International Pop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

As you might have guessed by our Pop Art Portrait project yesterday, we were all a little smitten by the International Pop exhibit we visited a few weekends ago. The exhibition explores Pop Art across the world throughout the 1950s and 1970s, focusing on the changes in communication, advertising, travel, and print media. Our kids were quite familiar with American Pop artists, but it was the first time any of us had spent much time looking at the art from different countries. And we loved it.

Pop Art Portraits

Our trip to the International Pop exhibit at Philadelphia's Museum of Art last weekend prompted this super fun art project! We'll have more on our trip to the museum tomorrow, but in the meantime, head over to The Land of Nod's blog to make your own!

p.s. can you tell that Kane still has Jamaica and Bob Marley on his mind?

Weekend Makes

Yes, yes. I know it's Valentine's Day tomorrow. In case you haven't noticed, we have been in full-on valentines mode for weeks now. But, we also happen to have school off on Monday for another holiday: Presidents' Day. So if you're looking for something fun to do with the kiddos and are over hearts on Monday, here's a set of presidential weekend makes!

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Weekend Makes

We love to celebrate all kinds of holidays in our house -- from the standard seasonal favorites to the super random to the absolutely made up. We just like to party. So I happen to know that this coming Monday, January 19th is National Popcorn Day! We also happen to LOVE popcorn, so we need no prompting to celebrate this particular festive day. But just in case, here's what's popping at Weekend Makes!

1 / My good friend Suzanne designed these awesome printable templates for our ol' blog. Still love 'em. And you can still download the printable for free!

2 / Fabulous recipes for these yummy treats from the sweet to the more refined.

3 / My kiddos would love to come up with fun flavors of seasoning.

4 / Make these colorful baked cotton balls and then POP 'EM!

5 / So, this painting project has nothing to do with popcorn. But we love this DIY Pop Art from Red Ted Art. 

DIY Sun Print Pop Art

As you might have noticed in our Final Summer Bucket List Update, one of our favorite art projects is making sun prints with materials we collect while out and about hiking, geocaching, and at the beach. This summer, Cam and I were working on some feather prints when I spied a pile of "guys" Kane had left nearby (we all refer to the endless number of toy policeman, ninjas, knights, cowboys, etc. generically as "guys") and thought they might be fun to try. Crisp, pop-arty images from the toys' silhouettes emerged -- I LOVED the result! And thought I'd share this super easy way to make some quick art for your kiddo's room.

Keep It Local: "Roy Lichtenstein: A Restrospective" at the National Gallery of Art

Mom and I played hookey from the pumpkin farm field trip with school this week (we're already a bit od'd on fall festivals) and went to the National Gallery of Art to check out the new Lichtenstein exhibit. WOW.

First off, it's ginormous - spanning two floors and includes more than 100 of his works. Second, the bright colors, bold symbols, and "comic book" style of much of his artwork is right in my wheelhouse. I told mom my favorite was the "superhero" painting (one of his "war" paintings entitled "Whaam"), but, I also spent a long time checking out some of the busts and asking mommy "who did that to those ladies?" (we have an ongoing discussion of whether or not statues were once alive). I was also obviously a big fan of his GW painting.

I'm really on the move these days (as you can see from the pictures below) - I don't slow down for much. But mom did get me to sit and look, for several minutes at a time, at a few of the paintings. I mean if you want me to sit still for art, art with superheroes is probably as close as you're gonna get. Unless I'm making the art, then I'll sit still for as long as you let me. I kept asking mom where I could do art at the museum, but no dice.

There is no photography allowed in the exhibit, but the Washington Post has a nice slideshow of it. The exhibit is at the National Gallery until January 13, 2013 and then it heads to London. We highly recommend it!