In Peques y Más we bring you an interview with Sheila R. Melhem, responsible for communication of Modernito Books, a cultural and independent publishing house although, according to their Facebook wall, it is more than an editorial. We thank Sheila for her presence on the blog to tell us about some guides that have been edited for children to take advantage of their visit to the museum. They are specially dedicated for children between 7 and 12 years old and include activities and files to prepare the visits.
The guides, for now, are two: "Demuseos con GatoBlas in Barcelona" and "Demuseos con GatoBlas in Madrid". The size of both is 14.5 × 19 cm with a hardcover and plasticized presentation that kids will appreciate. The guides have 88 pages each and are on sale since the end of 2011 in your favorite bookstore. It is best that Sheila tell us more details about the project:
What the guides for children consist of and why it is necessary to create a museum guide
The Demuseos with GatoBlas guides are travel guides for boys and girls, not for traveling with children, but for them, to take them, leaf through them, scratch them. And to do what we all do with the travel guides, to let them be excited and accompany them.
We detected the need for guides like these when observing families traveling with children who had to separate between the leisure spaces of children and adults, since in spaces designed for adults, such as museums, children were bored and showed a bad disposition. Given this and convinced that art is a good that can be enjoyed by all audiences, and perhaps, especially by children, we decided to launch this project.
What content they include for children and how they were created
These are art guides for children designed to be used before, during and after the visit. The guide includes data and tools to organize the visit to museums, and encourages small readers to do so, thus favoring their autonomy and managing their own time. However, the rest of the guide must be used when looking at the works, since the books do not include the image of the original painting or sculpture to encourage readers to interact and learn to look at the works. The character that accompanies them on the visit is CatBlas, a very curious cat that encourages him to sneak into museum halls and within the paintings themselves.
Each guide has an introduction to the city in question, the presentation of three of its museums (including schedules, how to go, etc.), three artists from each of the museums and a work from each of them. In addition, the experience is completed with a glossary and activities for each of the works.
The way of representing both works and artists is very important, since all the characters are boys and girls. The interpretation of the works is free and always represented by children, as are the painters that are represented in their childhood. This helps children to look at works without prejudice, from their own eyes.
The illustrations are also a casual and at a certain point, irreverent, which favors taking solemnity from the experience of visiting the museum and appreciating art, making it much more accessible.
Who are the authors of the guides, in content and illustrations?
These guides have been possible thanks to the work of Amanda León, illustrator and creator of the character, who also has a degree in Fine Arts and has been in charge of selecting the works that are worked on in the books. And of Elisa Falcón, art historian with extensive teaching experience, who through her texts helps readers to look and enjoy each of the works, and to get to know the artists a bit through episodes of her childhood.
What experiences of use have the children who acquired them transmitted to you?
We have had the most enriching experience during the workshops that we are giving about the guides in some museums or bookstores. Upon arrival, and when asked if they like museums, boys and girls respond with a loud snort that they think is the most boring thing in the world, unless they have dinosaurs. Then, when we put into practice the dynamics of the guides, we show them the original painting and "help them look" by comparing it with the representation that GatoBlas has made of the same painting. We notice how, as soon as we give them the freedom to look at the painting from their point of view, without explaining anything to them, but simply observing it with them, they begin to enjoy it, to see it as their own, something that also belongs to them.
That unprejudiced look allows them to appreciate things from the works that perhaps adults could never appreciate, if not through their eyes.
What use is being given by children / families / schools. For example, if they are used in visits that are programmed from museums to schools
From the beginning the books suggest that it is a travel guide but also a support for visiting cities and museums without leaving home. Precisely and in this sense we have made a proposal addressed to the schools, since the experiences that come to us from work with the guides at home, using the Internet with the help of parents to find the original representations of the paintings and carrying out the activities, are Very positive, and we believe that applied to the classrooms and completed with a visit to a museum in the city itself can work very well and help children learn to approach art in another way.
Where they can be found and how much they cost
The Demuseos guides with GatoBlas Madrid and Barcelona edited by Modernito Books are available in bookstores (if they are not in stock they can be ordered and served in about 48 hours) by 16 euros.
And that's it, we reiterate our thanks to Sheila and Modernito Books for his special initiative designed for kids to enjoy art in spaces that can sometimes be boring or huge for their expectations. We will be attentive to the next projects of this fantastic editorial.
