Learning About Art (gross, gross, art!)

From here.

I was wondering about art this morning after seeing a website called the SpeedOfArt.com.

Wait, that looks like it says Speedo fart. Yuck!

Trying again, I checked the BBC arts site. There I learned that a London artist named Ben Wilson makes paintings out of the old gum people spit out on sidewalks.

Wilson says, "I can make something special out of something that people find disgusting." (Video here.)

One thing that people often say about art they don't like is that, "A monkey could have done that."

But I'd never heard of anyone saying a maggot could make art until I saw this article about Erin Watson. She's a forensic entomologist. That means Watson investigates murder scenes and looks at maggots to figure out how long the body's been dead.

And Watson ALSO uses maggots and children to make art:

"Maggot art is made by gently dropping the larvae into blobs of non-toxic, water-based paint. As the maggots crawl across paper using their hook-like mouths, they drag streams of paint behind them creating what Watson calls 'Maggot Monets.' After a little [help], children become enthralled with the project, says Watson, which has caused throngs of eager youngsters to crowd around her table at past exhibits."