Degas and Dancers

Though I don't know much about Edgar Degas (1834-1917), I've always loved his series of paintings on (ballet) dancers. Apparently, he lived during the time when ballet was one of the most popular form of stage art in Paris; there's no wonder that he has developed such an obsession on this topic.

Here's a few from the series which I find very intriguing; they represent the road to become successful performers (ballerinas in this case).

They go to class and practice....

They continue to practice after class...

They prepare for exams...

Then they continue to practice in the dancing room...

and sometimes, they practice on stage before a performance...

After countless practice sessions and unmeasurable endurance,

a star is born!

Degas said, "people call me the painter of dancers, but i really want to capture movement itself." Perhaps this is the reason why Degas was more interested in painting in a practice room rather than on a stage - most natural movements happens in the practice room.

Here's a beautiful musical slideshow of more Degas' dancers.

The Metropolitan Museum has developed a series of interactive games for children to explore different artists. If you would like to learn more about Edgar Degas and his dancer paintings, please visit The Dancers and Degas.

You may visit the MEET THE GREAT ARTISTS page to find out about other artists!

An Apple a Day - Paul Cézanne

Not only is "apple" the first chapter in a traditional alphabet book, I believe it is possibly the first object of still life drawing to many children. People like drawing apples because they are cheap and handy. (and we can eat it when the drawing is finished. =p) Although I didn't have much talent in painting, I do remember myself drawing fruits as a child. I would always start with drawing an apple because it's easy to draw comparing to a banana or grapes, yet it requires more techniques than drawing an orange.

I found a few artwork on Artsonia, an online gallery where teachers upload their students' artwork. (You may click on the picture and see the same artwork of the whole class!

"Puffy apple"
by Kathryn (Pre-K), USA

The puffy apple was made with shaving cream, glue, and paint mixed together. It is then spread out by the child to the shape of an apple.

"Apple Mosaic"

by Luke (Grade 1), USA

"Woven Apple Baskets"
by Matty (Grade 2), USA

I believe these children must have enjoyed the process of making their apple apples! They all look delicious! Perhaps one day, they would become someone like Paul Cézanne (1839 - 1906), who became an expert in drawing apples.

Please click on the painting below - "Study of An Apple" by Cézanne to see his complete work.

For children, if they want to take a closer look at Cézanne's apples and know more about the painter, they may like the interactive site Cézanne's Astonishing Apple developed by the Metropolitan Museum. For younger children, they may enjoy the Cézanne's Apple Sing-along!

You may visit the MEET THE GREAT ARTISTS page to find out about other artists!

POP ART artist #1- Keith Haring

The name Keith Haring may not be familiar to all of us, but if you look at the above picture, you may remember seeing similar figures somewhere - this is exactly the Haring style! Keith Haring is one of the important figures druing the pop art movement in the 1950's. Haring has developing an interest in drawing since a very young age; and he has gone through professionl visual art training. His paintings started to gain international attention in the 1980's. Unfortunately, he died of AIDS related complication at the young age of 31.

Haring's paintings are still popular today; they are seen not only on canvas', but also on mugs, t-shirts, magnets, buttons, etc. The simple use of clear lines and curves, as well as the use of bright colours make Haring's painting quite child-friendly. I recommend the Keith Haring's Kids site where you can find parents/teachers resource for very young children up to 14+.

You may visit the MEET THE GREAT ARTISTS page to find out about other artists!

Picasso Fun~

Three Musicians (1921) - Pablo Picasso

Everyone knows about Picasso; he was the pioneer of the cubism movement in the early 20th century. Personally, I don't particularly fancy cubist artwork (because I find the paintings too "crazy."), but I can't deny that it is quite fun to look at them sometimes - objects are broken into pieces and re-assembled in an abstract form - which makes me feel like I'm playing the advance level in those "hidden object games" on Yahoo!

Musical instruments seemed to be favoured by Picasso. Beside the Three Musicians as seen above, what do you think of this one called, simply Musical Instruments (1912)? How many instruments can you find in the painting?

Let's play a game! You can see 3 Picasso paintings of musical instruments below, do you think you can match them with the right titles?

Title 1: Guitar (1913)

Title 2: Clarinet and Violin (1913)

Title 3: Violin and Guitar (1913)

Please go to this Picasso Gallery site if you want to find the answers!

Later in his Career, Picasso focused on painting portraits, Girl with a Boat (Maya Picasso), painted in 1938.

What do you think? Do you want to try making a cubist portrait like Picasso's? Go to the Mr. Picassohead website and try it out.

You may visit the MEET THE GREAT ARTISTS page to find out about other artists!

POP ART artist #2- Andy Warhol

This is the series "Ice Cream Dessert" created by Andy Warhol in 1959. I hope children would like it as much as I do!

Red Pink and White

Red and Pink

Purple Fancy

Fancy Red

3 scoop

One of Warhol's famous work is the "mass-produced" images from photographs of celebrities. You may be interested in playing the colour of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Prints.

Also, the official Warhol site has some education resource for older children. Please click here to access.

You may visit the MEET THE GREAT ARTISTS page to find out about other artists!

Andy Goldsworthy: a brilliant environmental-artist/sculptor

I fell in love with Andy Goldsworthy's art work when I first saw it in a creativity class I attended some time ago. When he creates, he experiements with various natural materials, such as stone, grass, flower, feathers, snow and clay. Since his work is "mortal", he would use photography to capture them. In fact, the wearing away of the product is part of the projects.

Many schools have included an "Andy Goldsworthy" unit in thier art curriculum; students are encouraged to create an art piece from natural materieals, like Goldworthy did. The process of gathering material is an important step; somtimes, it takes a long time for him to find the most appropriate size and colour pebble or feather to complete his art work. No matter how difficult, he insists to search for that perfect piece from nature, there is nothing artificial about his art work.

I think this is such a brilliant and environmental curriculum idea! Children can literally start creating from scratch; they come across the mortality of nature as they experience the creation process. I can't find any excuse to NOT start this at a young age - young children are natural nature-lovers, they may have better idea of where to find a missing piece.

Below is s a slideshow that documents a Goldsworthy art project prepared by a group of 6th grade students. It's a joy to watch them create works of art made of what they have found in their school's backyard! I hope you find it as inspiring as I do.

You may visit the MEET THE GREAT ARTISTS page to find out about other artists!