Learning Moore

Welcome back! I have the pleasure of updating our blog this week and I thought I would start off by introducing myself. My name is Laura Hennighausen and I've been with the Atlanta Botanical Garden for almost two years. I started out as a part time Education Assistant with our Big Bugs and Killer Plants exhibition and then came back as the Registration Coordinator in the Garden's education department. Because I have an arts background, I was especially excited when the Garden announced it would be hosting Henry Moore at the Garden. What a great experience!

To compliment the Moore exhibition, we’ve cooked up all sorts of educational opportunities for both young and old. One of my favorite programs, The Big Draw, is actually occurring this weekend, and again every third Saturday of the month through October. Kew Gardens started the Big Draw project when they hosted the Moore exhibit (in 2007) to encourage participation in the arts. We embraced the idea and decided to hold monthly events here at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Henry Moore’s artwork and the beautiful garden is inspirational and we want to encourage visitors to sketch, paint or draw during their visit. The Big Draw was a big hit during the grand opening in May, with drop-in drawing classes by Garden artist Carol Sutherland and a giant chalk mural created by visitors and led by garden educator Jackie Smalley-Barnes.

Even after studying art for several years I find myself sometimes overwhelmed when presented with large exhibitions. To help visitors enjoy their experience with the Moore exhibition, the Atlanta Botanical Garden offers several guided tour opportunities through out the month. The first Saturday of each month at 10:30 am we feature an Expert Lead Tour hosted by a staff member or special guest who can provide insider information and interpretation of the exhibition. We also offer a Henry Moore Family Walk for families on the last Saturday of each month, which is perfect for little feet! I lead our first family walk last month and had a blast imagining what each sculpture could be and how and why they were made. My favorites were Catherine’s interpretation of Three Piece Reclining Figure - Draped as the Titanic and Brady’s explanation of Goslar Warrior - a Star Wars Storm Trooper!

Another program I’ve had the pleasure to become involved with is our Saturday Drop-in class. Each Saturday at 1:30pm garden educators host a drop-in class for families visiting the garden. I hosted a “Natural Artists” class where we made sculptures out of clay, learned fun facts about Henry Moore (Did you know he’s the 7th of 8 children! And he made 1,200 sculptures through out his career!?) and went outside to explore a few key pieces in the exhibition. We imitated Moore sculptures with our bodies, talked about what we thought each statue looked like, and then made nature collages with materials collected from the grounds of the Garden.

We are also offering several classes relating to the exhibition such as our Bronze Foundry Tour and Demonstration where participants tour the Inferno Art Foundry to learn more about how bronze sculptures are created and watch a bronze pour. In the next few months we’ll also be offering opportunities for participants to get their hands dirty and make their own bronze sculptures with a Scratch Mold Bronze Casting class and a Lost Wax Method class led by artists from the Inferno Art Foundry. It’s an unusual opportunity and sure to fill up quickly!
[Below, Carl from the Inferno Art Foundry points out a step in the Lost Wax casting method.]


For more information about educational opportunities surrounding the Henry Moore exhibition, click here!