In Untitled (Hôtel de la Duchess-Anne) (1957), Joseph Cornell combined a wooden cut-out in the shape of a bird, postage stamps, a metal spring, bingo chips, a bouncy ball, and newspaper clippings to capture the playfulness of childhood and a sense of movement or exploration.
Artist and librarian Nathaniel Knize leads this family-friendly exploration of Cornell’s playful shadow box assemblages to show how the artist created imaginary habitats for creatures both real and imagined. After exploring Cornell’s tiny universes, sort through a collection of natural and artificial materials to construct a mini world of your own.