← The Museum is Your Classroom

Who is Your Cat Colleague? 

Activity May 11, 2020

Are you working from home with a cat? Do you wish you were working from home with a cat? At Carnegie Museum of Art, we work with Art Cat every day! Check out some of the feline friends in our collection for some inspiration.

See and Think:

  • If you were to capture your real or imaginary cat’s personality in a work of art, what would it look like?
A seated cat looks up at a point just above the viewer. The cat is covered in rainbow-colored stripes and appears against a plain background.
Ay-o, Cat, 1980, Carnegie Museum of Art
A black cat lies under a flowering camellia bush. 
Inagaki Tomoo, Cat and Camellia, 1941, Carnegie Museum of Art
A dark-colored cat sits in the foreground looking over its shoulder with a vibrant sunset in the background. 
Inagaki Tomoo, Cat in Sunset (Yûyake no neko), 1969, Carnegie Museum of Art
Ten cat heads arranged in four rows appear to float within the image. The background is divided into three sections colored in muted, natural tones. 
Inagaki Tomoo, Cat Faces (Neko no kao), 1966, Carnegie Museum of Art

Do: Profile Your Cat Colleague

  1. Observe your cat colleague’s professional persona (or imagine one for your imaginary cat).
  2. Does your cat colleague have good communication skills?
  3. If your cat colleague were to send you an email, what would it say right meow?
  4. Do you and your cat colleague take lunch breaks together? What does your cat bring to share?
  5. What kind of office style does your cat sport? What is its signature look? Have a look at the cat images in these prints by Japanese artists. Design a colorful, patterned coat for your cat co-worker! Go a bit further and draw your colleague at work!
  6. Write a short story about your cat colleague in an email. Send it to one of your human colleagues as a pick-me-up!