New family-friendly exhibit on its way for The Warhol

At the new Andy’s Toybox exhibit, The Andy Warhol Museum invites families to take a peek at the playful side of Warhol.

Opening July 11, the exhibit explores kid-friendly themes in Warhol’s art including “toys,” “make-believe” and “dress-up”–combining artwork installed at child-height with interactive components designed to inspire play.

In the exhibit’s “dress-up” section, kids can browse Polaroids of Warhol dressed up as a zombie or admire prints from his famous Cowboys and Indians series (pictured below). Children can then bring the art to life by donning costumes of their own.

The “toy” section showcases Warhol’s toy-related art, including his paintings of Cabbage Patch Kids and his Mickey Mouse prints. Kids can then build castles, race miniature cars or play with other toys from the museum’s collection–some of which are reproductions of those that originally inspired Warhol.

Andy’s Toybox is part of The Warhol’s broader Year of the Family initiative and is a reinstallation of an exhibition held at a Zurich gallery in the 1980s. At that time, Warhol created a series of small-scale works for children and installed them at child-height against a backdrop of handmade fish wallpaper. Details like this, plus the exhibit’s new interactive elements, make the present-day Andy’s Toybox a lively and enriching experience for kids of all ages.

“Children are naturally curious and can connect to art without apprehension,” says Tresa Varner, curator of education & interpretation at The Warhol. “Encouraging kids to engage with and interpret works of art from their own perspective not only improves their creative skills but provides valuable insight into their thought processes and perspectives about the world.”

She adds that encouraging kids to look at and talk about art improves communication skills and promotes literacy and language development.

And while the exhibit is certainly interactive, parents should be aware that some typical museum rules still apply. Children can touch and play with the exhibition’s toys, but not the artwork. There is no running or roughhousing in the galleries, no food or drinks and no backpacks.

Andy’s Toybox will be open all summer long, closing on September 27. For more details on the exhibit, as well as other family-friendly programming and events, visit here.

Featured photo: Wind-up Toy (Furry Monkey), 1940s-1950s with original box and instructions, Photo courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh