Children and families try hand at crafts and artwork observation at Crystal Bridges during holiday break

Kevin Gore (from left), visiting from Manchester, England, helps his grandchildren Tim Gore, 4, and Rose Gore, 8, of Centerton make bead icicles during Winter Break Wonders at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville in this Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016, file photo.
Kevin Gore (from left), visiting from Manchester, England, helps his grandchildren Tim Gore, 4, and Rose Gore, 8, of Centerton make bead icicles during Winter Break Wonders at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville in this Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016, file photo.

BENTONVILLE -- It wasn't cold enough outside for icicles to form so more than a dozen children made their own from beads and pipe cleaners in the art studio classrooms at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art on Thursday.

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Finley Mueller, 6, of Bentonville makes a bead icicle Thursday during Winter Break Wonders at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

"They can make these icicles however they like and make a hook at the end to hang it in their house," said Danielle Smith, art instructor. "It's a lot of fun for people to get creative. Everyone's is different."

Noon Year’s Eve celebration

Crystal Bridges will host these performers between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday.

• The Slapstick Circus with The Vodvill Klown, a one-man circus show.

• Clockwatchers, an interactive performance of international New Year’s traditions by Cynthia Post Hunt.

• Melody Pond Trio.

Source: Staff report

The creative art-making is a part of Winter Break Wonders, a special afternoon program hosted from 1 to 4 p.m. each day by the museum during the school holiday break. It began Dec. 17 and will conclude Monday.

"If you're looking for something to keep kids busy while out of school, we have different activities every day that school is out," said Holly York, museum education coordinator. "We have an art-making activity every day, creative play and sprinkle in gallery experiences throughout the two weeks with larger performers."

York said the program is just as much for adults as it is for children. She recalled one family whose children had finished their paintings and had to wait around on their dad to finish his own.

Winter Break Wonders rotated four such projects, and the icicles were such a hit they stocked the studio with 36,000 beads in preparation. More than 200 hopeful artists participate each day, which is up slightly from last year's attendance, York said. Many visitors return so that they can complete all four projects. A total of three art instructors and only a few volunteers guide them all.

Crystal Bridges has other educational entertainment programs during school breaks, such as a summer camp, field trips and public programs on weekends and nights. Winter Break Wonders is now in its fifth year, and York said the staff is starting to see more overlap in visitors who attend the various programs.

The most recent school break program was in partnership with the Amazeum, which allowed children to spend mornings learning and playing at Crystal Bridges and afternoons at the nearby children's museum.

The holidays are a popular time for families to attend Crystal Bridges together, York said.

"I've definitely seen an increase" in museum attendance, York said. "This is the place to bring your out-of-town guests, to get out of the house and walk off the holiday goods you've consumed."

Smith said she most commonly sees families with small children to 12- and 13-year-olds in Winter Break Wonders, but occasional groups of high school students and elderly couples have fun crafting together in the workshop.

Briane Derousseau's 3-year-old daughter held up an icicle complete with several teal snowflake beads for her mom to see.

"Oh I love it; it's so beautiful," Derousseau said as she fixed its hook. "I love the little snowflake; don't you? Let's make some for our Christmas tree." She took her daughter and 7-year-old son to the museum with Winter Break Wonders in mind as a nice afternoon activity.

"My son does the art classes, but she was too young for some of them," Derousseau said. "But this appeals to both of them."

In previous art sessions, guests made a winter-themed collage on one studio wall, decorated wooden dance figures in extravagant costumes and wildly colored yarn hair, conducted printmaking for holiday cards and painted in a style akin to artist Sol Lewitt's Wall Drawing 880: Loopy Doopy, which is on display at Crystal Bridges, by taping patterns onto a canvas before painting it.

New to Winter Break Wonders is the additional activity of sketching in the galleries, as well as story time in the galleries. York said books with animal and adventure themes are most popular. Museum staff uses the book themes to teach children how to carefully observe an artwork.

Winter wonders guests made and decorated paper binoculars for their eye spy activity of Enassamishhinjijweian, a work by artist Tom Uttech.

Maxim Berestneu, 7, showed his icicle to Smith.

"It feels cool; do you want to feel?" he asked Smith. After she touched its beading, Maxim took it back and later dangled it from his nose to make her laugh.

He and his little brother Neal, 5, added a Santa and a bear to the winter mural.

"We've been coming here since he was 3 months old," said Nikki Berestneu, Maxim's mother, who has one clear icicle and one blue icicle looped around her arm like a bracelet. "We like to bring family on Sundays and have playdates here."

The family plans to return for New Year's celebrations, as well as today's Winter Wonders performances of "Snow," which is about a little mouse who ice-skates, by StoneLion Puppet Theatre.

Other performing artists frequent Winter Break Wonders, too. Mr. Stinky Feet visited Wednesday, and The Fishin' Magician will perform Sunday. Various children's activities are planned for Noon Years Eve, which expects more than 3,000 guests on Saturday.

NW News on 12/30/2016

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