The BYU Museum of Art hosted an Open Studio event for families to learn about the Brian Kershisnik exhibit currently on display.
The Open Studio program is a bimonthly event held on the first and third Saturday of each month. Families, friends or anyone interested can come to the museum, enjoy the exhibition with a guided script and create their own artwork in connection with the exhibit, according to the MOA's information page.
September’s theme was focused on the Brian Kershisnik exhibit, “The Difficult Part.” This exhibit is a “mid-career retrospective” of Kershisnik and includes more than 100 works focused on love, grief, service, loss, inspiration, contemplation and eternity, according to the MOA website.
After the mini self-guided tour through the exhibit — which included 3 spotlighted works — visitors then visited the studio where a student educator took them through a creative activity connected to the exhibit.
This week’s creation was entitled “Broken Things” and provided the kids with materials ranging from flower petals to magazine pages to mosaic tiles. Visitors then used those materials to make their own pieces of art out of the previously mundane or broken items. According to the website, the activity was focused on “discovering if broken things need fixing through Kershisnik's work.”
Museum educator and program director Kitsa Oteo has been in charge of the Open Studio program for the last five years. It's important for people to engage with the art and then have the opportunity to create themselves, she said.
“It’s more than just a craft. It really does engage with an exhibition,” she said. “You’re really learning a little bit more about the art.”
Depending on the exhibit and the activity, the MOA sometimes has lines out the door waiting to engage with the artwork, Oteo said.
Student educators take charge of coming up with the educational guide for the exhibit and the activity. This week, Open Studio was run by Hannah Mosher, a student educator.
“Part of the goal is just to help families get involved with the art and get them learning together and discussing the art together,” she said.
The art in the MOA is accessible to all ages and demographics and Open Studio just facilitates the interaction between people and art, she added.
Allyssa Blake, mother of three and Provo resident, frequently attends Van Gogh to Playdough, another MOA program for kids 3 to 5-years-old, with her children. They attended Open Studio for the first time on Saturday and her kids enjoyed both the art and the activity, she said.
“I like that they’re able to associate the discussion with art and then follow through with what you can create,” she said. “I think it opens up a lot of avenues for their creative minds and it’s just really fun to kind of let them have at it.”
The MOA’s programs including Open Studio, Van Gogh to Playdough and Art After Dark, a free night activity celebrating art, are meant to bring art education and connection closer to communities.
“Participating in the program allows parents to understand their children better, and children to understand the world they live in and the world they’re creating better,” Oteo said. “They have the ability to change things, to create things and to inspire others.”