children

Education is the most powerful tool you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela

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Improved Academic Performance: Studies show that there is a correlation between art and other achievement.

“Dear Jackson,

I hear you’re having trouble in school. Forget about that place. Why don’t you join me in New York? If you’re serious about becoming an artist, this is the place to be anyway. You can study at the Art Students League….”

Jackson Pollock is the most challenging and influential American artist of the 20th century. He was the “first action” painter, meaning he would drip, pour, throw, and splash his paint onto very large canvases which he laid flat on the floor. He is nicknamed “Jack the Dripper.”

He was born in Cody, Wyoming and grew up in Arizona and California. He studied painting at Manual Arts High School, Los Angeles. He dropped out after being encouraged to move to New York by his older brother. He studied under Thomas Hart at the Art Students League.

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Jacksonpollock

Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make together for our children. Sitting Bull

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Kenneth Triester designed the sculpture at Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach that took more than four years to build. It was officially dedicated in 1990.

The United Nations has set aside January 27 as International Holocaust Day. It is the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of 7,000 prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp by Soviet Troops.

Super Heroes in Miami Beach

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Children can often rally the super hero in parents.

We love stories about the underdog. Seeing others overcome incredible odds empowers us. Perhaps that explains the appeal many have for super heroes. But there lies within us the same power. It is often during a crisis we harness the super hero within us.

Two years after moving to Miami, Barbara Capitman’s husband died. Instead of packing up her bags and feeling sorry for herself she decided to make new friends and help others. She looked at Miami Beach and saw the old boarded up buildings and the needy people living in them. Developers only saw the buildings and wanted to tear them down.

Barbara Capitman fought developers and city officials “tooth and nail” to preserve the historical buildings. She briefly laid in front of bulldozers to block demolition of a building. She literally laid down her life for the buildings in Miami Beach.

If not for Capitman’s vision, fortitude and perseverance, there would not be an Art Deco District. It was the first 20th century neighborhood placed on the National Register of Historic Places much to her efforts.

After learning about Capitman, I became an avid supporter of preservation. I began painting Miami Beach Art Deco Buildings and created my Art Deco coloring book.

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Miamidesignpreservationleague

Native American Essay Contest

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Native Americans have lived in Maine for thousands of years. Today the four Maine Tribes are the Maliseet, Micmac, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy known as the Wabanaki.

The State of Maine has a great kids website complete with games, coloring sheets and interesting programs and fun facts about Maine’s wildlife.

While Maine is famous for lobster, Maine has a variety of black bears, moose, puffin, etc. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has compiled a list of fun animal tracks for bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes and more for children to explore.

There are a variety of cool programs for youth. During Indigenous Heritage Month, Maine offers a Native American Essay Program for Maine’s student residents. Essays are reviewed by a panel of judges, who will select top entries for middle and high schoolers. Deadline for submission is November 12.

Wabanakinations.com

Mainekids.gov

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Open House New York

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Experience New York during Open House New York October 16-17. There are not many fun cities like New York.

The iconic Jeffrey’s Hook lighthouse in New York rose to fame due to the popularity of the book “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge” by Hildegarde W. Swift and Lynd Ward.

Open House New York fosters diversity and exploration.

Families can enjoy “access to thousands of places with architectural and cultural significance. Choose from in-person and virtual tours, talks, self-guided walks, and more.”

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The Arts and Humanities…give us hope in moments of struggle and bring us together when nothing else will. Michele Obama

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Art brings people together.

The President’s Proclamation on this year’s National Arts and Humanities Month recognizes the importance of the arts during the Pandemic. The arts not only help us to understand our experiences but lifts our spirits. The arts indeed have the ability to heal our collective wounded spirits.

According to the proclamation, the arts have been recognized as a foundation of our Republic since its beginning. George Washington wrote in 1781, “The arts and sciences are essential to the prosperity of the State and to the ornament and happiness of human life.”

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The Timeless Power of Creativity

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Discover fun and exciting ways to build literacy skills through art. Explore the richness of cultures and traditions through creative expressions.

When the great artist, Katsushika Hokusai, died in his 90s, his last words were said to be a plea for just five or 10 more years to paint.

Hokusai is Japan’s most celebrated artist. He inspired the French Impressionist. Hokusai did paintings, wood prints, book illustrations, signs, and more. He was a visionary who went against tradition and used Prussian Blue instead of black and other innovations.

He led the way in subject matter; painting landscapes, still lifes, etc.

When he was in his mid 60s and early 70s, he created his greatest work, a series of color wood prints, 36 views of Mount Fuji that included his masterpiece “The Great Wave.”

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Art must discover and reveal the beauty which prejudice and caricature have overlaid. Alan Locke

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The Harlem Renaissance was a celebration of African American culture in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a rebirth of African American arts. Workshops highlight art by Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Beardon, Augusta Savage and William Johnson.

Thousands of African Americans migrated to the North between 1900 and 1920 to escape economic hardship and racism and to search for human dignity and financial opportunity.

The veterans of World War I who had fought “to make the world safe for democracy” were determined to make democracy work at home.

From this mass migration, urbanization, and military participation, a dynamic artistic community evolved.

The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art by Andrea D. Barnwel

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Book Review: Lily Brown’s Painting

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Lily Brown’s Painting by Angela Johnson and EB Lewis is a positive and uplifting book that younger children will enjoy. This book highlights the creativity, strengths and love of a delightful African American girl. Lily has a zest for life, adores her family and especially her baby brother.

Lilly is a compassionate and kind girl with an active imagination. She explores the world through her art.

Children and their families will create a watercolor painting of the stars from the book, Lily Brown’s Painting.

While there is a reference to art by Van gogh, Lily also finds inspiration and appreciation in everyday occurrences and elevates them to imaginative heights. There are no limits to her creativity. Lily becomes one with her art often immersing herself in the paintings.

I love that the author, Angela Johnson shares center stage with the illustrator. There is a nice foreword by the artist, EB Lewis, about his creative progress.

Check out my website for lesson plans for this book and other art workshops.

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Justice Delayed

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The painting “Bus” by Jacob Lawrence.

I love the artist Jacob Lawrence. I’m not alone —-one of his paintings recently broke an auction record to become among the most expensive works by an African American Artist. Lawrence depicted many social events in his paintings.

In the Jacob Lawrence workshop, students will learn about the US executive, legislative and judicial branches of government and discuss the role of the artist in society. Students will create a painting inspired by Jacob Lawrence. This curriculum meets National Educational Standards.

Jacob Lawrence’s painting “Bus” depicted life in the segregated South. The painting shows a bus with whites comfortably seated and blacks jammed in the back with empty seats separating the two races. It is painted in his signature gouache on paper with brown, blue and red color scheme.

To learn more about the Jacob Lawrence workshop and others, visit my website.

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