Author Archives: Megan Green

About Megan Green

Megan Green brings more than a decade of creative entrepreneurship into her role at CMA as the Manager of Studio of Initiatives. She’s shared her passion for supporting artists through her direction at Craftin’ Outlaws and Midwest Craft Con.

Togetherness  #MyCMAStudio Challenge

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Museum Week is a celebration of cultural organizations around the world and today’s theme of Togetherness is one we are excited to embrace. 

Since the closing of our physical doors, we knew the value of creating experiences together as a community and went to work with #myCMAStudio challenges, a virtual adaption of our Open Studio and Thinking Workshops. 

Our monthly themes are meant to inspire thinking and making and are not rules for how to do anything. The projects you create depend upon what you have in your home, in your recycling bins, and in your brain to adapt the making according to your own ideas and materials!

With a little over a month and a half of challenges under our belt, we wanted to share the creations received from followers, staff and the creative community of CMA. 

We will get through this together!

Find a CMA Studio Challenge that speaks to you and thanks to everyone who has participated.

COSI Science Festival #MyCMAStudio Challenge

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Columbus Museum of Art is excited to partner on COSI’s second annual Science Festival, which has moved virtually for health and public safety concerns. 

These creative prompts are going to be a bit more challenging than our weekly Studio themes and may require securing materials ahead of time. With some planning and prepping you can play along at home when you have an afternoon or day to engage with the whole family. 

#COSISciFest

DIY Chalk Paint:

Supplies:
Cups or bowls
Measuring cups
Spoons or a stir stick
Corn Starch 
Food coloring
Water
Paint brush or use those digits for finger painting
Containers with lids if you wish to save paint for a later use

The Recipe: 
1 cup of Corn Starch
1 cup of water
Mix together until smooth

Divide the mixture into additional bowls in equal parts. 
Add food coloring into each new batch according to the color saturation you desire Play with mixing primary colors (red, blue and yellow) together to make new colors. 

The Making

Find a sidewalk and start decorating. 
For an extra challenge bring out tape to create a grid pattern and color in the open space. Remove the tape to show a finished design. 

Paint Pendulum

Supplies:

DIY Chalk Recipe or water down acrylic/tempera paint
Paper Cup or a bowl or a plastic cup that is easy to pierce
Yarn, twine or a piece of rope
Tape
Hole punch or a sharp pencil to create holes in your cup. 
2 chairs with an open back or create a tripod out of branches
A broom or long stick
Plastic tarp or trash bag (if you working inside)
A canvas to paint on the sidewalk works or a sheet of paper

How to build the Pendulum

Step 1:

Pierce two holes in your cup near the top using your hole punch or pencil. Use caution if using a sharp edge of a pencil. Place one hole in the bottom of the cup in the middle. Cover the hole in the bottom of the cup with a piece of tape. 

Step 2: 

If you are working inside, place down a tarp or floor covering first. 

Set your chairs up so the backs of chairs are facing each other. If you were seated imagine that you are sitting  back to back against a friend so the backs of your heads were touching. Place the chairs 3-4 feet apart . Place the broom or branch so that it’s resting on the seats or the backs of the chair. 

Step 3: 

Measure the distance of the top of the broom to the floor and double that measurement. So if it’s 10 inches measure your rope to 20 inches. Cut rope or twine to that length. 
Place the string through one of the holes you made into the side of the rope. Then while working inside the cup place it through the internal side of the cup. 
You should now have two long strands of rope coming out the sides of your cup. 
Secure the remaining string to the top of the broom, this is called the Frictionless Pivot. 
Allow the cup to hang free of movement, this is called the Equilibrium Position. 
Pull the string gently so that it can start and watch the movement of the cup. Can you adjust the rope length by shorting the cup? How does this affect the movement of the pendulum?

Your cup should now swing (oscillate) back and forth like a pendulum. Swing the cup around and watch how it swings. This is the act of converting energy back and forth or periodic motion. 

Step 4:

Now that you’ve studied the movement of a pendulum it’s time to get messy! 

Again, make sure you have a tarp or garbage bags placed down under your pendulum to help keep your workspace clean. Place down your paper directly underneath the cup or use the sidewalk as your canvas. Add your DIY chalk paint or paint of choice into the cup. Making certain that it’s been watered down. Gently pull back the string while being ready to remove the tape you placed on the bottom of the cup. Allow the rope to swing freely and watch the color patterns of the paint as the pendulum swings. Continue to add more paint colors and swing the pendulum in different directions. 

Share your COSI creations with us at #myCMAstudio and #COSISciFest.

-Megan Green brings more than a decade of creative entrepreneurship into her role at CMA as the Manager of Studio of Initiatives. She’s shared her passion for supporting artists through her direction at Craftin’ Outlaws and Midwest Craft Con.

Open Studio is a drop- in program hosted on Saturdays and part of CMA’s JPMorgan Chase Center for Creativity Studio to explore ideas, solve creative challenges, and collaborate with friends and family. We look forward to inviting you back to Open Studio and other CMA experiences when we reopen to the public.

 

 

Connections #myCMAStudio Challenge

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MyCMAStudio Weird Bodies

Another month of creative challenges are coming to keep you engaged and inspired at home. 

The CMA Studio shares with you a monthly theme for you to use as a motivator for those needing a little creative push. For the month of May we help you explore all things anatomical, both real and imagined through the BIG IDEA of Weird Bodies/Weird Science.

This week we are encouraging you to rethink shapes and forms, and see how these objects can connect together. 

We made use of  items we had at our disposal: magazines, glue sticks and sheets of paper to splice together new figures. What strange new creatures and odd adaptations can you craft? How are these creations connected to one another? How are these creations different? 

We encourage you to use materials and mediums that speak to you, be it sketching, collage, painting or photography. Get scrapy with items you can find in your home recycling bin or junk drawers. Share your creations on social media by tagging #myCMAstudio.  

Stay creative and look for more creative challenges while we bring you #myCMAatHome.

Image credit to Jen Lehe CMA’s Manager of Strategic Partnerships

 

-Megan Green brings more than a decade of creative entrepreneurship into her role at CMA as the Manager of Studio of Initiatives. She’s shared her passion for supporting artists through her direction at Craftin’ Outlaws and Midwest Craft Con.

Open Studio is a drop- in program hosted on Saturdays and part of CMA’s JPMorgan Chase Center for Creativity Studio to explore ideas, solve creative challenges, and collaborate with friends and family. We look forward to inviting you back to Open Studio and other CMA experiences when we reopen to the public

 

Conceptual Maps #MyCMAStudio Challenge

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Explore your favorite local destination in a new light by using map searches, floor plans and pictures for a creative map experience.

What places have you always wanted to travel to or what local institutions do you wish to visit soon? Perform an online search and print out the driving or walking instructions. Include aerial, street view or satellite maps of the location. Can you find a floor map that you replicate? Highlight the route you would take to get there. Use paint or markers to color in neighborhoods, streets or points of interest along the way.

Mix up all the maps pieces into a new mixed media blueprint of your destination. Does your map take on a grid shape or is it more conceptual?

Attached are CMA maps you can use as backgrounds and references:

CMA Parking Map
CMA Map

Share your creations on our social media by tagging us at #myCMAstudio. We’ll share our favorites.

–Megan Green brings more than a decade of creative entrepreneurship into her role at CMA as the Manager of Studio of Initiatives. She’s shared her passion for supporting artists through her direction at Craftin’ Outlaws and Midwest Craft Con.

Open Studio is a drop-in program hosted on Saturdays and part of CMA’s JPMorgan Chase Center for Creativity Studio to explore ideas, solve creative challenges, and collaborate with friends and family. We look forward to inviting you back to Open Studio and other CMA experiences when we reopen to the public.

Road Maps #myCMAStudio Challenge

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It’s week three of our April theme: Maps and Data.

Grab a piece of paper and map your morning routine. No judgment if you get a chance to sleep in and your morning starts well into the afternoon. How do you start your day? What things change? Do you have to feed the baby before you enjoy your coffee? Do you take the dog and yourself for a morning stroll or start the day with yoga? Do you watch the news or listen to podcasts? Are you spending the morning checking in with an online class or helping someone else do their assignments? Are you driving into work or taking the bus?

Create a road map of your daily journey by adding descriptions and icons that depict your day. Can you represent your map with photos of your routine to capture what the experiences are?

Share your creations on social media by tagging #myCMAStudio. We’ll share our favorites.

Be well, and look for more creative challenges while we bring you #myCMAatHome.

-Megan Green brings more than a decade of creative entrepreneurship into her role at CMA as the Manager of Studio of Initiatives. She’s shared her passion for supporting artists through her direction at Craftin’ Outlaws and Midwest Craft Con.

Open Studio is a drop-in program hosted on Saturdays and part of CMA’s JPMorgan Chase Center for Creativity Studio to explore ideas, solve creative challenges, and collaborate with friends and family. We look forward to inviting you back to Open Studio and other CMA experiences when we reopen to the public.

#myCMAStudio Color Challenge

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For this month’s Open Studio theme we’re exploring Maps and Data.

For this week’s challenge pick your favorite color and go around your home, yard, or neighborhood to collect all of the things of that color. How many different objects did you find? How many shades of that color do you see? Can you recreate all the different color ranges using markers, colored pencils or paints?

You don’t need an Open Studio, rather use recycled materials, your phone’s camera or pencil and paper. 

Give yourself ten minutes to brainstorm each week’s prompt through word association, sketching or drawing the weekly challenge. Then bring your ideas to life as a three-dimensional object. Challenge yourself to use recycled materials and supplies that you can find around your house: discarded and clean food containers, bottle caps, egg cartons, foil, wine corks, cardboard, buttons, tape, scissors, maybe a hot glue gun.

Show and tell time after each! Share your drawing with friends and describe your scene. How did you use uncommon materials to express your vision? What challenges did these unconventional materials create? What ways did you problem solve or use these materials in a new way? 

Share your creations on social media by tagging #myCMAstudio.  

Be well, and look for more creative challenges while we bring you #myCMAatHome.

-Megan Green brings more than a decade of creative entrepreneurship into her role at CMA as the Manager of Studio of Initiatives. She’s shared her passion for supporting artists through her direction at Craftin’ Outlaws and Midwest Craft Con.

Open Studio is a drop- in program hosted on Saturdays and part of CMA’s JPMorgan Chase Center for Creativity Studio to explore ideas, solve creative challenges, and collaborate with friends and family. We look forward to inviting you back to Open Studio and other CMA experiences when we reopen to the public.