Connecting kids to the environment through art

Art exhibitions geared toward families are such a wonderful thing. We consciously try to expose our kids to art as much as we can, but with stuffy gallery environments and limited exhibit hours it can be hard to make it happen. Austin values art, values families, and definitely values keeping things weird, so we get some great opportunities to show them new and unusual things. And when the items in the exhibit prompt my kiddo to ask thoughtful questions about their world, then win-win!

This past weekend we discovered Calder Kamin’s What a Mess exhibition at the Austin’s Central Library Gallery. Reviewing an art exhibit was not on the agenda for my blog this week, but her work is all I’ve been able to think about for days.

What a Mess showcases Kamin’s wide-ranging skills of transforming trash into whimsical, fun, and gorgeous art of all shapes and sizes. The pieces range from tiny, toy-like crabs to busts of woodland creatures to fields of flowers and giant, crocheted tapestries. When we wandered into the gallery, the playful colors and friendly animal shapes drew us into what looked like a magical world. It’s so accessible and easy to understand what’s going on, even for young eyes.

As you gaze over the painstaking details of the fur on the fox or the crocheted petals of a flower, the obvious messages slowly become more daunting—what is the world depicted in each piece? Do the very items used to depict these animals threaten their very existence in this world? Though it might seem obvious, the very weight of it becomes upsetting in contrast to such seemingly joyful figures.

My three-year-old son wandered around a sculpture of flowers. “Mama,” he said, “Why is that pouch top on the flower?” Kamin uses caps of baby food pouches as the center of several flowers. I paused, thinking of his little brother’s pouch we had thrown in the trash maybe 30 minutes prior. “Well, the artist made these flowers out of trash, and she used a pouch top in that one.” My face felt hot, and suddenly I was fighting back tears. “She’s sad about how much trash we create and wants to help us see that we must do things differently to protect the flowers.” He looked at me for a moment, and then went back to the case, taking it all in. This, my friends, is why you drag your kids to art.

“What art is, in reality, is this missing link, not the links which exist. It’s not what you see that is art; art is the gap.”

Marcel Duchamp

Then I turned around and practically gasped—I had missed the centerpiece of the gallery, the giant crocheted tapestries Humpback Whale, Baby Whale, and Sky And Sea. They are pieces from Kamin’sConsumption series, and they are breathtaking. They were made over the course of two years and are crocheted entirely from plastic bags.

My son noticed it, too, and quickly said, “Oh no! Is that net going to eat them?” I started tearing up again. “No honey, the artist kept them safe from the nets, but they are there, aren’t they? We want to keep them safe from the nets. We don’t want trash or nets in the water.” And then I kid you not, he said, “Is that mama whale going to keep that baby whale safe?” And then couldn’t hold back the tears. “Yes honey, she’s going to do the best she can and will always try to keep him safe.”

Kamin has dedicated her work to initiating these conversations with kids. For years many of her pieces have been child-focused, and it is now reaching children all over the world. Kamin was featured in a Disney PSA called Trash to Treasure about keeping the oceans and beaches clean.

My heart for environmental issues bloomed young, watching Sesame Street’s cartoon about the fish that calls a little boy on the phone to tell him that his pond is drying up because he’s running the water while brushing his teeth. And there was the 50 Things You Can Do to Save the Earth, which I had earmarked and underlined to death. And then of course Nickelodeon’s Save the Rainforest campaigns where I called in and pledged money to mitigate the impending destruction of our tropical paradises. My sentiments in those moments (before I was even wearing a training bra) have never changed.

The impressions that activist art can make on little ones can last a lifetime. Last summer, my son and I went to see Patrick Dougherty’s Yippee Ki Yay stick works installation in Pease Park here in Austin. The beauty of the natural materials and the concept of their impermanence wasn’t lost on him. I gently explained to my then-two-year-old how the beautiful “houses” are meant to help us think about how things return to the earth when it’s their time. He might have forgotten my words by now, but he still remembers the “stick houses.”

Marcel Duchamp, the famous artist/philosopher, was one of the first “junk art” experimenters. One of his methods was to put everyday objects in unexpected settings to create a conversation about industrialization and the natural world. He said this: “What art is, in reality, is this missing link, not the links which exist. It’s not what you see that is art; art is the gap.”

Kamin dedicated the What a Mess exhibit to the #fridaysforfuture student climate strikes around the world. If she and I were the generation to grow up reading about 50 Ways You Can Save the Earth, then perhaps our generation will be the ones to actually do it so that our children’s children can look back on art like this with gratitude.

Check out Calder Kamin’s What a Mess Exhibit through May 24.

Artist Talk & Workshop Thursday, May 16, 6-8 PM

Central Library, Main Gallery. 710 Cesar Chavez St.