowledge about what “number sense” actually is, how automaticity in number recognition impacts math performance, and the very real problem of math anxiety.

With all this background, we were especially excited to visit Museum of Mathematics, or MoMath, which is just a few blocks away from our learning center! Mo Math is the brainchild of Glen Whitney, a former math professor who now serves as the museum’s president. The museum, which focuses on abstract concepts without much emphasis on numbers, is the only math museum in the country according to the New York Times. It opened its doors for the first time on December 15, 2012, and has received rave reviews from visitors ranging from preschoolers to Ph. D. candidates.

According to its mission statement, the museum “illuminates the patterns that abound in our world.” Its exhibits are dynamic and are intended to spark visitors’ curiosity, inspire them to ask questions, and reveal the fascinating side of a subject many people find dull, obtuse, or downright scary. Whitney hopes to dispel myths that math is hard or boring with beautiful, exciting exhibits that may inspire some visitors to take a second look a at subject they thought they had pegged.

If our observations there were any indication, Whitney has met his goal and then some. “On a scale of one to ten,” we heard a father asking his family as they exited the museum, “what would you rate this place?” “Ten!” called out a boy who looked to be about eight. “Twelve!!” his older brother yelled. Everywhere we looked, children and adults alike were intent on riding square-wheeled tricycles (that actually work!), creating patterns with tessellation tiles, solving wooden puzzles by detecting patterns, jumping around on a dance floor-like space that lights up, and adjusting lengths of track to make a toy car race along it as quickly as possible. One of our favorite exhibits was a calculator that was two stories high and made of string; we enjoyed figuring out how it worked (but we won’t give away the secret!). Who’d have thought this level of engagement would exist at a museum? About math?

We thought we detected a caveat for a while; the museum was seriously lacking in meaty, mathematical explanations for the phenomena we were observing. Touch screens are available near many exhibits with explanations, and we could choose how detailed we wanted the explanation to be. But even the most in-depth explanations were pretty abstract, and this caused lots of fervent discussion within our group about the cold, hard data that would explain what we were actually seeing. Suddenly, it seemed that perhaps sparking this kind of discussion was the whole point. And the children around us were too busy having fun with rolling shapes and scattering light waves to miss the numbers.

To sum it up, you should visit the National Museum of Mathematics. It’s located at 11 E. 26th Street in Manhattan and is open seven days a week, from 10:00 A.M to 5:00 P.M.


*Chang, Kenneth. “One Math Museum, Many Variables.”The New York Times. June 27, 2011.

Photos: Beth Guadagni