Arts & Activities articles from April 2001

Arts & Activities archives from April 2001

EDITOR'S NOTE.
April 1, 2001... This issue is packed with "positively perfect" projects and lessons, but they do pose a dilemma: deciding which to try first! Our Cover Story, "Pointillist Watercolor Paintings: Exploring Optical Mixing", presents a beautiful world of...

DEGAS & AMERICA: THE EARLY COLLECTORS.(Atlanta's High Museum of Art)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The first exhibition to examine the response to Degas' art by American critics and collectors, Degas & America: The Early Collectors includes more than 80 works that were either exhibited or acquired in America toward the end of the 19th and...

GET ANSWERS ONLINE.(FirstGov.gov government web site)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The new Web site, www.FirstGov.gov, makes every online resource offered by the U.S. government available at the click of a mouse. The site also features links to all state and local governments, making over 27 million government Web pages...

TEACHERPOINTS: REWARDS FOR DEDICATED TEACHERS.(Learning Network teaching supplies)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The average teacher spends 8500 out of his or her pocket each year on classroom and teaching supplies. To reward teachers for their dedication and to lend them a hand, Learning Network introduces TeacherPoints. TeacherPoints works like a...

SAVE THE TURTLES WITH ART.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Of the world's over 270 turtle species, almost 150 are either threatened or endangered. To educate children and adults about the plight of turtles, the New York Turtle & Tortoise Society and HerpDigest are sponsoring the 10th "New York Turtle...

ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO INTRODUCES CLEOPATRA.(interactive web site)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The Art Institute of Chicago has unveiled Cleopatra: A Multimedia Guide to the Ancient World, an interactive Web site (www.artic.edu/cleo) designed to increase the understanding of ancient art, add historical and cultural context to works of...

EUROPEAN ART VIDEODISC AVAILABLE FREE OF CHARGE.(National Gallery of Art)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The National Gallery of Art's department of education resources has produced a new videodisc on the gallery's European collection. European Art from the National Gallery of Art offers a comprehensive view of the gallery's entire collection. The...

A-V/VISUAL/CD-ROM.(The Artist's Special Series)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... A-V/VISUAL/CD-ROM: Barbara Horberholz BOOK: Ivan E. Johnson and Jerome J. Hausman In this video, the viewer is treated to a delightfully entertaining, humorous and colorful portrait of the American artist Mary Cassatt. Presented as a...

MARY CASSATT: American Impressionist.(Review)
April 1, 2001... MARY CASSATT: American Impressionist. Video/ 55 min./ $19.95. Level: All Ages. A&F Video, P.O. Box 264, Geneseo, NY 14454. In this video, the viewer is treated to a delightfully entertaining, humorous and colorful portrait of the American...

HOW ARTISTS SEE CITIES and HOW ARTISTS SEE PLAY.(Review)
April 1, 2001... HOW ARTISTS SEE CITIES and HOW ARTISTS SEE PLAY (1999; $10.95 each), by Colleen Carroll. Abbeville Kids/Abbeville Publishing Group, 22 Cortland St., New York, NY 10007. We go about our daily lives looking at events, people, places and...

PAINTING WITH ACRYLICS.(Review)
April 1, 2001... PAINTING WITH ACRYLICS. Video/24 min./S89. Level: High School and Adult. Lucerne Media, 37 Ground Pine Road, Morris Plains, NJ 07950, (800) 341-2293, in N.J. (973) 538-1401. Concise and filled with many close-ups, this video shows and...

SHOP TALK.(watercolor supplies)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... D'UVA FINE ARTISTS MATERIALS announces its Erasable Watercolor[TM], used as one would use traditional watercolor, with one notable difference: When used with D'UVA Watercolor Wash or a solution of isoprophyl alcohol and water, the paint becomes...

Pointillist Watercolor Paintings Exploring Optical Mixing.(teaching techniques)
April 1, 2001... Optical mixing--or the use of dots and dabs of color to create additional colors--was first explored by the Impressionists as a means to extend their palette and create areas of scintillating color. The painter Georges Seurat took the...

Self-Portraits with a Twist.(teaching children painting)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Throughout history, artists have created portraits and self-portraits. For my kindergarten students, this proved to be an exciting opportunity to explore different and unusual mediums, as well as introduce the features and expressions of our...

The art of Fresco.
April 1, 2001... Wall painting, or "fresco," was one of the most important art forms in 14th- and 15th-century Italy. My art history class spent two months studying the art of the Early and High Renaissance, looking at the fresco cycles of Giotto in the Arena...

END OF THE LINE.(arttistic views of Grand Central Terminal)
April 1, 2001... The Roaring '20s. Ahhh, those were the days when life was simple and travel was an art. Anyone who has ever been stranded in an airport will understand the frustration of air travel today, and might look at the picture above, longing for the...

FEATURED ARTWORK.(New Mexico Landscape by arsden Hartley)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Marsden Hartley (American, 1877-1943). New Mexico Landscape, 1919. Oil on canvas; 30" x 36". Philadelphia Museum of Art: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection. THINGS TO LEARN * Marsden Hartley left school at age 15 to work in a Maine shoe...

clip & save.(Marsden Hartley)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... In 1918, after working in Europe for several years, Marsden Hartley returned to the United States. Since he didn't have a job, he was pleased to accept an invitation to teach some people in New Mexico who admired his art. When he arrived, he...

Young ARTIST.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... I am told that I began to do art at the age of 1 1/2. Crayon scribbles were the extent of my skills at that point, but over time I took up sculpting and painting, in the most primitive forms. In the following years I took school art classes...

LETTER-PERFECT WATERCOLORS.(teaching children)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... For many beginning art students, the sad truth is that for watercolor painting to be watercolor painting, a little water is necessary. Such novice painters soon find out that not enough water, or multiple layers of paint, results in colorful...

Tempera WATER SCAPES.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... So often, the subjects that appear in children's landscape paintings are houses, trees and mountains. These subjects are fine, but to change the thinking and challenge the vision of my young artists, I introduced the idea of painting water...

ARCHI - PAINTING.(paintings of architecture)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Imagine the magnificent Taj Mahal in the midst of a bombed-out, ruined, war-torn city. Picture the Parthenon perched on an iceberg at the North Pole rather than on the sunny Acropolis. Our students should know about these famous buildings...

Kite painting Art ansd Science Soar.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Rarely had I seen the art room so peaceful. There was hardly a sound except for the strains of Native American flute music from the CD player. In this meditative atmosphere, 24 third-graders painted original designs on kites with bamboo...

STROKES OF GENIUS.(teaching oil painting)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... My beginning painting class had just completed a traditional "still life" of oranges nestled in a cobalt-blue glass bowl, and was now ready for a little art history about the German Expressionists. I have done this assignment before, and find...

"Shake up your art room" MAKE MARACAS!(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... One of the most commonly made instruments in the world, even predating the drum, is the "maraca," more generally called a rattle. The high-frequency sounds of the maraca have been used by American Indian shamans for healing and by Tibetan lamas...

SCHOOL VISITS TO THE GETTY ARE NOW EASIER TO SCHEDULE.(J. Paul Getty Museum)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The J. Paul Getty Museum has doubled its capacity for school-group visits by increasing the number of self-guided tours available. Previously open only to grades 6-12, these self-guided visits are now also open to grades 1-5. Visits can be...

WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?(T-shirt design)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... T-shirt company Joe Blow is launching a nationwide search for the next "big idea" to adorn its latest line of shirts. The company hopes to attract everyone from high school students to professional artists, looking for the chance to turn their...

WATERCOLOR: Materials and Basic Techniques (Vol. 1); Special Techniques (Vol. 2).(Review)
April 1, 2001... WATERCOLOR: Materials and Basic Techniques (Vol. 1); Special Techniques (Vol. 2). Two Videos/28 min. each/$45, set. Level: High School and Adult. Crystal Productions, P.O. Box 2159, Glenview, IL 60025, (800) 255-8629. These new videotapes...

JACK LEVINE: Feast of Pure Reason.(Review)
April 1, 2001... JACK LEVINE: Feast of Pure Reason. Video/58 min./$295. Level: College/Adult. The Cinema Guild, Inc., 130 Madison Ave., 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10016. This is an excellent documentary portrait of Jack Levine, one of America's leading Social...