HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – The Montana Historical Society (MHS) has created a Coronavirus Quarantine Challenge and survey for everyone and anyone who wants to pass the time during the COVID-19 stay at home order.
The paint-by-numbers type challenge asks individuals to utilize any of their household items to re-create works of art.
MHS Public Information Officer Eve Byron said they originally got the idea from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and thought it would be a great way for Montanans to learn more about art and to have some fun while stuck at home.
“Well a couple of us saw this Getty Museum where they had promoted the challenge and we thought that looks like a lot of fun, people are probably really bored, and we’ve got so much great art housed at the historical society. So, we thought we would engage folks while they were at home, maybe they would learn something about some of the artwork that we have here in Montana as well as have some fun.”
Bryon said they went through their collection and selected about 24 different art pieces for the challenge and have been posting pictures of the art on social media and are excited to see how people use their imaginations to re-create the pieces.
“So, what we’ve done is one of our folks in the outreach program, Kirby Lambert, he went through and chose about two dozen pieces in our collection and we posted them onto our Facebook page. We’re also doing kind of a social media campaign and asking people to re-create the photo and just see how creative people can get.”
Byron said people can replicate the art however they’d like and many people have already accepted the challenge and are posting their innovative re-creations of Montana art pieces on social media.
“We’ve had a couple of people do it with the remorse photo of the kid with the dog and the gun and he shot a small bird – that we had people re-create with people and then we also had some of the abstract art where people are using just objects in their home.”
MHS is also asking the public to participate in a survey so future generations and historians know what Montanans did during the COVID-19 quarantine.
“We’re wanting a record of how COVID-19 is effecting people as well as their family. We’ve got two surveys; one is for students and the other is for everyone else. Basically, what we’re asking people is are they taking precautions to prevent the spread, what are those precautions, what advice are you following – is it from a healthcare provider, your work, your school, social media. We ask how they’re coping with the pandemic at home, how they’re feeling, what they’re doing to keep occupied and in touch with friends and families, what they think about the government’s response, what has changed and what has stayed the same due to COVID-19. We’re hoping that people will be able to tell us something so in a hundred years people will be able to look back and say, oh wow this is what they did, well wasn’t that silly or wasn’t that smart.”
To learn more about the challenge or survey call 406-444-6843, visit mhs.mt.gov or check out MHS’ Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest pages.
