Artmaking From Home:
Tin Foil Shrines and Dollar Store Altars
Tin Foil Shrines and Dollar Store Altars
Sat, May 9, 2020
3 pm
Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, A Rite of Passage: The Velvet Cat Tail and the Silk Tiger Lily, 1987–88. Wood, metallic foil, 45 RPM vinyl record, artificial flowers, Saran wrap, metal staples, fabric, plastic beads, and fiber-tipped pen, 38 7/8 × 15 1/2 × 15 1/8 in. (98.7 × 39.4 × 38.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Robert Kushner 2001.291
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Online, via Zoom
Experiment with ordinary materials in new and creative ways with these online artmaking events designed for all ages. Each project explores artworks from the Whitney’s collection included in Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019, and invites participants to consider the relationship between artmaking and our domestic spaces. All events in this series are live, thirty-minute sessions taught by a Whitney educator.
This workshop is inspired by the artist Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, who makes art out of dollar store ephemera. Lanigan-Schmidt has said that it reminds him of how his mother decorated their home and fridge, and often uses tin foil, tape, and other basic materials to build sculptures out of ordinary items. This session will explore using knickknacks and common household supplies to create shrines or altars to the everyday beauty we find at home.
Instructor: Tony Bluestone is an artist and educator in New York City.
Materials
- Tape, glue, paper clips, tin foil, plastic wrap, string, or any other item that can be used to adhere materials together
- Knickknacks, fabric scraps, buttons, or anything from your "junk drawer"