Art & Language Arts Online

The 11th Annual Alumni Event–Full of Ideas, Info, Food, and Fun!

August 7th, 2010 Theresa Sotto 5 comments

It was so great to reconnect with teachers who participated in the Art & Language Arts program over the past 11 years. This year’s alumni event focused on the theme of food in art. Teachers who attended the event explored the relationship of food, art, and history through tours, art-making activities, artistic food preparation, and a lecture by food educator and author Linda Civitello.

We can’t wait to hear how teachers will incorporate today’s information and activities in their classrooms.

: Museum educator Sandy Rodriguez describes how to sketch from a still life.

: After viewing how artists like Cezanne created a still life, teachers were ready to create their own.

: Teachers were so focused on their sketches that you could hear a pin drop in the room.

: Museum educator Kelly Williams leads an activity on creating decorative plates based on a 16th-century dish and an 18th-century centerpiece depicting ingredients for a stew.

: Teachers decorated their plates with everything from patterns and seascapes to life cycles, as depicted here.

: Teachers also molded food ingredients and animals to adhere to their plates.

: Inspired by a Man Ray photograph created for an ad, teachers created sun prints using basic shapes.

: They then incorporated their sun prints into collages.

: And finally, they wrote slogans to go with their ads. What a great way to integrate art and language arts!

: Chef Viviane Arlotto leads an activity on preparing banquets for students like the banquet depicted in a French tapestry.

: Food educator Linda Civitello, author of Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People, shares ideas with teachers.

: Teacher Frank Cooper shows off an artfully decorated cookie to his colleagues.

: Teachers use cookie cutters to make tea sandwiches as pretty as they are tasty.

: Teachers had a great time turning pineapple skewers into sculptural creations.

: And the result…sculptural skewers and artful tea sandwiches!

Categories: Art-making activities, Arts-integrated language arts lessons, Getty programs, Reflections on Getty workshops

Day 3 of the Seminar: Amazing Drawings, Decorative Beasts, and Dream Beds

July 28th, 2010 Theresa Sotto 3 comments

We started the morning with delicious scones and a drawing by Michelangelo, continued the day with lively discussions about lesson planning and writing activities in the galleries, and rounded out the afternoon with hands-on activities inspired by drawings and decorative arts!

: Teachers set aside the stress of up to 2 hours of traffic to enjoy tea bread, fruit, and coffee before the program started.

: Every morning teachers have the opportunity to explore a variety of media. Today, teachers experimented with black and white charcoal.

: Curator Stephanie Schrader gave an engaging and informative talk about the drawing collection.

: Curator Julian Brook’s tour of the new exhibition of Italian Renaissance drawings was a big hit with the teachers.

: Magnifying lenses in the galleries offered us a closer look at details drawn by Renaissance artists.

: Museum educator Sandy Rodriguez offers suggestions for writing activities with painter Vernet’s A Storm.

: Second and third grade teachers gather around an 18th century bed.

: Gallery teacher and artist Audrey Chan discusses a 16th century drawing of a beetle that inspired contemporary artist John Baldessari.

: After discussing drawings of natural specimens, teachers drew details of succulents and leaves in the Getty’s Central Garden.

: Jasmine Magana, junior at Seattle University and intern extraordinaire, lists vocabulary generated from a discussion of French decorative beds.

: Teachers created their own dream beds by choosing from a variety of colorful paper, ribbons, and assorted collage materials.

: Teacher Rea Young creates a pattern of leaves with red ribbon.

: A second grade teacher proudly displays her dream bed—complete with stairs!

: A finished bed with a blue canopy dreamed up by teacher Antoinette Pippin!

: 3rd-5th grade teachers drew animals with basic shapes in an activity led by museum educator Kelly Williams.

: Artist and museum educator Sandy Rodriguez demonstrates how to create hybrid beasts from basic forms.

: Teachers had fun sculpting Crayola Model Magic into hybrid creatures.

: After teachers sculpted their decorative objects, they “gilded” them with a layer of gold tempera paint.

Categories: Art-making activities, Getty programs, Reflections on Getty workshops

Tags: animals, decorative arts, drawing, summer seminar

Day 2 of the Seminar: Exploring Sculpture, Decorative Arts, and Questioning Strategies

July 27th, 2010 Theresa Sotto 5 comments

The second day of the Art & Language Arts Summer Seminar was just as fun, thought-provoking, and jam-packed as the first day.

: We had the rare opportunity to peek inside a beautiful 17th-century coffer with curator Jeffrey Weaver.

: Curator Antonia Bostrom toured us around the newly designed European sculpture and decorative arts galleries.

: Sculptor Alberto Giacometti was the inspiration for a unique activity using pipe cleaners and aluminum foil to pose figures.

: One teacher created a sculpture of a figure posed as if speeding while driving.

: Another teacher created a sculpture of a figure jumping in mid-air.

: With a few pipe cleaners, a good bit of foil, and a lot of imagination, a teacher created a sculpture full of movement and texture.

: Teachers also learned fun activities for K-2nd grade students using clay.

: Taking inspiration from 18th-century candlestands in our collection, participants created objects that are both utilitarian and lavishly decorated: pencil holders!