美国国家公共电台 NPR Pop Up Exhibit Shows Off Childhood Art Of Contemporary Artists

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Ever wandered through an art museum and let that classic critique slip from your lips - my kid could do that. The art world hears it all the time. And it's now inspired a new pop-up exhibit at the Underground Museum in Los Angeles this weekend. It's called "My Kid Could Do That." But it's not stealing any work for refrigerators. It showcases the work of well-known contemporary artists from when they were children, in the styles of pencil scribbles¹, crayons on paper and paper-mache puppets. Proceeds from the show go to benefit the nonprofit group ProjectArt. The organization promotes arts education in underserved communities across the United States. Kyle DeWoody of ProjectArt is the co-chair of this weekend's event, and she joins us on the line to talk about it. Hi.

KYLE DEWOODY: Hi. Thank you for having me.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Do these pieces foreshadow greatness?

DEWOODY: We have works from ages 4 to 17. So obviously with the works that are from the teenage years, you know, there's more refinement² there, and so it's easier to see that these kids had something. But some artists who are more conceptual artists - maybe didn't have a skilled hand - and so they just were making interesting things. But you can kind of see a seed of the work they're doing today and what they were playing around with at age 9, 10, 11.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Did the parents spot the talent of these artists young? I mean, I certainly look at my 5 year old and think, I don't know. I'm not sure she's an artist.

DEWOODY: There's a lot of parents who think everything their kid does is amazing, and they save everything. There are some artists here who thought they weren't good and so stopped making art for some years and then came back to it on a more conceptual level in college or grad school. But then there's artists like Jonas Wood - his piece was actually chosen to be the front cover image of a school calendar that year. So someone was taking note of his talent.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: As someone who works in the art world, how do you feel when you hear people say, my kid could do that?

DEWOODY: Well, I guess that they should read an art history book (laughter), you know, I mean, if they want to understand the wealth of investigation³ that was going on with color and paint and palette and the tension between shapes and lines and that there was real intention there.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What do you hope people take away from this?

DEWOODY: This is to raise awareness⁴ for ProjectArt. So the main thing is about realizing that if these artists didn't have the opportunity to create this work, to have creative expression encouraged in art classes, to have access to materials and to kind of see if they had any skill, that we wouldn't have these incredible⁵ artists making work today.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Kyle DeWoody at the Underground Museum in Los Angeles, thank you so much. It's only running through today.

DEWOODY: Thank you so much.

1 scribbles   

n.潦草的书写( scribble的名词复数 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下v.潦草的书写( scribble的第三人称单数 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• The scribbles on the wall must be the work of those children. 墙壁上的涂鸦准是那几个孩子画的。 来自辞典例句
• There are scribbles on the wall. 墙上有胡乱涂写的字迹。 来自辞典例句

2 refinement   

n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼

参考例句：

• Sally is a woman of great refinement and beauty. 莎莉是个温文尔雅又很漂亮的女士。
• Good manners and correct speech are marks of refinement.彬彬有礼和谈吐得体是文雅的标志。

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

5 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。