September's topic: art
Art…well, that’s certainly a broad category.
We’ve all had exposure to art in school. The first day of school – be it kindergarten, pre-k or whatever – you’re asked to take out your crayons, or you’re given some sort of craft project (usually involving copious amounts of Elmer’s glue) or you’re donning a smock (your father’s old shirt?) so you can do something with paint. A classic project is a child’s handprint in plaster, painted gold and handed to mom as a present….
I was fortunate to attend a public school system that was very strong on art, we had regular art classes throughout elementary school and junior high. And I spent many a summer in the arts and crafts shed in day camp. I remember drawing and painting, sculpting with clay, working with beads…so many interesting things.
The classes in junior high also gave us some exposure to art history. Great painters – Rembrandt, Picasso, Monet. Wish I’d gone further with that, I would have loved to have taken art history in college, but somehow I never found the time. Though I did pursue the interest on my own. My dorm room was decorated with, among other things, posters of works by Picasso, Chagall and Van Gogh. In fact, one of my favorite paintings is Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” In fact, I still have a framed version of the poster, it hangs in my room over my bed. (When we moved Becca into her dorm last week, I saw that one of her fellow students has the same poster…)
I live in close proximity to one of the greatest treasure-troves of art. Yet it’s been far too long since I actually visited one of the many museums.
In a way I envy Becca. When she takes art history in college (I think it’s a required course) she’ll be going to the museums and looking at the originals, not copies in some book….
We’ve all had exposure to art in school. The first day of school – be it kindergarten, pre-k or whatever – you’re asked to take out your crayons, or you’re given some sort of craft project (usually involving copious amounts of Elmer’s glue) or you’re donning a smock (your father’s old shirt?) so you can do something with paint. A classic project is a child’s handprint in plaster, painted gold and handed to mom as a present….
I was fortunate to attend a public school system that was very strong on art, we had regular art classes throughout elementary school and junior high. And I spent many a summer in the arts and crafts shed in day camp. I remember drawing and painting, sculpting with clay, working with beads…so many interesting things.
The classes in junior high also gave us some exposure to art history. Great painters – Rembrandt, Picasso, Monet. Wish I’d gone further with that, I would have loved to have taken art history in college, but somehow I never found the time. Though I did pursue the interest on my own. My dorm room was decorated with, among other things, posters of works by Picasso, Chagall and Van Gogh. In fact, one of my favorite paintings is Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” In fact, I still have a framed version of the poster, it hangs in my room over my bed. (When we moved Becca into her dorm last week, I saw that one of her fellow students has the same poster…)
I live in close proximity to one of the greatest treasure-troves of art. Yet it’s been far too long since I actually visited one of the many museums.
In a way I envy Becca. When she takes art history in college (I think it’s a required course) she’ll be going to the museums and looking at the originals, not copies in some book….
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