AOTM Raffle Winner!
Artist of the month, NewsCongratulations to Cody, February’s Artist of the Month raffle winner! Check out Cody’s entry below. We received hundreds of entries—from butterflies to monsters to a giant balloon birthday cake!
March’s Artist of the Month raffle is just as fun…come into NCM and submit your entry!
Megamites unleashed!
Animal Art, Artist of the month, Events, WorkshopsArtist Jason Hackenwerth begins his residency at NCM next week, February 11–16! Watch Agartha come to life, a mythical city thought to reside in the earth’s core. Work directly with Hackenwerth daily from 1:30–2:30pm.
Hackenwerth recently constructed Megamites at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. Watch the clip. And yes, Agartha includes wearable components!
I’m a teenager, what do I do here?!
Animal Art, Teen StudioSo you’re between the ages of 13-19 and either your parents are taking you here with little siblings, or you’re trying something new out here. We applaud your attendance!
Our name has Children in it, yeah so that’s one common misconception that you have to technically be a child to go here. Well that’s just not true, so here is a list (with pictures of course!) of things you can expect to do here if you’re a teenager.
Starting on the bottom floor there is a huge rainbow circle jumpy called Missing Links by Felipe Dulzaides. Considering the fact that you have to be a little more careful, it’s still really fun and it’s like you’re in a rainbow!
Moving our way up, we go to the outside patio on the main floor. When you first see the patio you can clearly see that there is a huge metal whale out there with splotchy paint all around it. Depending on if you want to get your hands dirty or not you can go paint the whale!
Leaving the patio you are confronted with a huge blackboard. Do you chalk it? Yes of course you do, it’s free drawing place! Tell your favorite animal joke, draw your favorite animal, your name or even represent your graduating class!
Then you see this chariot type thing with a painted track on the floor. These are the Apex Chariots by Roman de Salvo. Take a spin around the track! You get used to the arm power needed for the chariots, but a little push should get the chariot rollin’!
You’re confronted with a huge wall of orange fuzz and you don’t particularly know what to do. It’s okay, not everyone does. This is Animal Aktion by Perry Vasquez. You can take pictures dressed as your favorite animal, watch yourself on the big screen, draw in the orange fuzz or stack some pillows!
(The museum has many Facebook picture opportunities)
On the upper floor we have Toy an Horse by Marcos Ramirez ERRE. Originally by the US and Mexico border this horse has an accessible belly so you can go inside the belly of the beast!
Next we have Untying Space—The New Children’s Museum by Sun K Kwak. Test new heights in a rare chance to actually climb the walls of a museum!
In our own Teen Studio area we have many artists that are constantly bringing teen appropriate installations. Our newest installation is AEH Conelrad Device by Shane Anderson, James Enos, and Nate Hudson.
We have many DIY type projects here, and you can see that we have a felt wall where you can make your own story out of felt, we have an area where you can make your own birdhouse and hang it in our handmade wooden trees! If you’re feeling particularly constructive you can defy the laws of gravity with our building blocks in the center of the top floor.
Zebra Crossing a collaborative DJ booth by Julio Morales and David Goldberg that has you to make your own pattern of music and stripes by answering some questions about yourself.
If you’re feeling up to it, you can stick your head in our Animal Sounds booth where your animal noises are amplified throughout the floor!
Now that you’re done, you’re probably hungry. Well we have our own café with healthy foods and snacks!
Keep checking back for new Teen Friendly additions!
Will you be our valentine?
Events, Target Free Second SundayOur February Target Free Second Sunday falls on Valentine’s Day this year! Bring your family and friends and celebrate with us!
Ever wonder what it’s like to play a trumpet? What about a violin? MTS and The San Diego Symphony are teaming up again to bring their Musical Petting Zoo program to NCM. These professionals will work with your kids and show them the ins and outs of several different symphony instruments.
Beethoven is coming to NCM! Come see the Living Composers performance from Mainly Mozart, put on an educational and extremely funny play about being a musician.
Roses are red, violets are blue, I like to sing and dance, how about you? OK…I’m sure your kids can do better than that! Let them show what they’ve got at our hour long ‘Children’s Open Mic Hour’! Can they sing? Got a good knock-knock joke? Want to bust a move? Or just be the center of attention? This is the perfect place for them to let their talent shine!
Remember on we open early on our Free Sundays, 10am–4pm!
— Kristin Mehrwerth, Gallery Guide Lead
Got your bags? $10 off membership!
Membership, News
Non-profit, government and business groups joined together to kick off the “Got Your Bags?” campaign — a public education and outreach effort aimed at encouraging Californians to use reusable bags for shopping and bring plastic bags back to the store for recycling. Visitors who bring in 20 bags to The New Children’s Museum, receive $10 off the purchase of a membership for the entire family!
California state law (AB 2449) requires grocery stores and pharmacies with more than 10,000 square feet of retail space to provide bins for the collection and recycling of plastic shopping bags. Yet research shows that consumer awareness remains low, and shoppers often forget to bring their bags back to the store. The same holds true for reusable bags.
“Our goal with this campaign is to give consumers that extra reminder so they translate good intentions into action,” said Christine Flowers-Ewing, Executive Director of Keep California Beautiful. “We all play an important role as individuals by using reusable bags and increasing the recycling of plastic bags and wraps. California’s residents need to get the message that they can recycle all types of clean plastic film, such as dry cleaning bags, newspaper bags, and wraps covering paper towels, drinks or other retail items. ”
In San Diego, the “Got Your Bags?” campaign is working to bring together a coalition of partners that will help spread the important environmental messages in a number of creative ways. For example, 58 Albertsons stores in the San Diego area are featuring “Got Your Bags?” reminders in the form of decals on their front doors, buttons for employees and select stores are placing stencils at store entrances.
The campaign also includes city and state level agencies working together.
“As a longstanding member of the Keep California Beautiful Board of Directors, the City of San Diego has been part of the team bringing diverse partners together to maximize resources and the effectiveness of the campaign,” said Chris Gonaver, Director of Environmental Services for the City of San Diego.
The American Chemistry Council, which includes the Progressive Bag Affiliates – a group of leading manufacturers and recyclers of plastic bags and plastic resins in the United States — also are participating in the effort.
Congratulations Damien!
Artist of the month, NewsSeven year old Damien is the lucky winner of our Artist of the Month Raffle! Thank you the hundreds of kids who entered!
Here is Damien’s entry…
We love The Rain House!
Animal Art, Artist of the month
An amazing crayon sketch by Studio Facilitator Lauren Stuart. We all love The Rain House! And, Ernie Silva is January’s Artist of the Month.
beat box 101 + share your favorite sound
Animal Art, EventsDuring their performance last Sunday, The Beat (an acapella group from UCSD) taught our visitors how to “beat box.” Thanks to the magic of video, you and your kiddies can learn too! Gather around for a quick lesson…
It’s amazing how many sounds we can make, just using our own vocal cords. And, it’s amazing how many different sounds are out in nature. At the Museum, our favorite sound is the whalesong and birdsong you hear as you enter the Museum.
Now it’s your turn to share: What’s your favorite sound? (Add a comment below to share yours!)
The Fundred Movement
Teen StudioThe setting at Teen Studio is a very green one. Both environmentally and materialistically. The newest installation is The Fundred Dollar Bill Project, which supports Operation Paydirt. Operation Paydirt has directed its sights on the unsafe levels of lead in the soil of New Orleans.
“In New Orleans alone 86,000 properties are estimated to have unsafe levels of lead in the soil. At least 30% of the inner city childhood population is affected from lead-poisoning.”
Operation Paydirt and The Fundred Dollar Bill Project have worked closely to create a template of a hundred dollar bill completely blank for children and teens of any age to draw on and make their own “fundred bill” that will be gathered at UCSD Pruess School on February 22, 2010. Teen Studio is filled from top to bottom with Fundred dollar bills! It gives a sense of togetherness. Although the little ones have been known to be repeat offenders with drawing pizzas, carrots and houses, but the most common trend we’ve seen is scribbles!
“Lead-contaminated soil will be treated with calcium phosphate, neutralized through the formation of complex minerals (pyromorphites), and then covered with three to six inches of clean sediments. Neutralized by calcium phosphate, lead is prevented from being absorbed into the bloodstream. “
The goal of the artist Mel Chin started out as a conceptual art installation which turned heads at first with a house in New Orleans that is called the “Safehouse” who’s walls are paved with over 6,000 fundreds. You’re probably thinking how are these people going to treat the soil? What are they planning on doing? How much will it cost and how will they get the money for it? I know I asked those exact questions to myself, and worked up enough energy to read through the dozens of pages of information that they have on their website. While reading, I noticed that it states that they have come up with the Treat-Lock-Cover Method, also known as TLC, which ironically enough also stands for Tender Loving Care.
“A specially designed armored truck that runs on used vegetable oil is standing ready to travel a 15,000 mile cross-country route to pick up the finished Fundreds. This creative bounty will be delivered to Congress to solicit an even exchange of the Fundreds for an allocation of $300,000,000 for Operation Paydirt.”
That’s a huge asking price, but it can help change the lives of many people in such urban locations like Minneapolis, Cleveland, Detroit, El Paso, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Chicago who’s soil was tested and returned with high levels of lead contamination, much like New Orleans.
“ The truck will pick-up and deliver the 7,000 pounds of artwork to Washington D.C. in the spring of 2010.”
So fill out a Fundred today at the New Children’s Museum and help make a difference!
*all facts and statistics have been gathered from www.fundred.org.
Target Free Second Sunday Extravaganza!
Events, Target Free Second SundayDid you miss our last Target Free Second Sunday? Our old pals from Paul Green’s School of Rock Music performed some great sets and our new friends from The San Diego Square Dance Association got everyone up on their feet.
Free Day will be happening again this Sunday, January 10th. NCM will be opened from 10am to 4pm and our line up keeps getting better!
- We are so excited that MTS and The San Diego Symphony have teamed up again to bring us the Musical Petting Zoo. Give your kids a chance to try out a wide range of musical instruments!
- Our favorite fish, Cabo and Coral, will be back with their new book and face painting to go along!
- The Beat, an a cappella group from UCSD, is the newest performers to join NCM for our Target Free Second Sunday. They are one of the hottest groups at UCSD and will have everyone singing and dancing along!
We hope to see you this weekend!
