Funtivity Friday - Finding the Ninas

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A good way to share great art with your children and make a fun game of it at the same time is through the art of Al Hirshfeld. Al Hirshfeld is caricaturist who was known for his black and white drawings of celebrities. He was also known for hiding the name of his only child, Nina, in his drawings. It is a lot of fun for children (and adults too) to look at Hirshfeld's drawings. and try to find the Ninas. Is it in the hair? Is it in the sleeve? Is it in the background? Where can it be? It is fun to make a game of it by seeing who can find the Ninas first and how many of them you can find. Below are some examples of Al Hirsfheld's work from Amazon's collection of collectibles and fine art.

Important things to remember when playing find the Ninas.

1) Hirshfeld's daughter was born in 1945. Therefore, there won't be any hidden Ninas in drawings prior to that time.

2) There may be more than one hidden Nina in a drawing. Usually there will be a number next to Hirshfeld's signature that number will tell you how many Ninas are hidden in the drawing. See the 3 in the corner of the Laurel and Hardy drawing above, for example. However, keep in mind that just because there is not a number does not mean there is not a Nina hidden.

So how can you and your family play find the Ninas? If you are in the New York area or you are going to be in the New York area, there is a currently an exhibit of Al Hirshfeld's art at the New York Historical Society. If you are interested in find more about that, go to to this link: http://nyhistory.org/exhibitions/hirschfeld. The exhibit will be at the museum through October 12, 2015. However, if this exhibit is either not in your area or not in your budget, you can still play find the Ninas (and you may even still want to click on the above link to see some more samples of Hershfeld's work). There are several books containing collections of Hershfeld's work available for purchase at Amazon or Barnes and Noble or various other locations on or off-line. See examples of some of the books containing collections of Hershfeld's drawings below. There is even a new collection of Hirshfeld's drawings coming out this July.  However, you don't have to buy a book to play find the Nina's either. Just go to your local library and take one out and play find the Nina's for free.

The above book will be available on July 7, 2015

Enjoy!

Tune in Sunday for this week's Sunday Scoop.