Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci (project 2)

So we ran into ridiculous difficulties making this video, such as the neighbor's lawn mower. Don't even ask my husband about the times he spent double digit hours editing it, just to have it disappear or not open or revert or any of the other horrible things that haunt his dreams. But I think it's worth it! This project is a really cool combination of art and math, proportion and fractions, beauty and calculations. I love it when subjects naturally cross over and I especially love it when I get the chance to show how cool and difficult art is and how it's completely connected to every other subject. Here are a list of the proportions Leonardo recorded, as mentioned in the video:

1. Arm span = Height

2. Head x 8 = Height

3. Forearm x 4 = Height

4. Foot x 6 = Height

5. Shoulders x 4 = Height

6. Hand x 10 = Height

Extras:
1/3 Face = Chin to Nostrils = Nostrils to Eyebrows = Eyebrows to Hairline = Ear
Palm = Width of 4 Fingers
Foot = Width of 4 Palms
Height = 24 Palms
Elbow to Armpit = 1/8 Height
Bottom of Neck to Hairline = 1/6 Height
Middle of Chest to top of Head = 1/4 Height
Palm Width (NOT hand) = 1/24 Height
So without further ado, here's the video friends:

And you know how I said if you make somebody's head too big, they'll resemble an alien or a baby? The opposite is true as well. If you make a baby's head too small in comparison to it's body, they'll look like a creepy, little adult that has some sort of Benjamin Button thing going on. Just ask Giotto, who painted this Madonna and Child about 150 years before Leonardo was painting Virgin of the Rocks:

For more history about the namesake of the Vitruvian Man, click here.

Should Leonardo not be getting all the credit for his Vitruvian Man? Was it a result of collaboration or worse, copying? See what the Smithsonian has to say here.
For more in-depth conversation about the mathematical measurements, click here.
For an interesting video by James Earle (unfortunately not James Earle Jones) about the Vitruvian Man's place in the universe, click here.

Happy birthday Faith Ringgold!

 This is one of those rare times where we get to celebrate a really cool, deserving, award-winning famous artist who is still alive! So Happy 86th Birthday Mrs. Ringgold! She was born in New York October 8th, 1930. She got her degree in art education, taught art in public schools and then went back to get her MA all while raising her two daughters and developing her own art. So naturally, she's a hero to me. She was also a big civil rights activist and women's rights activist, ideals she promoted through her art! Over the years she has painted, sculpted, made masks, designed posters, created dolls, produced textile arts, and written books. This children's book, which you should be able to find in your local library or buy it here on Amazon, based on one of her narrative quilts is fantastic:

It's so imaginative and whimsical. Really resonates with kids. She has a great website here where you can learn more about her, sing her song, and read a story. And here's a great video where the artist herself explains the making of the Tar Beach story quilt. Such a treat to get to see a real artist explaining her work! And here's a recent article on her art career where she tells most of the story herself.

And finally, a painting/quilting project to honor and celebrate Faith Ringgold! We had a blast with it! I first spent the night before cutting out little 1 inch x 1 inch squares of a variety of scrap fabric. We of course started out by reading the book and talking about the artist. Then we talked about places that we would like to fly over to make our own. I gave each of the kids a piece of construction paper and had them paint themselves flying over the place they would most like to have be theirs and then we wrote the words, "If I could fly..." at the top. Then the younger kids gathered fabric squares and glued them around the edges of their paper to make it look more like a quilt. The older kids who wanted to, took the time to then add some stitching with embroidery thread on top of the fabric to give it an extra authentic look.

Here's two examples:

Artist age 4

Artist age 8

It would be great to follow this up with a writing assignment titled, "If I could fly..." She would also make a great person to learn more about for a biography report, which would pair well with all sorts of history lessons. Anyway, I've never had the privilege of seeing any of her art in person, but when I make it to the Guggenheim someday, I'll be certain to look her up! Happy Birthday Mrs. Ringgold!

Happy Belated Birthday Alma Thomas!

I believe I actually discovered Alma Thomas thanks to Pinterest. See?! All those hours I've spent losing myself in a Pinterest vortex were worth it! Ha. No probably not, but I do really love Alma Thomas. And I have to admit that I missed the chance to post this on her actual birthday, so here is a Happy Belated Birthday to Alma Thomas (9/22)! I just couldn't stand to miss it (although technically I suppose I did miss it) because this is one of my favorite lessons of all-time. So let's begin with a little background on our famous, but little-known artist.

Alma Woodsey Thomas is another inspiring artist, who like Grandma Moses, didn't get her start until later in life. She taught art for 38 years in Washington D.C., and occasionally showed her work in shows featuring African American artists, but didn't begin to paint seriously until she was 69 (she was born in 1891 so what year would that have been?). However, by then she had painful arthritis, which made painting difficult. Most people would've given up at this point but when a museum wanted to display her art, she went about creating a new, more abstract style with bright pure color in shapes or lines that still hinted at natural forms.  Instead of telling you what her art does or how it makes you feel, why don't you take a look at the following images (and find lots more online) and pretend to be an art critic writing an article about her for the paper? Have fun and be descriptive!

The Eclipse

Moving Heaven and Earth

Starry Night and the Astronauts

Untitled from Music Series

So when I was preparing the art project, I knew the younger kids in particular would have a super hard time resisting the urge to paint large strokes with their paintbrushes instead of making small dashes close together. No chance most kids would have the self-control to be so deliberate as to leave the nice white lines in between colors. And that's what makes it really pop! So I put away the paintbrushes and got out building blocks:

We looked at examples of her work, talked about what made it unique, and what they should strive for if they wanted their painting to look like hers. I really emphasized her use of repetition and variety. I then demonstrated how to use the blocks to print the shapes on the paper and let them go to town. It worked so well, that I did it the same way for my older group of students, except I gave them Legos so they could make smaller dashes. A few of them resisted, so I let the older students use brushes if they promised to leave white :) Look at how awesome my 8 year-old daughter's turned out:

Later, we tried it again but with gluing pre-cut scraps shapes on. This worked really well too and was good for the pre-K/kindergarten crowd in particular. Here's my son's finished project (it used to have nice, bright colors but has been hanging in a window and the sun sadly bleached them out):  

So much fun! One last cool fact - her painting Resurrection is the first painting by an African American woman to hang in the White House's permanent collection. So Happy Belated Birthday Miss Thomas!

Check out the article here for a more in-depth history.