1066

Here's a quick question for all you history buffs out there:

What happened in England in 1066?

That's right - the Battle of Hastings, when William the Conqueror from Normandy successfully invaded England and defeated King Harold.

The Bayeux Tapestry was a huge embroidery made depicting the events surrounding and including the Battle of Hastings. It is an amazing work of art.

Well, here in little old New Zealand, a keen historian has re-created the Bayeux Tapestry - but it is not a tapestry, it is an amazingly intricate mosaic made up of the most unlikely material.

Michael Linton and his daughter, Rachael, completed their mosaic copy of the Bayeux Tapestry using tiny pieces of spring steel - the offcuts from patterning disks used on a very large industrial knitting machine. The pieces are approximately 7mm square. The mosaic took Michael & Rachael 25 years to complete and is almost 34 metres long. It is currently displayed in Michael and Gillian's shop, "The Giant Jersey", in Geraldine, in the South Island of New Zealand.

Well, my parents have just been on a holiday in the South Island and brought back a set of amazing CD-roms with a wealth of information about the Bayeux Tapestry and the surrounding events. There are high resolution scans of the mosaic, scene by scene descriptions, a comprehensive study of the history of the tapestry, activities and games for the kids, as well as a large library of related books - including hundreds of Aesop's fables, Our Island Story and many more! There are also images of beautiful illuminated manuscripts, medieval hymns along with their music as well as poems about the events and much more. It is going to provide us history nuts with hours of fun & enjoyment!

Check out Michael's website for more information and pictures of the mosaic - oh, and the "Giant Jersey"!

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UPDATE APRIL 2012!  Please visit Dana's blog to see an animated version of the tapestry, it's great!

Where have we been?

We've been enjoying our long summer break! Here's a peek at what we've been up to over the extended Christmas break we have here in NZ:

The girls (with the exception of Ruby) sewed their own Christmas stockings

Thomas enjoyed opening his Christmas presents...

and helping Dad clear out a corner of the yard

and eating morning tea with the girls...

We had a bit of fun at the river one day...

once they managed to get into the "cold" water

The girls each got some fabric for Christmas, so we've been busy sewing:

bags,

and aprons

Paul Klee Picture Study

Dream City, Paul Klee, 1921, Water & Oil.

Before starting our art classes using the book Discovering Great Artists, I was dubious about much of what we call "modern art". However, I have come to appreciate much of the art we have been looking at, mainly for the art itself. I don't want to delve too deeply into the hidden meanings of the pieces, or into the artist's lives themselves, I am simply trying to enjoy the art for itself. In the case of Mondrian and Matisse, I have enjoyed their work and see it as more in the category of "design." I'm not sure if these waffly thoughts are making much sense to anyone - but basically, we have enjoyed having a go at replicating these artists' paintings or just using them as inspiration to have a go ourselves. We are also enjoying recognising Mondrian designs everywhere we go! Even my brother's new business cards are based on a Mondrian design!

Farbtafel, Paul Klee, 1930.

A couple of weeks ago we looked at the work of Paul Klee. As with a lot of artists, apart from Geninne Zlatkis's water colour inspired by Klee I had never heard of him before.

Paul Klee was a Swiss painter, of German nationality. His father was a music teacher, and his mother, a trained singer. Klee loved dabbling in the visual arts as a teenager and spent a lot of time drawing in his school books. He especially loved caricature. He earned a Fine Arts degree after which he travelled throughout Italy, studying the master painters and spending time with fellow contemporary artists, such as Kandinsky.

Rose Garden, Paul Klee, 1920.

Paul served with the German forces during World War 2, but with the intervention of his father, was kept from the front line. He ended up painting camouflage on war aircraft! He continued to paint and hold exhibitions during the war, and eventually settled in Switzerland.

Red Balloon, Paul Klee, 1922.

Klee struggled with colour, and many of his earlier paintings were black & white. This "long struggle with colour" was eventually overcome and Klee managed to produce over 9000 works. In his best year, 1939, he produced over 1200 works.

The painting below, Ad Parnassum (1932) is considered Klee's masterpiece and the best example of his pointillist style. I love it, it reminds me of a fine mosaic.

Ad Parnassum, Paul Klee, 1932.

The painting below is the one we based our art lesson on, although some of the girls chose to use ideas from some of his others. As with many of Klee's paintings, this one is based on building blocks. Doesn't it just remind you of those coloured wooden blocks you played with as a child? Klee also often added a sun to his paintings.

Castle and Sun, Paul Klee, date unknown.

Thanks to Kathy Barbro, of Art Projects for Kids for the idea for our lesson plan.

We had the girls use a set of plastic shapes to trace around and either "build" a castle or some other geometrical design. We traced over the lines with a dark coloured oil pastel or crayon, and then filled in the shapes with pastel or watercolour pencils. Here are the results:

Castle by one little friend, age 5.

Castle by another little friend, age 7.

The Landscape of Holland, Ainsley (7), 2009.

Shape City, Emily (9), 2009.

Block Castle, Bethany (11), 2009.

And to top off our last art afternoon for the year, we made these little "gingerbread houses" for afternoon tea:

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Starry Night

Last week for our Discovering Great Artists lesson, we learned about Vincent Van Gogh. We used his famous painting, Starry Night (above) to copy. We used either black or dark blue paper, some of the children made houses or other buildings with paper collage. We used oil pastels for the landscape and then added stars, moons, clouds and more blue sky with acrylic paints.

Here are the girls' paintings:

Bethany (11 yrs)

Ainsley (7 yrs)

Emily (9 yrs)

Ruby (3 yrs)

Below is another "starry night sky" painting by Van Gogh, it's called

"Starry Night over the Rhone"

I tried my hand at this night-time cafe scene,

"The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, at Night"

Check out this wonderful website, The Vincent van Gogh Gallery for a wonderful presentation of his paintings and much more.

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A Light-hearted Take on King Henry VIII

Today for her English, Emily had to write a poem - either funny or serious. Discussion ensued on what she could write about. Bethany was in the middle of a report on King Henry VIII's wives, so I suggested Emily write a limerick about him.

This is what she came up with:

Henry's Wives

by Emily

Two of the wives of Henry the VIII

Had a very fatal fate (beheading)

Two of them were forced,

at the King's command to be divorced.

Then one had died,

and one survived,

and that was the end of the wives.

~ all because he wanted an heir!

Silly Henry!

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Matisse-inspired Collage Art

This week in our art class, based on Discovering Great Artists, we studied Matisse.

Henri Matisse was born in France in 1869.

Matisse is regarded as the father of the Fauvist movement. His earlier paintings were in the Post-Impressionist style - still recognisable figures, but using strong, bright colours. His style was considered quite shocking for the times.

The Rumanian Blouse, 1940.

When Matisse was diagnosed with cancer in 1941, leaving him wheelchair-bound, he started to experiment with paper cut-outs and collages. This is what we based our artwork on.

Matisse designed this stained glass window for the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence.

It is called the "Tree of Life"

This collage is called "The Beasts of the Sea":

This collage reminded us of sea-weed or a bush.

And apparently, you can't study Matisse without studying this paper collage:

See if you can find the animal depicted!

If you guessed a snail, you're right! If not, I can't blame you!

These are our collages inspired by Matisse.

Check out Kathy Barbro's great site, Art Projects for Kids, for some great art lesson ideas and a Mini Abstract Mural set. This set contains a PDF file of three different abstract murals, inspired by famous abstract artists. I used a page from the Marisse mini mural for a colouring page in the bottom centre of the photo above (I haven't finished yet!).

Barb (Harmony Art Mom) also has a great entry on studying Matisse here, including links to activities and a biography of Matisse.

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1. My favourite colour is purple

2. I LOVE licorice, especially allsorts and RJ's Natural Licorice.

3. I nearly finished a Bachelor of Science Degree, majoring in Zoology.

Maybe one day I'll finish it...

4. I am the oldest of 6 children (3 boys and 3 girls)

5. I have lived in 16 different homes, 7 before I was married, and 9 after.

6. I have passed grade 7 practical piano, thanks to my parents providing me

with lessons and encouraging me to practice every day. I love that I can

now sit down and play a piece for pleasure.

7. I never play piano in church because I get too nervous.

8. I lived in Australia for four years.

9. I rode a camel in Adelaide, South Australia.

10. I love diagramming sentences.

11. I am scared of spiders, but I have held a giant weta.

12. I have only been to the South Island of New Zealand once, to a

youth camp.

13. I cannot figure out why homeschoolblogger doesn't let me space between lines on my blogposts when I change the font...

Thanks Jeanne, at A Peaceful Day, for nominating me with this award:

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave this to you

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog

3. Link the person who nominated you

4. Name 7 things about yourself no-one would really know (see above)

5. Nominate 7 other bloggers and let them know they are nominated...

I nominate:

1. Dana at School for Us

2. Barb at Harmony Art Mom

3. Keri at Sunny Scholars

4. Jimmie at Jimmie's Collage

5. Tisha at Art with Mrs Smith

6. Sarah at The Forest Room

7. Renae at Life Nurturing Education

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