Happy Birthday Emily Carr!

I was late in finding Emily, but couldn't be happier to know about her now. What a cool, resilient, determined, independent, talented woman to study! She lived in Victoria, British Columbia from December 13, 1871-March 2, 1945. At a time when women just weren't famous artists, she rose to become a Canadian icon. And cool fact, she was a writer AND a painter! Also cool fact, she met Georgia O-Keeffe (another strong and famous female painter) in New York in 1930. And in 1971 and 1991, Canadian postal stamps were made in her honor!

But enough with the random cool facts. Watch this video for a quick biographical introduction. Or read about her here and look through a gallery of her works.

Project time!

Looking at her work with your kids, ask questions like these: what do you think makes her art unique? How would you describe her style? What colors did she use most often? What subject matter(s) do you see? What kinds of lines did she use for her skies? For her trees? 

Really emphasize the organic, flowy nature of her lines. And then this is a great opportunity to discuss value (the lightness or darkness of tone and color)! You can find tons of value exercise worksheets to print out online to get warmed up. And then doing a painting like Emily Carr provides a great practice at mixing their own colors! I told my students we were doing a landscape, but keeping it simple. Three trees at most, some grass and maybe a mountain at most. We first focused just on the sky. I only gave them blue, white and if they insisted, purple and told them to think of her lines, think about gradually changing color from light to dark, and to fill all or most of the page with their sky. We let that dry. After it had, I gave them more colors and encouraged them to add trees/mountains/land on top. I LOVE their paintings!!! Look at how awesome and unique they are: 

Best of the Best Michelangelo

Here's my second, longer video on Michelangelo that goes into more depth on what I believe to be his 5 best artworks. Watch and then let me know if you agree! What would you choose instead?

5 - _____________________ - Why is it so significant (2 reasons)?
4 - _____________________ - How was it made? How big is he?
3 - _____________________ - Why is his head so big?
2 - _____________________ - Why was it so difficult to paint? How long did it take?
1 - _____________________ - Why does it need to be protected?

Bonus questions:
What is mannerism?
What did Michelangelo think of "constructive criticism?"
Why do you need to know the rules of art?
Did Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel lying on his back?

More biographical info:
-For elementary aged kids try here
-For more, including a cool interactive panaromic view of the ceiling, try here or here
-Khan Academy's section on Michelangelo can be found here

Michelangelo in the News:
-For an in-depth article on The David and his weak ankles, try here
-Leonardo or Michelangelo: Who is the Greatest? (it would be great to follow-up this article with one of your own answering the same question!)
-For more about the attack on La Pieta, read here

Videos to watch:
-Mati and Dada's animated short story on Michelangelo
-Artrageous' fun, in-depth look into the difficulty of painting the Sistine Chapel
-Crash Course's look into whether the Renaissance was really a thing

Happy Birthday Jackson Pollock!

Jackson Pollock was born in 1912, so he would be enjoying his early hundreds if he was still around today. Sadly he died back in 1956. I must be getting old because I look at those numbers and think he sure was awfully young to go. He only got about 20 years to share his ground-breaking art with the world, and that includes his years as a student. The best part, and the bit that makes him the most fun for kids to emulate, is that he combined the act of painting, the movement, with the painting itself. 

You could say he was involved with his paintings. :) He said, "On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting."

That resonates on a very basic level. In fact, for toddlers and young children, the act of moving the crayon across the page is more important than the finished product. But for most of us, that changes as we get older. My daughter had SO much fun dancing as she literally flung paint around from the bottom of her brush. Anyway, you could read a short biography on him here.

For the project, I had bought massive rolls of paper, because if we're going to do this, we were going to do it right! He painted on enormous canvases, so we should too :) (if you used chalk paint or anything that washes off easier than the leftover house paints we used, you could even have your whole driveway be your canvas!!) With the older kids, we started out taking a survey. I asked them on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being not important at all and 10 being essential, how important different things are to art. Or in other words, how important are these things to making a piece "good" or not. I listed off a bunch of things like the art is beautiful, the art has a political purpose, the art is in a museum, the art was done by a famous artist, the art has good lines, the art looks realistic, the art is impressively big, this kind of art has never been done before, the art took skill to make, the art makes you think, the art tells a story, etc. We read "Action Jackson," and watched this short video of the artist himself working. So cool to see the real artist in action! I asked them each to point out something they'd noticed about his style or techniques. They couldn't wait to get started! I gave them the option of collaborating on a really huge sheet, or doing their own smaller work.

Darn North Dakota wind caused some problems, but overall it was a hit! And they turned out pretty impressive too! Oh and my bathroom looked like a color wheel had exploded in it. Make sure you have access to LOTS of soap and water if you give this a try. And a press washer for your driveway. Tee hee. Oh and if at all possible, do your best to discourage intentional paint flinging at fellow students, but I wouldn't mention it if they haven't started on their own. Better not to give them ideas! Ha!

To see examples of students' work, check out my original post here. And have fun!!