Alyssa Dumire, Director of Education
Spring is in full bloom and, if you’re anything like me, you might be spending these sunny days amazed at the ever-changing selection of showy flowers, emerging from bare dirt almost as if by magic. Enter Fantastic Realms, our current exhibition of artworks inspired by myth, magic, and folklore. Today in the studio, we’re looking to two of the featured artists who set their fantastical scenes in the beauty of nature.
Kirsty Mitchell’s large-scale photographs immerse the viewer in images that combine the wild landscapes near her home with constructed scenery and elaborate costumes. While inspired by the fairy tales her mother read to her as a child, Mitchell’s Wonderland series doesn’t refer to a specific, existing story. Instead, we get to wonder: who is the woman in the photo? What will she find on the other side of those doors?
What we call “fairy tales” don’t always involve literal fairies, but William Forsyth was working during a time when they often did. His young subject, seen above, kneels within a circle of mushrooms, their jewel-toned caps lending a sense of the fantastical, even though fairy rings are a natural occurrence. Although we don’t know the exact date when Forsyth painted his Fairy Ring, the early 1900s saw the publication of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and the release of photographs of the Cottingley Fairies, supposed evidence of the wee winged folk (later revealed to be fabricated). Perhaps the girl in the painting is hoping to find a new friend under that large mushroom cap, as viewers of the work during Forsyth’s own time would surely have imagined. If she finds a fairy, what do you imagine it would look like? Perhaps, like the figure in The Fade of Fallen Memories, she’s clothed in vibrant flowers!
Find instructions to make your own friendly fairy below (if you joined us for Second Thursday this week, your house will now have an inhabitant)!
You’ll need:
- 2 pipe cleaners (or wire of similar length)
- Silk flowers and/or leaves (you could also cut your own from felt or paper, or use real ones if you don’t mind the ephemerality)
- A large wooden bead
- String (optional)
- Other natural or found objects (optional)
- Marker or colored pencil
First, prepare some flowers by pulling off the stem, then the center, which should reveal a hole right in the middle (you might have to pull pretty hard, but it should come apart).
One pipe cleaner will form the body and legs, and the other will become your fairy’s arms. Choose the one for the body and fold it loosely in half (don’t fully crease it at the top). Twist a small loop at the top, then pull the ends of the pipe cleaner together. If you want your fairy to have a hat or hair, thread it on, then thread on the bead (the head!).
Add one or two flowers and/or leaves, then find the center of your second pipe cleaner and twist it around the body. Bend the two ends into the body too. Now your fairy has arms!
Continue adding flowers and/or leaves until you are happy with your fairy’s outfit. Bend the two ends of your pipe cleaner into the middle to form feet.
Last but not least, use markers or colored pencils to draw a face on your fairy!
Miss making a fairy house with us? See the instructions below if you want your fairy friend to have a home.
What You’ll Need:
- Toilet paper roll(s)
- Construction paper (assorted colors)
- Glue (hot glue works best but school glue or even tape works fine as well)
- Markers
- Scissors
- Anything you want to decorate your fairy house with (fake flowers, pipe cleaners, puff balls)
- Pick a piece of paper in the color you want your fairy house to be. Wrap it around the roll and mark where you need to cut the paper to make it the same size as the roll.
- Cut it on the marks then glue it down around the roll.
- Grab some scissors and carefully cut a door out of the toilet paper roll.
- Add other details like an outline to the door and windows with marker!
- Cut a triangle shape with a rounded bottom out of another piece of construction paper.
- Roll the triangle into a cone shape. This part is a bit tricky, so don’t worry if it’s not perfect!
- Place the cone on top of the toilet paper roll as the roof! You might want to use some hot glue, with an adult’s help, to make sure the roof stays put.
- Use flowers, markers, pipe cleaners, and whatever else you want to add decoration to the outside of the fairy house! This part makes the fairy house come to life, so be creative!