The Daring Art Book for Girls. And Boys.

I’ve been reading reviews of The Daring Book for Girls, which is billed as “ every girl’s invitation to adventure.” The consensus seems to be that pop culture provides pretty grim models for young girls and that this book is all about active adventures, positive women role models, and creative craft projects for tweens.

I started to wonder what a “Daring Art Book for Kids” would look like. Plenty of artists are making work that is fun and adventurous, and could provide kids with positive role models. Here’s my completely arbitrary stab at a list (feel free to add your favorite artists in the comments!)

Ingrid Calame A friend recently pointed out that, while Ingrid is brilliant and makes interesting work, she’s really doing what we all loved doing when we were kids: tracing and coloring. But she traces things like the stains and tire tracks on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a 76-by-20-foot painting for an exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. (See images of her paintings here.)

David Wilson & The Museum of Jurassic Technology David Wilson runs the Museum of Jurassic Technology, a place that is both wonderful and awesome – in both the new- and old-school meanings of those words. I’m crushed when my kid announces “ I’m bored” when, as the Museum demonstrates, there are all kinds of things in the world, great and small, that can inspire wonder and curiosity.

Lee Bontecou We often assume everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame, but Lee Bontecou’s life offers an alternative I hope will appeal to my kids. She received critical acclaim for her work in the 1960s and 70s, then didn’t show for decades, focusing instead on teaching and making work in her studio. Visiting her retrospective, I felt like I was getting a glimpse of what it means to make art and work hard because you love it.