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Studio Sessions: Memory Boxes
October 7, 2023 | 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: High Museum of Art, Greene Family Education Center, Red Workshop
Registration Required
When you think of your most vivid childhood memory, what do you see? How do you feel? How can you capture that experience in a visual work?
Artists such as Joseph Cornell and Radcliffe Bailey mine their personal experiences, familial traditions, and cultural heritage to create multilayered assemblages that capture the complexity of memory and identity. For Joseph Cornell, childhood represents unrestrained imagination; in Cassiopeia, he incorporates childlike objects and other cultural signifiers from his Dutch heritage. Similarly, in En Route, Radcliffe Bailey fills his “medicine cabinet” with images, text, and found objects, weaving a narrative that explores themes of ancestry, race, migration, and memory.
In this studio workshop, we will create memory shadow boxes inspired by our childhood, traditions, and heritage. Using paper materials such as magazines, newspapers, and photographs, we will find relevant and inspiring images to use as our backdrop. From there, we will layer in additional collage elements and 3D objects that have personal significance. For this workshop, we ask that each participant bring in small items—tchotchkes, curios, photographs, papers, fabrics, and beyond—that hold meaning. Objects should be small enough to fit into a box that is approximately 8½ × 11 × 2 inches. The shadow box, collage materials, and other general materials will be provided.
Joseph Cornell (American, 1903–1972), Cassiopeia, ca. 1957, box construction with paper, metal, photomechanical reproduction, tempera, clay, cork, glass, and wood, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, gift of The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, 1993.157.
Studio Sessions are art-making workshops connected to artworks on view at the High that provide an opportunity to experiment, play, and dabble with new mediums and materials. No prior experience is required. Studio Sessions are designed for adults, but all ages are welcome.
When you arrive, please check in with Guest Relations staff at the Admissions and Information desk and then proceed to the check-in cart in the Robinson Atrium. We will direct you to the Anne Cox Chambers Wing Lobby, where the Studio Session will take place.
For more information, please email lifelonglearning@high.org or call 404-733-5034.
About Your Instructor
Meghan McFerrin is an arts educator and administrator with experience teaching in K–12 classrooms and in higher education, museum, and community arts settings. From 2017 to 2022, she worked for the Georgia Department of Education supervising the state’s STEAM certification program and helping schools to integrate the arts into their instructional strategies and develop community arts partnerships. She worked for the High Museum of Art as an education coordinator for several years and has returned as a teaching artist. In addition, she serves as the arts education project manager for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. Her passion for the arts is evident in her work as a visual artist and as a potter. She holds a master’s degree in art education from the University of Georgia.
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