The 2017 NGV Kids Summer Festival will celebrate four-legged friends and the magic of storytelling, drawing inspiration from the NGV’s dynamic suite of summer exhibitions including summer blockbusters David Hockney: Current and Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Artists.
Amongst the FREE creative activities and events, the Festival will feature a fun filled program including masquerade mask-making workshops, a dachshund fashion show, magician performances, and drop-by children’s yoga sessions, at NGV International and The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from 16 – 26 January 2017,10am – 3pm daily.
‘In its third year, the Kids Summer Festival remains one of the most popular children and family events at the NGV, with over 22,000 children attending the 2016 event. The Kids Summer Festival makes art accessible to visitors of all ages, presenting a dynamic program for our younger audiences to connect with art and art making activities,’ said Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV.
To celebrate David Hockney and Viktor & Rolf’s shared love of dogs, children can create dog inspired paper creations with artist group Soft Stories, try their hand at designing vibrant and colourful three dimensional paper dogs with illustrator Alice Oehr, and display and photograph their doggie creations at the ‘dog park’ in the Great Hall.
On Australia Day, canines will take centre stage for ‘Doggy Day’, with a parade of dashing dachshunds strutting through the Great Hall. ‘Doggy Day’ festivities will also include art making workshops, as well as performances by Luke the Magician, a member of the new magic sensation Gentlemen of Deceit as seen on TV’s Australia’s Got Talent.
At NGV International, visitors will be inspired to invent their own adventures and illustrate a magical story with artist Penny Min Ferguson, the creative illustrator behind the design label Min Pin, and use Viktor&Rolf’s design codes to create whimsical and wearable masquerade masks with Kitiya Palaskas, a designer known for her pop-craft aesthetic.
Visitors can further explore Viktor&Rolf’s design elements in the free children’s exhibition Atelier: Viktor&Rolf for Kids, drawing inspiration from the designers’ elaborate and avant-garde creations and making bespoke paper accessories to take home.
In the NGV Garden, children of all skill levels can join in drop-by dance sessions with Yellow Dance Spot, and draw inspiration from the shapes and movements of the flowers seen in Lee Mingwei: The Moving Garden with children’s yoga classes run by Yoga Sparks.
At NGV Australia, children can explore the exhibition Bruce Armstrong: An Anthology of Strange Creatures and partake in a hands on modelling and drawing workshop with the artist and sculptor himself, Bruce Armstrong.
Further activities at NGV Australia will invite visitors to explore the power of painting by creating colourful portraits of themselves inspired by their favourite artworks with artist Justin Hinder, and tackle a series of lively, quick and colorful painting challenges and games with contemporary painter Esther Olsson.
The NGV Kids program is generously supported by The Truby and Florence Williams Charitable Trust.
The NGV warmly thanks the Spotlight Foundation for its support of Atelier: Viktor&Rolf for Kids.
The NGV Kids Summer Festival is generously supported by City of Melbourne.
NGV Kids Summer Festival is at NGV International and The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from 16 – 26 January 2017, 10am-3pm. Free entry.
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