SUMMERTIME BLOG
@ ART MATTERS
Stories about Young Artists and Their Adventures During One Summer
The Art of the Cherokee
(The Eastern Band)
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SKULLS, BONES, ROCKS &
O'KEEFFE
A morning session, all about the great American artist, Georgia O'Keeffe took place in the mornings and another session about American artists, Andrew Wyeth and Henry Ossawa Tanner took place in the afternoons. Some children attended both sessions over the course of of this week and made a great deal of art, among other things.
2 American Artists:
Andrew Wyeth (and Family)
Henry Ossawa Tanner
Artemisia & Botticelli
Classic Myths and Great Legends
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The Dragon Boat Festival
Click on any photo to find the best way to view all photos
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WHAT HAPPENS AT A SUMMER ART SESSION CALLED "TURKISH DELIGHTS'?
Well, at Art Matters, Turkish Delights can be...
Click on any photo to find the best way to view all photos
Click on any photo to find the best way to view all photos
(more photos still to be uploaded soon for Turkish Delights)
Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Istanbul was Constantinople. Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople. Been a long time gone, Constantinople. Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night. Every gal in Constantinople Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople ,So if you've a date in Constantinople, She'll be waiting in Istanbul. Even old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, I can't say. People just liked it better that way. So, take me back to Constantinople. No, you can't go back to Constantinople. Been a long time gone, Constantinople .Why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobody's business but the Turks. Istanbul, Istanbul, Istanbul, Istanbul! Even old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, I can't say People just liked it better that way.
-They Might be Giants
Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Istanbul was Constantinople. Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople. Been a long time gone, Constantinople. Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night. Every gal in Constantinople Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople ,So if you've a date in Constantinople, She'll be waiting in Istanbul. Even old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, I can't say. People just liked it better that way. So, take me back to Constantinople. No, you can't go back to Constantinople. Been a long time gone, Constantinople .Why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobody's business but the Turks. Istanbul, Istanbul, Istanbul, Istanbul! Even old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, I can't say People just liked it better that way.
-They Might be Giants
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END OF THE WEEK ART SHOW
With a few last minute preparations, children who attended the week-long
"A Planet for Animals"
session had their end of the week art show and invited family and friends. It was the family photos at the end of this blog entry that are the most special! It is our entire family that works to help kids produce art and display the art and we really enjoy it when the kids' faces show that they had fun and the parents see their art and look happy and proud. This first week of summer was the most special and I know we won't replicate anything else like this week ... but we can try.
(Click on any photo to find the best way to view all photos and just scroll down to find all the photos for "Good Earth Art" which took place during the mornings of this same week.)
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On June 3, Willie Huston, his nephew, Carter and an unnamed pig visited us at Art Matters. Willie Huston is a well known local farmer and musician, who can name almost every plant and knows which ones are edible. He takes care of bees and pigs, a pair of twin girls and a multitude of other things on his farm. Willie grows crops throughout the woods, like mushrooms and berries. This kind of farming is called agroforestry. It promotes biodiversity – very unlike the monocrop production of major agriculture. Willie seemed like the best person to invite to our week long sessions we called, Good Earth Art and A Planet for Animals. After listening to Willie talk about his new endeavor to raise pigs, it was such a beautiful day, the students cooled off in the sprinkler. Later we watched a short film about elephants and the young artists used elephant poo paper to create collages. That's right! The beautiful and fibrous papers we used are the result of a project that saved many Asian Elephants in Sri Lanka. Elephants were being killed there for trampling gardens and farms, but by creating a small paper making industry, which also created jobs, the elephants began to be seen as more valuable to the people. Some of the students were inspired to create collages of elephants at Art Matters, but lots of other animals that we have had the opportunity to see this week also showed up in their art.
Thanks so much, Willie and Carter for visiting us!
(click on any photo for the best way to see all the photos)
On June 3, Willie Huston, his nephew, Carter and an unnamed pig visited us at Art Matters. Willie Huston is a well known local farmer and musician, who can name almost every plant and knows which ones are edible. He takes care of bees and pigs, a pair of twin girls and a multitude of other things on his farm. Willie grows crops throughout the woods, like mushrooms and berries. This kind of farming is called agroforestry. It promotes biodiversity – very unlike the monocrop production of major agriculture. Willie seemed like the best person to invite to our week long sessions we called, Good Earth Art and A Planet for Animals. After listening to Willie talk about his new endeavor to raise pigs, it was such a beautiful day, the students cooled off in the sprinkler. Later we watched a short film about elephants and the young artists used elephant poo paper to create collages. That's right! The beautiful and fibrous papers we used are the result of a project that saved many Asian Elephants in Sri Lanka. Elephants were being killed there for trampling gardens and farms, but by creating a small paper making industry, which also created jobs, the elephants began to be seen as more valuable to the people. Some of the students were inspired to create collages of elephants at Art Matters, but lots of other animals that we have had the opportunity to see this week also showed up in their art.
Thanks so much, Willie and Carter for visiting us!
(click on any photo for the best way to see all the photos)
Dissecting Owl Pellets during "Good Earth Art"
(Poop is funny and fascinating!)
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June 21, 2021
-It was BIG NEWS TODAY at Art Matters when Dr. Jarrett Johnson visited with his 3 children, 2 salamanders, 3 hissing cockroaches, a tortoise and a snake! For the 8 students in this week long art session, called A PLANET FOR ANIMALS, this was a very exciting event! I think Will had been hoping to find a lizard all week, but it really seemed like a salamander would suffice. Much to my surprise, I fell in love with a salamander! They are very beautiful and this little yellow guy seemed to enjoy the attention that the children gave him. Even if he was just hoping for some food, he turned on the charm and melted our hearts. Harper had been talking about snakes all week long and then finally got to have a close encounter! Thanks, Mya, who brought her own baby box turtle to visit. Along with the bird and two cats already present, Art Matters really was a Zoo today! Huge gratitude to Dr. Johnson from the biology department at WKU- and his family- for going to all the trouble to bring such wonderful visitors today!
Please click on any photo to get a full view.
For news that happened in our other art session- Good Earth Art- just scroll down.
June 21, 2021
-It was BIG NEWS TODAY at Art Matters when Dr. Jarrett Johnson visited with his 3 children, 2 salamanders, 3 hissing cockroaches, a tortoise and a snake! For the 8 students in this week long art session, called A PLANET FOR ANIMALS, this was a very exciting event! I think Will had been hoping to find a lizard all week, but it really seemed like a salamander would suffice. Much to my surprise, I fell in love with a salamander! They are very beautiful and this little yellow guy seemed to enjoy the attention that the children gave him. Even if he was just hoping for some food, he turned on the charm and melted our hearts. Harper had been talking about snakes all week long and then finally got to have a close encounter! Thanks, Mya, who brought her own baby box turtle to visit. Along with the bird and two cats already present, Art Matters really was a Zoo today! Huge gratitude to Dr. Johnson from the biology department at WKU- and his family- for going to all the trouble to bring such wonderful visitors today!
Please click on any photo to get a full view.
For news that happened in our other art session- Good Earth Art- just scroll down.
Scroll down to find News about Good Earth Art
Art Matters has big news to share! Today, May 31, 2021, during our summer art session, "A PLANET FOR ANIMALS", our young artists went on a field trip to visit Dr. Bruce and Donna Schulte. They were so kind to let us pet and feed treats to their horses! Dr. Bruce Schulte is a professor in the biology department at WKU and an expert on large mammals, so what a great opportunity it was to hear him talk about horses. Donna Schulte is a local artist, who did a series, inspired by animals called "Remember Me". We got to visit her pottery studio and she told us why she had chosen some of the endangerd animals that she depicted in her work. Then the young artists returned to the Art Matters studio and began some pretty great works themselves! We will continue doing art inspired by animals all week, with many more surprises to come. Stay tuned for more pictures of our animal guests this week! (Thanks, Lauren and Emma Bridges and Valerie Chaney for all your help today! (And always thanks to Mr. Michael who does all the hard stuff!)
click on any photo for the best way to view all the photos
Art Matters has big news to share! Today, May 31, 2021, during our summer art session, "A PLANET FOR ANIMALS", our young artists went on a field trip to visit Dr. Bruce and Donna Schulte. They were so kind to let us pet and feed treats to their horses! Dr. Bruce Schulte is a professor in the biology department at WKU and an expert on large mammals, so what a great opportunity it was to hear him talk about horses. Donna Schulte is a local artist, who did a series, inspired by animals called "Remember Me". We got to visit her pottery studio and she told us why she had chosen some of the endangerd animals that she depicted in her work. Then the young artists returned to the Art Matters studio and began some pretty great works themselves! We will continue doing art inspired by animals all week, with many more surprises to come. Stay tuned for more pictures of our animal guests this week! (Thanks, Lauren and Emma Bridges and Valerie Chaney for all your help today! (And always thanks to Mr. Michael who does all the hard stuff!)
click on any photo for the best way to view all the photos
"GOOD EARTH ART"
This session took place during the mornings of the same week as A Planet for Animals- with a couple of students attending both sessions and staying all day. Just because there was not as many animals that visited us in Good Earth Art, it was just as exciting. Plants can be very fun too! We planted our own dish gardens that everyone got to take home and these young artists really learned to be printmakers this week, with practice at making a couple of different kinds of prints. These photos show the youngsters in their last minute preparations to finish and hang an art show for their families to come and see at the end of the week. This included the Art Matters tradition of helping to make fresh squeezed lemonade for their own reception! Children are never too young to pull off a great art show, as these photos show. While it is the process and not just the end product that is important to learning, I have found that when you challenge youngsters, they usually rise to the occasion and will surprise us every time with their abilities. Perhaps it is true that we should not expect "too much", but children seem to almost always exceed and go beyond our hopes and dreams, so we allow them to do their own work, believing in their own inner vision.
(click on any photos for the best way to view all the photos)
Day 2: A PLANET FOR ANIMALS: The young artists discussed turtles and a guest artist visited us: Emma Simpson, a long time student at Art Matters, who recently graduated from BGHS, brought a piece she did about turtles. Emma used recycled plastic and turned it into art! She talked about how the City of Bowling Green no longer recycles plastic, so she wanted to think of a way to use it in her art, rather than just throw it away, since there is really no good place to put it. She talked to the current students about how and why she made this piece of art and inspired them to begin their own turtle art. They will also be recycling plastic in their own works. These students also finished their animal art, they had begun the previous day. Surprisingly, they took the beautiful pieces they had made yesterday, crumpled them up and dipped them into a black dye mixture. See how they turned out, when they display them this Friday for parents and visitors to see! Two bunnies also visited this class today! Thanks to Emma and Lily Simpson and also Wells Harned and Valerie Chaney for helping with our art session! As always, thanks to Mr. Michael, who works so hard behind the scenes!
click on any photo for the full view- all photos taken at Art Matters Studio
click on any photo for the full view- all photos taken at Art Matters Studio
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Today, May 31, 2021 was the first day of the first week of summer art sessions at Art Matters. Our first session of the summer, Good Earth Art, encouraged us all to be amateur naturalists. An amateur naturalist goes for a short walk every day. She observes nature closely and notices little details. She takes notes and documents her observations in other ways too. Today we took photos, we made nature prints and placed a few plants (not endangered ones) in a flower press so that we could create an herbarium later. We used the Seek app, (a free app, courtesy of National Geographic,) to identify things we saw. We were careful with our cuttings, to never pull up roots. We also made our own dish gardens today, planting pumpkin, sunflower, poppy, marigold and millet seeds. Special thanks to Mr. Michael, Ms. Valerie and Emma for helping us!
click on any photo for the full view- all photos taken at Art Matters Studio
click on any photo for the full view- all photos taken at Art Matters Studio
Today, June 1, 2021, was the second day of Good Earth Art! The young Amateur Naturalists made little clay figures for their miniature dish gardens. We talked about birds today and we made drawings of birds. We also painted gesso onto our gourds, to prepare them for the bird houses we plan to turn them into. Last, but Best, Bunnies came to visit us and we drew and painted bunnies too! We took our short walk, naturally, and found more plant specimens for our herbariums. It was a busy day!
click on any photo for the full view- all photos taken at Art Matters Studio
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