This Art Exhibit Reimagines the Classic Children’s Book “Goodnight Moon” With Home Goods

A new exhibition of artwork and design objects puts a contemporary spin on a beloved classic. Fort Makers, a New York-based design studio with a focus on contemporary art, furniture, and product design, has launched an immersive and deeply nostalgic exhibit called “Goodnight House,” a collection of works inspired by the 1947 children’s book “Goodnight Moon” written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. Through reimagined products found in the book’s bedroom setting, the exhibit explores how Brown’s classic has been “woven into a collective American cultural understanding of comfort, sleep, compassion, and imagination,” according to Fort Makers.

A short poem, “Goodnight Moon” follows a young rabbit’s bedtime ritual as it prepares (or postpones, as most children do) bedtime by offering goodnight wishes to every bedroom object in sight, such as a balloon and pair of socks. The book “subverts its own rules even as it follows them,” per Fort Makers, offering “metaphysical farewells” in the form of “goodnight, nobody” and “goodnight, noises everywhere.” As such, “Goodnight House” reimagines the bedroom with art and home goods curated by artists whose practices “embrace a childlike curiosity,” said Nana Spears, Fort Makers’ co-founder and creative director.

“We asked each artist to further rekindle their childlike understanding of the world around them, and create objects uninhibited by the horrors of adulthood,” Spears said. “What better remedy than comfort and play?” 

“Goodnight House” includes painted silk curtains by Naomi Clark; character-inspired candles by Janie Korn; an upholstered bed and handwoven textiles by Liz Collins; ceramic table lamps by Samuel Harvey; paintings by Marcel Alcalá with frames by Nick DeMarco; ceramic mugs and bowls by Shino Takeda; a bedside rug and ottoman by Tamika Rivera; and a ceramic clock and mantlepiece objects by Keith Simpson; among other works. 

“Since the advent of kindergarten, artists and designers have been absorbed with the power of play and the role it has in fostering creativity in both children and adults,” Noah Spencer, Fort Makers co-founder, said. “This power has always been at the forefront of Fort Makers’ design philosophy, and is a tenet we try to reaffirm in new, innovative ways with each exhibition we produce.”

“Goodnight House” is on view between March 3 and April 29 at Fort Makers.