Arts & Activities articles from April 2004

Arts & Activities archives from April 2004

Editor's note.
April 1, 2004... Our excursion into painting and composition begins with a touring exhibition of work by artist-explorer, George Catlin (1796-1872). "Learning from Exhibitions: George Catlin and His Indian Gallery" (page 25) highlights work by a man universally...

Painting From the Inside Out: 20 Projects and Exercises to Free Your Creative Spirit.
April 1, 2004... PAINTING FROM THE INSIDE OUT: 20 Projects and Exercises to Free Your Creative Spirit (2002; $27.99), by Betsy Dillard Stroud. F & W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. Each chapter in this "how-to-do-it"...

Big Words for Little People/Parole Grande Per Persone Piccole.
April 1, 2004... BIG WORDS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE/Parole Grande Per Persone Piccole (2002; $12.95) National Gallery of Australia, distributed by the University of Washington Press, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145. This is a small-sized book (6" x 6"). It...

Who is the Artist? Painters of the American Scene and Painters of Fantasy Art.
April 1, 2004... Who Is the Artist? PAINTERS OF THE AMERICAN SCENE and PAINTERS OF FANTASY ART. Two Videos/28 minutes each/$29.95 each; $54.95 set. Level: Ages 9 and Up. Crystal Productions, P.O. Box 2159, Glenview, IL 60025, (800) 255-8629. These two new...

Barkan.
April 1, 2004... BARKAN (2003; $20), by Mary Zahner. National Art Education Association, 1916 Association Dr., Reston, VA 20191. Manuel Barkan (1913-1970) was a close friend; hence, the publication of this book comes as a welcome addition to art...

Sargent Art[R].(shop talk)
April 1, 2004... SARGENT ART[R] has created a new "Rainbow" Poster Paint Set featuring a prismatic rainbow of colors to help younger children learn about primary and secondary colors, prisms and the basic color wheel. This new six-jar set contains 2 ounces each...

Bracker's Good Earth Clays, Inc.(shop talk)
April 1, 2004... BRACKER'S GOOD EARTH CLAYS, INC. has secured an exclusive distributorship within the ceramics industry of the innovative Gleco Trap--an economical, easy-to-install and easy-to-maintain clay trap for home or school studios. Easily adapted to...

Tara Materials Inc.(shop talk)
April 1, 2004... Art Creations[TM] Artist Canvas, from TARA MATERIALS INC., is medium-texture archival-quality stretched canvas, available in two styles: Traditional and Gallery. There are no staples on the edges of this canvas, making it possible to paint on...

Paragon Industries.(shop talk)
April 1, 2004... From PARAGON INDUSTRIES comes a new glass kiln called the Pearl-18, getting its name from its "clamshell" till-top design. Air pistons assist in lifting the top away, giving access to the shelf area, making it possible to work directly on the...

Scratch-Art[R] Co., Inc.(shop talk)
April 1, 2004... Design your own original sand-art pictures with SAND-O[TM] Adhesive Board, from SCRATCH-ART[R] CO., INC. Simply draw your design on the top lining paper of adhesive SAND-O Board. Then cut and peel away one shape at a time. The exposed sticky...

The Whistle Press.(shop talk)
April 1, 2004... Since 1990, thousands of teachers, craftspeople, children and others have learned how to successfully make their own whistles and acarinas by using the book, Clay Whistles... The Voice of Clay, written and illustrated by Janet Moniot, and...

I Can Fly; Part 2: Kids, Painting and Art Appreciation.
April 1, 2004... I Can Fly; Part 2: KIDS, PAINTING AND ART APPRECIATION. Video/28 min./$39.95. Level: Early Childhood. L&S Video Inc., 45 Stornowaye, Chappaqua, NY 10514, (916) 238-9366. Groups of young children are presented with five key elements of...

Monet and Modernism.
April 1, 2004... MONET AND MODERNISM (2002; $65), by Karin SagnerDuchtig. Prestel Publishing, 175 Fifth Ave., Suite 402, New York, NY 10010. Many publications have reproductions of Claude Monet's paintings of haystacks or the Rouen Cathedral. Some students...

Chinese Brush Painting: a Beginner's Guide.
April 1, 2004... CHINESE BRUSH PAINTING: A Beginner's Guide (2002; $14.95), by Pauline Cherrett. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 38 7 Park Ave. S., New York, NY 10016. At a time when there is great interest in multicultural altitudes and values, this book...

Loew-Cornell.(shop talk)
April 1, 2004... Several sizes and styles of La Corneille Golden Taklon brushes from LOEW-CORNELL are now available with acrylic handles. Unlike wood, acrylic handles do now swell when left in water. Loose ferrules and peeling handle paint are often the result...

Liquitex[R].(shop talk)
April 1, 2004... Beginning painters wishing to try their hand with acrylic colors might want to look into the new "Basics Set" from LIQUITEX[R]. The color mixing, shape retention and long-term stability of the Basics line is a good match for beginning artists,...

Color & Co.(shop talk)
April 1, 2004... COLOR & CO. is proud to announce that its Spoty Tempera Paint Markers were named a Parents' Choice 2003 Fun Stuff Award Winner. These sponge-tip tempera paint markers with snap-on caps offer a great way to paint and draw without a brush. Spoty...

George Catlin and His Indian Gallery.(Learning from Exhibitions)(Cover Story)
April 1, 2004... George Catlin and His Indian Gallery is a revival of a spectacular exhibition of international significance first presented one and one-half centuries ago. It features more than 100 paintings and 11 American Indian artifacts Catlin collected...

Young artist.
April 1, 2004... Art is my favorite time of day--it is a time when I can just relax and do what I do best. Ever since I can remember, I have always loved drawing from my imagination. When I started to take classes, I began to paint with acrylic and watercolor....

Intuitive painting: tapping into creative accidents.
April 1, 2004... The advanced drawing and painting class had seen Abstract Expressionist art before, but few of the juniors had tried to paint in that style, Some students felt that such art was "a cop out," that it didn't have much merit because it looked too...

Creative collaborations: art museum full of educational opportunities.
April 1, 2004... All too often, legislators and administrators perceive art curricula as necessary only insofar as they contribute to learning capabilities and enhance student achievements in the traditionally emphasized disciplines of math, language and...

A virtual visit.(art Across the Curriculum)
April 1, 2004... Visual art has the power to take people to places they have never been before. In the case of the painting to your left, Visit with the Nuba, the artist, Dick Jemison (b. 1942) took himself to a place he'd never been, either. But so what?...

Classroom use.
April 1, 2004... THINGS TO LEARN * Jin-shiow Chen was born in 1965 in Chang-Hua, located in rural central Taiwan, the Republic of China. As a child, Chen often helped her four older sisters and their parents with the necessary chores of cooking, cleaning,...

Clip & save art notes.
April 1, 2004... Jin-shiow Chen (b. 1965). The Tension of Site Energy, 2000. Fermented dough on mesh screen, electric lights and warehouse space. Exhibition of Site-Specific Installation Art, Chia Yi Railroad-Alternative Space, Chia Yi City, Taiwan. ABOUT...

Landscape messages.
April 1, 2004... Most artists paint landscapes because the beauty they see in front of them ignites their imagination and they want to share it with others. Other artists find religious meanings in views of Nature and try to communicate these meanings through...

Bluebirds of happiness.
April 1, 2004... Children love to work with paints. For this reason, I have developed an art lesson for kindergartners that they thoroughly enjoy. Because this lesson can get messy and because of its theme, it is introduced to my classes toward the end of the...

But it doesn't look like me!
April 1, 2004... The self-portrait. Every art teacher does it, every art student groans when he or she hears it. After several years of teaching I was beginning to feel the way the kids do about the self-portrait. I really doubted if I could face another year...

Just desserts: feedings appetites and imaginations.
April 1, 2004... This was a "sweet idea" borrowed from a local art-supply store's annual student art show. It was part of what I called a year of "Art on the Road." Each of our classes completed one or more projects designed to be entered in regional, national...

Dazzling acrylic portraits.(Acrylic)
April 1, 2004... I am always attempting to challenge my advanced art students to creative new ways of dealing with traditional subject matter: in this case, the portrait. We delve extensively into the master portrait artists and their individual techniques,...

Let's get to the point! Creating a masterpiece mural.
April 1, 2004... As an art teacher, I consider the heart of the school to be the art room. The art that is created there flows throughout the school enriching the lives of all. Throughout the school year, the art-room windows sport scenes of the seasons...

Painting mugs with color schemes.
April 1, 2004... I do this project with non-art-major college students who are taking my "Color and Design" course as a fine-art requirement, but it would also work well with high-schoolers. My students come from greatly varied backgrounds, ranging from...