Arts and Crafts II

Today, after a short happy hour with the other managers that ended up in having most of a Stella Artois spilled on my shoes (not my own), I stopped by Michael's to find felt for my next art project with the elementary school kids. I have an idea about how to work with the Gauguin and one other Institute of Art item in order to discuss perspective and relief. While I was there I picked up glycerin soap and a tube of sharks so Eryn and I can have some fun making treasure soap for my nieces.

I thought it would be nice to post a picture or two of what we did for the rock gardens in a bowl that were meant to show a little bit about the T'ai-hu.

These are the bags full of rock garden materials. This was the light part. The 24 bowls with sand were the heavy lifting.

And this is a sample garden Eryn made. Her garden from class was much less busy. She took advantage of all the leftover materials I had at home. The school version was separated sticks that she and her partner claimed were for jumping from one to the next. Another pair of girls had a copse of trees. And a third set had a long rock in the middle that was a "log" to sit on. Eryn claims the real rocks in this one are a cave to sit in.

They're not Weeds, They're Plants!

I taught two 25 minute classes in art appreciation at a local elementary school today. In order to teach the kids about the T'ai Hu room exhibit (officially, The Studio of Gratifying Discourse) at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, I brought a number of plastic bowls full of sand so the kids could make mini rock gardens with rocks, sticks, evergreens, and multi-colored sponge pieces. While talking about how the T'ai rocks inspired the contemplation of nature within where one lived by serving as reminders of natural shapes like animals or people, inanimate objects like mountains and caves, and more, I asked the kids, "Is there anything we do now that's sort of the same? Do we bring nature into our homes in any way?"

One kid replied, "We have plants in the house!"

I agreed and asked, "And does everyone like the same plants? Do you have the same plants in your house as your friends do?"

Kid one, "No, my Dad has lots of flowers in all different colors. Red. Orange. Yellow."

Kid two, "It could be a cactus. Some people like to have a cactus.

Kid three, "We have lots of plants of all kinds."

Kid four, "My Dad dries plants in the basement."

Probably for scrapbooking.