Description

Mystic Museum of Art (MMoA) presents the inaugural exhibition of its exhibition year on the theme of Migration, investigating the complex experiences of leaving a home or homeland—deciding what is essential to take and what to leave behind. One World Project: Art, Culture, and Children’s Literature from Around the World explores the ways that culture is conveyed over time and distance in colorful, formative, children’s stories. By combining the One World outreach project with the exhibition program, MMoA can share with its visitors the journey of young artists as they join a global conversation about how we can live together and flourish. The exhibition opens to the public on Friday, January 31 and will run through Sunday, March 9. The annual One World Project outreach program enriches public school curriculum with the study of art and cultures from around the world. The project is designed to engage students in finding creative new pathways to community with individuals from widely diverse backgrounds. Starting in the Museum’s KTJ Studios in September 2024, 16 middle school students from Bennie Dover Jackson Multi-Magnet School Campus in New London considered more than 30 classic children’s stories, spanning many eras and continents. With MMoA art educators Jeff Crew and Carol Mann, Lead Outreach Teacher Meredith Andrews, and Director of Education, Lavanya Shubhakar, they discussed how stories reflect their cultures, and how they may be carried to new places and new communities as a treasure from home. Each student then selected one story to represent in three dimensions. They experimented with different materials and techniques to create key scenes and characters. The student artists realized that their stories share common themes of wit, resilience, and learning, and explanations of the world around them. The exhibition features the students’ artwork, their thoughts and processes, and the students themselves, as artists. page 2 MMoA is deeply grateful to the following for making this inaugural project possible: •CT Office of the Arts •CT Humanities •The Kitching Family Foundation