University of Mississippi Museum Education Blog

Frequent visitors to the Museum will recognize that this happy wedding party is our family of pulgas vestidas, or dressed fleas! It's believed that this Mexican folk art started in convents over 300 years ago! Common people eventually started making their own pulgas vestidas to sell to tourists, but the practice had died out by the mid-1900's. Fascinated with these fashionable fleas? Head over to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop  to learn more fun facts. Older audiences can enjoy this poem about our tiny friends, and everyone can click here to see a flea circus in action!

The Museum hosts events all the time, and this morning we came across a teeny-tiny wedding party! Look at this festive family dressed to the nines having a jumping good time! Can you guess what animal got married today?  It's ok if you think this is a head scratcher, come back next Monday, November 21st when we reveal the answer! 

On Monday , we combined the works of  Jason Twiggy Lott  with  Theora Hamblett  to create some eerie tree assemblages! Today's  Try It Out  will show you how you can make your very own spooky tree at home. Materials:  Background: 8x10 Cardboard or wood board Black and Blue Washable paint Paintbrush Assemblage: Random Stuff (Keys, scrap paper, scrap cloth, wood, recyclables, etc.) Glue dots or hot glue  Other Washable Paints Water and Bowl Paper Towels Estimated Time: 30 min to 1 hour First , paint your cardboard or wood canvas all blue. Second , while the blue paint is still wet, add a few dots of black on one side. Use your brush to make the colors look like the sky is slowly fading into night. Third , set you board aside to dry. Play with your random stuff and plan out how you might want your tree to look. If you need some inspiration, go over to our Virtual Gallery to see what our other...

On Monday, we were happy to welcome students from the community and the B oys and Girls Club LOU Clubhouse to our second Milkshake Mash-up of the semester.  We combined the works of Jason Twiggy Lott with Theora Hamblett  to create some eerie assemblages! Check back Friday, November 11, when we post a Try It Out to show you how you can make your very own spooky tree!  Je' mapple Les Tree, Ayanna, 14 Dark Age , Ashanti, 14 Untitled , Bailey, 14 Moonlit , Caliya, 14 Untitled,  Cola, 14 Stars and Circles, Drake, 14 Emari's Moonlight , Emari, 13 Night Twilight,  Irianna, 13 Wisdom Tree , Jakeylia, 14 What's In My Cereal?! ,  Je'Lissa, 13 Spiders in the Spooky Night , Jessie, 13 Untitled,  Neely Grace, 13 The Dragon, Will, 13

These spooky spiders from China are place card holders! Marie Buie would have used these at dinner to let guests know where to sit. Would you be willing to sit at a place that had a spider? Check back next Monday, November 14th, for another Monday Museum Mystery!