Tabatha A. YeattsAuthorART THURSDAY"If food and shelter give us life, the arts give us something to live for."
Tabatha's main page
Please visit my blog to see these entries in a more searchable format! December 31, 2009 Happy New Year's Eve! Cards are war, in disguise of a sport.
Playing cards today. The British Museum has a collection of playing cards printed by the German Monogrammist PW circa 1500. Instead of being divided into hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds, the set is divided into five different groups (roses, columbines, carnations, parrots, hares) and each suite has ten numbers and four figures (king, queen, valet, knave). The King of Hares
The Nine of Parrots
The Queen of Roses
Jack of Diamonds
by Abigail Kamelhair 
Playing Cards by Ukrainian artist Vladislav Erko
Cards of Life and Death
(This image has the wrong web site on it -- it is not affiliated with PJLighthouse) You can read about playing card history at the World of Playing Cards. December 24, 2009 This week, Persepolis (located in present-day Iran).   Alexander the Great's troops purposefully wrecked Persepolis, although he later repented it. Even after all that damage, isn't it still amazing? It must be inspiring to see in person. Most of these photos are from a lovely web site called Livius. The photos are by Marco Prins, and Jona Livering wrote the text. She says: Persepolis is the "Greek name of one of the capitals of the ancient Achaemenid empire, founded by king Darius the Great (522-486 BCE), forty-three kilometers downstream from the capital of Cyrus the Great, Pasargadae. It was destroyed in the spring of 330 by Alexander the Great." (A lot of people were "Great" back then, eh?) More details: "[Alexander the Great] destroyed several palace buildings (not all!) in April, because he was not yet sole ruler of the Persian empire, and it was too dangerous to leave the enormous treasures behind, where his enemies could recapture them. The Palace of Xerxes seems to have received a special treatment, because it was damaged more severely than other buildings; it is likely that the Greek soldiers in Alexander's company had their revenge for the destruction of Athens in 480 BCE. When Alexander returned several years later and saw the ruins, he regretted his act."   Ms. Levering again: "The entrance of the Gate of All Nations was protected by mythological creatures called lamassus, bulls with the head of a bearded man. These bull-men originated in Babylonia and Assyria, but the Persians adopted them. The general idea behind them is that they warded off evil." Lamassus at the Gate of All Nations
  Links: For more information about Persepolis, visit the Ancient History Encyclopedia (they don't mention Alexander the Great feeling sorry about what he did, btw) On a different, but similar, topic: an article about the 2001 Taliban destruction of the 1500 year-old Buddha statues in Balmiyan, Afghanistan. I remember how horrifying this was at the time. A wiki list of lost artworks. Thursday, December 17, 2009 I had a craving for Japanese this week. Most of these are from the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, CA. Monkey Performing the Sanbaso Dance scroll painting, 1800, First day of the Monkey year
By Mori Sosen  Links: Japanese Woodblock Print lesson plan A collection of Japanese Art History links A virtual museum of Japanese arts Thursday, December 10, 2009 We have a melange of art for you this week -- quilts, enamel, paintings. Walt Whitman could have been speaking of art when he wrote in Song of Myself, "I am large. I contain multitudes." Up first, quilts... Now, some enamel art... Links:
And lastly, the paintings... Thursday, December 3, 2009 "No known roof is as beautiful as the skies above."
I've talked before about how much I love NASA's photos and artist-generated illustrations, but it bears repeating -- they are spectacular! Thin Blue Line
The thin line of Earth's atmosphere and the setting sun are featured in this image photographed by the crew of the International Space Station while space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-129 mission was docked with the station.
Noctis Labyrinthus
Layers in the lower portion of two neighboring buttes within the Noctis Labyrinthus formation on Mars are visible in this image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
 Spring Bloom in New Zealand Waters
Off the east coast of New Zealand, cold rivers of water that have branched off from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flow north past the South Island and converge with warmer waters flowing south past the North Island. The surface waters of this meeting place are New Zealand's most biologically productive. This image of the area on October 25, 2009, from the MODIS sensor on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows the basis for that productivity: large blooms of plantlike organisms called phytoplankton.
Thursday, November 26, 2009 Happy Thanksgiving, to those of you celebrating today! We've got works by artist Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. I love the expression on her face in this photograph:
Photographed by Annan, c. 1906 She lived from 1864-1933 and was married to architect/designer/artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who said of his wife, "I have talent. She has genius." Margaret did striking gesso panels. Gesso is a thick, traditionally white fluid made of a mixture of plaster or chalk and glue. It is usually used to prepare a canvas to be painted, but obviously, it has other uses as well. Cheap Joe's Art Stuff says: "If you are not comfortable with using gesso, then you need to change that. Gesso is so much more than a surface preparation or primer for your paintings. It is a tool for creating some really great art. Did you know that you can mix gesso with paint to create colored gesso for creating tinted grounds? You can also use gesso mixed with paint to cover up mistakes, even big mistakes.
"The Four Queens": Queen of Spades, 1909
by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh from the Hunterian Art Gallery
A detail from Opera of the Sea
by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh
Artists Dai and Jenny Vaughan create gesso panels inspired by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. Here are two details from their interpretation of Margaret's original gesso panel, "Willow Wood," which is in Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow. And here's one by Margaret's sister, Frances: Links: About "The Four" (Margaret, Rennie, Margaret's sister Frances and her husband Herbert McNair) Rennie Mackintosh Society article about gesso. BBC article about a work by Margaret that brought a record price for Scottish art. Thursday, November 19, 2009 Fabulous book-inspired art from Quint Buchholz, based in Munich, Germany: I have to revisit Gustave Dore every once in a while. I would like to see this life-sized: David Nittmann practices the fine art of "woodturning." Yes, these are made of wood! Random links: Go on a tour of beautiful libraries with Curious Expeditions. Paper engineer Marshall Alexander offers free paper toy printables. I love Joseph Holston's colors. Washington D.C. had a "Mural Jam" last summer. The result is Wow!
Thursday, November 12, 2009 When you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night - there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book.
Book covers this week. I don't know who some of the artists are, so please feel free to email me if you know. Both of these elegant covers are by Chad Gowey.
 
Red Sings From Treetops
Now I'd like to show you multiple covers for the same book. Here are two for One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:
And, Mark Twain's Huck Finn:
Do you have a favorite Huck? A few links: Michael Cho explains the process of crafting the cover for The Amazing Absorbing Boy. Terrible Yellow Eyes, a collection of art inspired by Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Read Write Think's Book Cover Creator
Thursday, November 5, 2009 Maybe it was hearing about the PBS series The National Parks: America's Best Idea that made me think about national parks art. I've got some photos for you by Jeff L. Fox, a wilderness photographer based in Bozeman, Montana "who strives to capture the people, places, and mystique of America's unique wilderness heritage." Thomas Moran (1837-1926) is known for his paintings of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, among other works. For 21 years, the parks had an annual "Arts for the Parks" competition. It appears to have ended in 2008, but you can take a peek at some of the winners at the Grand Canyon Association site.
Now, some links: How to See Rock Art
Thursday, October 29, 2009 "People love going along with the idea of a beautiful pig. It's like a conspiracy."
We've got PUPPETS! I'm loving today's theme. I went a little bonkers with the links at the end.
Also from the Furry Puppet Studio: 
This wonderful carved Desmodus is by Lena:  A bio of renowned silhouette animator Lotte Reininger
Thursday, October 22, 2009 Visiting the Walters Museum in my adopted state of Maryland. So, what are these jars for?
A Complete Set of Canopic Jars
by Anonymous (Egyptian) circa 900-800 B.C.E.
The original L'Amour et L'Amitie was made out of marble by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle and is now at the Louvre. When a second one was commissioned, Pigalle, age 69, allowed his younger colleague to cast it. L'Amour et L'Amitie (Love and Friendship)
by Claude Dejoux, circa 1783
I also like Millet's The Sheepfold, Moonlight. This piece has a lovely name: A Bon Vinaigre by Paul Gavarni. It comes from an expression: "The good wine makes the good vinegar," meaning that one can make a good thing only from a thing which is good already. Cool Chinese wine pots. Learn about (ancient) Art History here. Thursday, October 15, 2009 "The essence of fencing is to give, but by no means to receive."
En garde! These first three are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Close helmet with mask visor, circa 1515
Attributed to Kolman Helmschmid
German design for a sword hilt, circa 1540
Armor of the Gusoku type, 18th century
"Lichtschwert" (Light Saber) in front of the opera house in Graz, Austria.
Sculptor: Hartmut Skerbisch
The Motherland Calls
by Yevgeny Vuchetich
A bit of trivia: At the time of its installation in 1967, the statue of The Motherland Calls formed the largest free-standing sculpture in the world. Links:
Fencing fork sculpture The art of stage fighting (lesson plan) How to make a wooden sword A little fencing history A fun photo Thursday, October 8, 2009 We visited the National Galleries of Scotland, but it was a one-week-only engagement, due to copyright limitations. If you would like to visit them again, I'm including the links at the bottom. A quick stop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City... This Mayuri (peacock) from India was made in the 1800s with wood, parchment, metal, and feathers.
Seated Female Musicians from China, late 7th century
A Chinese Yunluo ("cloud gong"), from the 1800s.
Central-Asian shaft-hole axhead with a bird-headed demon, boar, and dragon, late 3rd–early 2nd millennium B.C.E.
Details from Camel: From the Berain Grotesques, circa 1685–89
Designed by Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (1636–1699); Woven at the Beauvais manufactory under the direction of Philippe Behagle (1641–1705) or his son of the same name.
Go here to explore fun activities on the Met site. The Scottish works: I love the description that goes with this painting.Three Oncologists (Professor RJ Steele, Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri and Professor Sir David P Lane of the Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee. by Ken Currie
Thursday, October 1, 2009 I got a request from somebody special (my dad) to post some more Smithsonian art. OK, Pop. I'm also including some public art from around D.C. This bronze lamp is from Syria and is in the Ancient Near Eastern Art Collection of the Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.  Also at the Freer is the Peacock Room, which has a funny history.
 I liked seeing sculptor Gwen Lux at work in these Smithsonian American Art Museum shots from their Photograph Archives (first on a model, then on the larger work):
  I have not been to the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Potomac Park, D.C., but I hope to fix that.
 Contemplation of Justice
 Emancipation Memorial Sculptor: Thomas Ball, 1876 Located on Lincoln Park Jean K. Rosales and Michael R. Jobe provide fascinating info to go with this one. They say that the man with Abraham Lincoln is Archer Alexander, the last slave captured under the Fugitive Slave Act, who is breaking the chains of slavery. "The memorial was begun at the suggestion of Mrs. Charlotte Scott, a former slave, who believed that Lincoln should be honored with a statue funded entirely by African-Americans. She donated $5, the first money she earned as a free woman."  Thursday, September 24, 2009 Saturday, September 26th is the Smithsonian's Museum Day.  The Smithsonian Institution is free every day, but on this day over a thousand museums in the U.S. offer free admission -- to find out if there is a participating museum near you, click here. To receive free admission for yourself and a guest, print out this card. So, let's see, what have they got at the Smithsonian? It's actually 19 museums, so we can't look at all of them today. From the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: From the National Portrait Gallery: The NPG also has some pdfs with portraits and info, like this one about Walt Whitman featuring a portrait by famous Civil War photographer Matthew Brady. From the National Museum of the American Indian: I had a hard time choosing just one piece of Ms. Lowry's work. You can see more here, here, and here. From the Smithsonian American Art Museum: More: Activities at the National Museum of African Art, such as doing your own Kente Cloth design. Check out the fun Monkeys Grasp for the Moon exhibit at the Sackler. Did you see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian? If you'd like to visit the sites & artifacts from the movie, look here. Thursday, September 17, 2009 "The dance is the mother of the arts. Music and poetry exist in time; painting and architecture in space. But the dance lives at once in time and space."
Study for A Dance to the Music of Time, c. 1635
by Nicolas Poussin
You can see the completed version here. I like the expression on the woman in blue's face. Dancer Nick Cave accidentally invented a Soundsuit when he created a costume that made interesting sounds when he put it on and danced in it. See a Soundsuit YouTube video here. Links: Lois Greenfield takes amazing dance photographs. Here's something you probably haven't seen before: underwater dance photography. Thursday, September 10, 2009 German Expressionist Franz Marc was born in 1880. Tiger
by Franz Marc, 1912
Foxes
by Franz Marc, 1913
The Little Monkey
by Franz Marc, 1912
Stables
by Franz Marc, 1913
Three Cats
by Franz Marc, 1913
Marc volunteered to join the army during World War I. I read that "his name was on a list of notable artists to be withdrawn from combat in World War I. Before the orders were carried out, he was struck in the head and killed instantly by a shell splinter during the Battle of Verdun (1916)." I'm fascinated by the list of artists that the government wanted to save, but I didn't see any more information about that. Here are other war-art links: Artists' Masks Hid Wounds of World War I Soldiers This Military Basic Training Is in Art Thursday, September 3, 2009 The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.
Let's take a look at some artists' visions that can be found on the most everyday of fashions -- the t-shirt. Hello in There!
 Fake Pandas Have More Fun
 Guitar
 Water Music
 Let's Roll
 Watering Can
 Some other favorites: Thursday, August 27, 2009 We have art inspired by French author Jules Verne, who wrote, among other works, A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869–1870), Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), and The Mysterious Island (1875). Jules Verne was the theme for sand sculptures at Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark, 2003. This creation is by sculptor Dan Doubleday, photo by Amazin' Walter.  Nautilus from Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, designed by Harper Goff.  A sampling of Belgian artist François Schuiten's fabulous illustrations for Verne's Paris au XXe siècle: 
In Nantes, France, home of the Jules Verne Museum, the Machines of the Isle of Nantes includes this rideable mechanical elephant inspired by both Verne and Leonardo da Vinci:  Must include Verne's grave, sculpture by Albert Roze:  Links: Check out the coolest Jules Verne-inspired plane -- it's made of straws, tape, thread, and sandwich wrap. The Smithsonian's Jules Verne Centennial Thursday, August 20, 2009 I've been fifty thousand times to the Louvre. I have copied everything in drawing, trying to understand.
Ah, the Louvre! Today, we aren't visiting what's IN the world-renowned museum, exactly, but paintings OF the Louvre. Painter copying a Murillo in Le Louvre
by Louis Beroud 1912
Egyptian room and big sphynx, Le Louvre
The flood. Painter copying a painting in Le Louvre
Room of the 7 chimneys in Le Louvre
Flower seller near bridge of Louvre
This pastel is my exception; it is in the Louvre rather than of it. (Yes, you read that right -- this is a pastel!) Amazing! Portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour
by Maurice-Quentin Delatour
Here you can see a list of virtual tours of the Louvre. A history of the museum. Thursday, August 13, 2009 This week, we have work by Nicole Dextras, Kevin Van Aelst, and Sven Geier. Camellia Countessa
By Nicole Dextras
Cabbage Smock
Left Index Finger
Apple Globe
Digital Expressions of Fractals by Scientist Sven Geier A bonus... This week for Poetry Friday, I will be featuring excerpts from the vampire opera, Nosferatu, inspired by the 1922 movie of the same name. I like the poster from the 1979 movie a lot, so here's a link to it in all its creepy goodness. Thursday, August 6, 2009 We've got our smallest art yet -- the art of postage stamps. There are so many that I got a little carried away, and I haven't even stratched the surface. All the "Let's Dance" stamps are great. This one is by Rafael Lopez. 
This famous design by Robert Indiana graced the first Love stamp in 1973.
I like Sherlock Holmes stamps:
Lord of the Rings:
Postage Stamp Bowl
Tiger (postage stamps glued to silk) By Hsueh Shao-Tang
Junior Duck Stamp program Postage stamp design lesson plan A collection of books and authors on postage stamps. Pushing the Envelope: The Art of the Postage Stamp Shakespeare Art Museum stamps Thursday, July 30, 2009 Joseph Stella, 1877 - 1946. Stella was born in Italy, but came to the U.S. when he was 18. You can read more about him here and here. Bridge
Old Brooklyn Bridge
At the Base of the Blast Furnace
The "Hole in the Wall"
Factories
Thursday, July 23, 2009 The Gallery 1988 SF just hosted an exhibit called "Battle Royal," which featured a number of artists, including Martin Hsu and Patrick Gannon. I had to share their work with you. Martin's paintings are part of a series called The Legend of Naii, a tribute to his grandmother. He says, "She was the center of our family and will always be my inspiration. For as long as I can remember she's always had silky white hair...In these images she's depicted as a goddess warrior who defends the white lily forest from demon pests. If the white lily forest were her family, then the pests are the hardship and any other odds against it." The Insightful Monkey and The Righteous Crane
Patrick Gannon works with cut and torn paper. "A sneeze can be disastrous," he says in an interview about the process. I'll bet.
Thursday, July 16, 2009 A little something to keep you cool... Five Fans
by Katsushika Hokusai
Woman with Guitar
Late Victorian Era, 1880-1895, hand painted on lace
Portrait of Laura da Pola, 1544
by Lorenzo Lotto
Links for you: A short fan history and a longer fan history How to make a fan out of wallpaper border. Language of the Fan, in case you'd like to be able to say "When may I be allowed to see you?" without using words... Thursday, July 9, 2009 "Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly,
We're walking into the parlour this week, with a spidery collection. by Ernest Griset, engraved by the Brothers Dalziel
You can read Otto the Spider online free at the International Children's Digital Library. Bonus spiders: Mended Spiderwebs by Nina Katchadourian Spider's Web Cup and Saucer by Eleanor Morgan Dawn Spider Web by Libby Drew The Spider, Moroccan design pattern. Preserving a spider's web. Not art, but I wanted to include it anyway...A. Missoum designed a pattern for playing chess (8x8 Spider Web Spiral Chess) using the architecture of the spider. Thursday, July 2, 2009 Stained glass! Stained glass by G. Owen Bonawit
in Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University. Picture by Henry Trotter, 2005.
A site with a bunch of free instructional videos Cleveland Museum of Art shows kids a way to make stained glass-like art with tissue paper and cellophane. A classroom stained art lesson Thursday, June 25, 2009 We've got Artist Trading Cards. Joumana Medlej, who wrote a primer on ATCs, says: "As their name indicates, ATC are collectables, a brilliant idea born of the older sports-themed trading cards. The one rule that makes an ATC derives from their origins: the dimensions of the ATC must be 2.5" x 3.5", or 64 x 89 mm." You can use any media with ATCS, including beads, clay, and glass! An important aspect of ATCs --
By Ian Bertram
Go Make Something's ATC FAQs Great ideas for Artist Trading Cards in the classroom You can find people to trade with at ATCs for All or Illustrated ATCs. Here's an article with tips about hosting your own ATC exchange. Thursday, June 18, 2009 Paper mache art by Rachael DiRenna this week. If you'd like to try your hand at paper (or papier) mache, you can find info about getting started here. Fairy
by Rachael DiRenna
Sea Maid
by Rachael DiRenna
Thursday, June 11, 2009 Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun,
Jesters have greatly inspired artists, as you can see from this week's selection of fools. Friends In Council
by John Dawson Watson
I totally love this painting. The expression on his face is wonderful! But I don't know who it is by. Tell me if you know.
 The Fool
By Heinrich Vogtherr, 1513-1568
Other jesters I like: The Chess Jester by Joanne Taylor Final Jester by Interverse Jester by John Ballbach Victor Issa's sculpture The Jester How to draw a sinister jester. Thursday, June 4, 2009 Costumes this week. The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a terrific site. Check out the collection highlights. Here are a couple from that collection: Court Dress, ca. 1750
British
Dress, Evening, 1969–1970
Venice Carnival, Italy, 1994
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Boots for Reading William Blake
By Roger Baranowski
Art Gallery Costumes
The Evil Mad Scientist site shows you how a group can dress as a modern art exhibit. They offer some good alternative ideas, such as "Have everyone dress up with a blank canvas and carry colored ink squirt guns. You can all go as Jackson Pollock's studio." Venetian Carnival costumes blow me away. Here are some more photos of them. Want to see some amazing (expensive) costumes that are available for rental? Trying to figure out what someone would have worn during a certain time period? Check out the Costume Gallery Research Library. Thursday, May 28, 2009 We've got doodles! Everyone is a potential doodler. People may have different definitions of doodles, but here's one from 52 doodles.com's Kurt Kland: 1. A doodle is unplanned. 2. A doodle isn't overworked or revised. 3. A doodle is executed while the doodler's attention is divided. On with the doodles: Collaboratively made doodles by Lani Mathis and Michael Ayers: Seamour the Sea Monster
Robo Chicken
Cardboard Doodlescape
By Lawrence Yang
Camiki's doodles: 
A doodle of my own: Overgrown
A doodle starter from Carol Edmonston. Want to see more doodles? Check out Doodlers Anonymous 30 Creative Google Doodles And young Google Doodle winners I liked this doodle by Lucas Grabeel (of High School Musical fame) which he contributed to USA National Doodle Day in support of Neurofibromatosis awareness. Study: Doodling Helps You Pay Attention Thursday, May 21, 2009 Batik Week! Batik is "a fabric dyeing technique in which the pattern is first drawn with melted beeswax onto the cloth with a metal tool. The cloth is immersed in dye. The areas covered by the wax are not affected by the dye, creating a pattern that can be seen when the wax is removed by boiling the cloth or ironing the wax so it melts from the cloth. Wax and dye applications may be repeated for color variation." (from Articulation) You can find out more on Paula Burch's how-to-batik page Caterpillar
View / Add Comments
By Robin Paris
Crystal Shore
Sandstone & Turquoise
Ascent
Lovers-Purple
I love these batik paintings by deaf Singaporean artist Lim Anuar Batik koi by Marcia Baldwin Batik Book Reference Guide from creativebatik.com. Not really batik, but fun anyway...Watercolor Batik by David Daniels Thursday, May 14, 2009 Musical instruments this week. Tartoelten (dragon shawms) from 16th century Italy or Southern Germany
Claustro de la Iglesia Sta. María la Real Sasamón in Spain
A Viola d´amore from 17th century Southern Germany
Angels playing musical instruments by Agostino di Duccio from the 15th century, Italy
A Double guitar by Alexandre Voboam from Paris, 1690
Favorite "odd instrument" site Thursday, May 7, 2009 Have you heard of wind sculptures? They are kinetic art -- made up of parts designed to be set in motion by wind. Dutch artist Theo Jansen's Strandbeest can walk in the wind.
 Lyman Whitaker's wind sculptures look fabulous in the snow
 Now, THAT'S a weathervane! By David Boyer
 Also, Mr. Boyer's front yard:
 Swiss designer Ralfonso's Ad Infinitum
 Lisa and Phillip Trejo's "Art 4 Wind"
 Do-it-yourself: How to Make a Wind Sculpture. This is not a wind sculpture, but it is kinetic art. You can see it in motion on the site -- very cool! Thursday, April 30, 2009 It's about
the ball, the bat, the mitt, the bases and the fans. It's done on a diamond, and for fun. It's about home, and it's about run. From Analysis of Baseball by May Swenson Baseball Bugs
new moon
Kneeds to Play from Cincinnati's Bats Incredible project
Tracking Flies
Mockingbird Sings to the Relief Pitcher
I love the story that goes with this one:
A photo description of the creation of a baseball-themed public art sculpture in Frederick, MD. Another Frederick, MD baseball arts project has been written up here. You might also want to check out "Unforgettaballs" Thursday, April 23, 2009 Celebrating spring this week with gardens! Garden art and art in gardens. From Hillier Gardens' Art in the Gardens
Artist Bruno Torfs had an art and sculpture garden in Melbourne, Australia that suffered great losses in a fire in February 2009 (as did the rest of his township). Here are two sculptures, one from before and one from after the fire.
He is working to rebuild the garden. Thinker on a Rock
Bassin de Neptune Versailles
Thursday, April 16, 2009 Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, a French artist who lived from 1796-1875. (French Impressionism began in 1860, so Corot was something of a trendsetter.) Souvenir de Mortefontaine
L'atelier de Corot
Les Rochers
Woman with a Pearl
Erinnerung an Marissel
We are so lucky to have the resources we do at our fingertips. For instance, the National Gallery of Art offers "Picturing France: 1830-1900," a study guide "organized by region, it provides a quick glance at the setting, history, and cultural life of Paris, the Île-de-France, the mountain areas of Franche-Comté and Auvergne, Normandy, Brittany, and Provence, in addition to a more in-depth examination of more than 50 works of art" for middle and upper grade students of art, history, social studies, and French language. Magnifique! Thursday, April 9, 2009 The public mural program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is AMAZING. There are over 2000 murals! 
 
 Explore Mural Farm to see more of the Philly murals. This Time Magazine article shows 21 photos of the murals and their artists. National Geographic also featured the murals. There's a book about the Philadelphia Murals. Thursday, April 2, 2009 Is there anything that people don't sometimes turn into art? If you can think of something, let me know. Art cars this week: BMW Art Car by Sandro Chia
BMW Art Car by A.R. Penck
Not sure who created this art car Lamborghini...
Not sure about this one either, but the photo is by "Dr. Brian."
Two Sides to Every Story by Harrod Blank, who has a book called Art Cars.
The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD has a great guide to making an Art Car. You can see movies about ArtCar Fest here. Thursday, March 26, 2009 Lovely original photographs digitally mixed with painting by Parisian artist Labokoff. Thursday, March 19, 2009 American illustrator Mead Schaeffer (1898-1980).
There is One Captain That is Lord Over the Pequod
The Count of Monte Cristo
By Mead Schaeffer 
Schaeffer continues to inspire other artists, such as Shelly Wan, who creates wonderful art herself. For instance, Mad Kestrel:
Circus is another beauty by Wan, and so is Goldfish. Thursday, March 12, 2009 Carlos Andres Varela and Victor Affaro took these sensational shots at Coney Island for Dance/Art Magazine. Thursday, March 5, 2009 'Bots made from recycled materials by Brian Marshall. Lux
By Brian Marshall  Lux - Sporting the vacuum cleaner brush head, shaker body, shot glass feet and measuring spoon hands, Lux is a party animal! Boo
By Brian Marshall  Swirly, Lord of the Flies
By Brian Marshall  Indy
By Brian Marshall  Indy - Oil can, aluminum cup, faucet handle, measuring spoons, coffee filter part, metal skate wheels. Thought you might like a glimpse of one of Brian's storage areas:
 Thursday, February 26, 2009 Leatherwork by Tom Banwell! Filigree Flame leather mask in shades of orange
By Tom Banwell  Sigurd Viking Helmet
By Tom Banwell  This ceremonial viking helmet is named after an epic Norse hero Sigurd. As told in the Volsung Saga, Sigurd battles and kills the dragon Fafnir and bathes in his blood, gaining invulnerability. Sigurd roasts Fafnir's heart so that his master Regin may eat it, but in doing so he burns his finger. He sticks his finger in his mouth, tasting the dragon's blood thus gaining the power to speak to birds. Black bird leather cut out mask
By Tom Banwell  Leather Steampunk Helmet
By Tom Banwell  How to make this American Dragoon Helmet Thursday, February 19, 2009 Sometimes I see a set of work that makes me say, "OK, there's this week's Art Thursday." Gordon McGlothlin's Paper Art Studio was like that for me. Kerry's Journey
By Gordon McGlothlin  Starfish
By Gordon McGlothlin  Dreams for Sale
By Gordon McGlothlin  Yellow Tulips
By Gordon McGlothlin  You can also see his work here. Interested in trying something new? Looking for a spring-related project? Consider making a stone art sculpture. Check out Creativity Portal's links and info. Stay and explore their site while you're at it. They have everything from batik and tie-dye to altered books. Thursday, February 12, 2009 "The moon develops the imagination, as chemicals develop photographic images."
I love the Astronomy Picture of the Day. Check these two out: The Colorful Moon
Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA
"Explanation: Do you recognize the Earth's Moon when you see it? The crazy, patchwork appearance of the false-color image makes this almost full view of the Moon's familiar near side look very strange. The Sea of Tranquillity (Mare Tranquillitatis) is the bright blue area at right, the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) is the extensive blue and orange area on the left, and white lines radiate from the crater Tycho at bottom center. Recorded in 1992 by the Galileo spacecraft enroute to Jupiter, the picture is a mosaic of 15 images taken through three color filters. The image data were combined in an exaggerated color scheme to emphasize composition differences - blue hues reveal titanium rich areas while orange and purple colors show regions relatively poor in titanium and iron. Multicolor images exploring the Moon's global surface composition were made in 1994 by the Clementine spacecraft." "Explanation: Is this a picture of a sunset from Earth's North Pole? Regardless of urban legends circulating the Internet, the answer is no. The above scene was drawn to be an imaginary celestial place that would be calm and peaceful, and therefore titled Hideaway. The scene could not exist anywhere on the Earth because from the Earth, the Moon and the Sun always have nearly the same angular size. This is particularly apparent, for example, during solar eclipses. Still, the scene drawn is quite striking, and the crescent part of the "moon" shown is approximately accurate given the location of the parent star. In reality, the North Pole of Earth looks different." "The basic idea is this: about 4.45 billion years ago, a young planet Earth -- a mere 50 million years old at the time and not the solid object we know today-- experienced the largest impact event of its history. Another planetary body with roughly the mass of Mars had formed nearby with an orbit that placed it on a collision course with Earth. When young Earth and this rogue body collided, the energy involved was 100 million times larger than the much later event believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs. The early giant collision destroyed the rogue body, likely vaporized the upper layers of Earth's mantle, and ejected large amounts of debris into Earth orbit. Our Moon formed from this debris." Thursday, February 5, 2009 There's a creepy sort of feeling around Art Thursday this week. As though a mysterious stranger in a hooded cloak was somewhere behind us ... coming closer, ever closer ... almost breathing down our necks as we sit here innocently looking at the screen. Maybe they want to see, too. After all, we're celebrating Poe. Edgar Allan Poe, the king of creepy, was born 200 years ago on January 19th. His delightfully sinister works have inspired not only stories and poems, but art: To Edgar Poe: The Eye Balloon (The Eye, Like a Strange Balloon, Mounts Towards Infinity), 1878.
By Odilon Redon 
Art Institute of Philadelphia, Edgar Allan Poe poster
"Open here I flung the shutter."(From The Raven)
To Edgar Poe, 1894
PoeStories.com, an exploration of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, also has a gallery of Poe-inspired art. Three neat Poe-related pictures on Omnicomic. I would love to get a good look at this -- Gahan Wilson illustrates Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven and other poems. Aisling d'Art explains that "art shrines" are a tribute to a person, place, or idea. She's made one for Poe that is available to be printed out, free. A fun cartoon of Poe skiing by Mark Summers. After you check out the art, don't forget to visit my youth writing contest and share the info with your young writer friends. Thursday, January 29, 2009 A bunch of awards were announced by the American Library Association this week, including the young adult book awards and the Caldecott book illustration award for most distinguished American picture book for children. This year's Caldecott winner was Beth Krommes for The House in the Night, written by Susan Marie Swanson and published by Houghton Mifflin Company. While I'm at it, I'd like to include the cover of this book of art from children's illustrators. Love this picture! Under the Spell of the Moon
An illustration by Randolph Caldecott (the person the award is named after). He lived from 1846-1886. Thursday, January 22, 2009 This week, pop-up art! (There are more terms, such as movable books, paper engineering, and paper architecture, so if you want to look it up yourself, you might want to try those.) There are quite a few links below the images if you'd like to learn about them and how to make your own pop-ups. Fort Mifflin
by Colette Fu 
Ms. Fu says, "Fort Mifflin is inspired by photographs of a supposedly haunted casemate at Fort Mifflin where a Civil War prisoner, Billy Howe was held (and executed)." Ms. Fu combined the casemate with a brain responding to stimuli, such as fear, to show how the brain's primal reaction can make rational thought difficult. Academy of Music
Ms. Fun explains that this pop-up was influenced by descriptions of "imaginary audiences," both unseen observers that people, particularly women, imagine are judging them and ghostly audience members. Golden Doorway
Inner-Outer Space
An amazing high schooler's work. There's been a lot of love for David Carter's bugs at my house. David and Noelle Carter's site has a lot of "make it yourself" pdfs (my favorite: the noisemaker) in their "Surprise" section. They also have videos you can watch to see how to use the pdfs. Making Pop-up Art/A Tunnel Book. How to Make a Pop-up Pyramid. Birds and Bees from The Pop-Up World of Ann Moranaro. Ms. Moranaro is a wonderful resource about pop-ups. The Birds and Bees page just happens to be my favorite, but feel free to look around! The Pop-up Lady, who created an Inaugural Pop-Up. Visit NPR's piece on Robert Sabuda's Alice in Wonderland to see some great photos of the book actually being made (in the factory). If you want to delve deeper, you could join the Movable Book Society. OK, I thought I was done, but I have to add just one more (a book): Pop-Up Paper Engineering Cross-Curricular Activities. Thursday, January 15, 2009 More animals this week, but of a different sort. Do you know what distinguishes gargoyles from chimera? In Greek mythology, Chimera was a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head and a goat's body and a serpent's tail. But architecturally-speaking, a chimera is a fantastic, mythical, or grotesque figure used for decorative purposes. Gargoyles, technically, are carvings which serve as water spouts on buildings. (I heard that the word comes from "gargouille," meaning throat, so I suppose they are the throats of the building?) People commonly refer to non-water spouts as "gargoyles," though. So this week, we have chimera/gargoyles. (Chimera are also sometimes called "grotesques," but it feels funny to call them that...) An icy gargoyle in Prague (St. Vitus Cathedral)
taken by Mat and Trace Ward 
A lion in Florence, Italy
from the University of Chicago gate
Notre Dame has some of the world's most famous gargoyles. New York Carver has a very attractive page about them. A gargoyle tour of Princeton University. More info about gargoyles for students who are preparing to make one out of clay. One way to make them is posted here. Here's a cool lesson for making a gargoyle box. A Gargoyle art contest for fans of the cartoon show, Gargoyles.
One more thing...AbeBooks has put together a page about unusual book covers. Not the pictures on the cover themselves, necessarily, but what the covers are made of...such as burlap or python skin. (Note to self: I should have a "book cover" theme some week.) Thursday, January 8, 2009 Carousels this week! Aren't they fantastic? Armored Carousel Horse
By Joe Leonard 
Dentzel Hippocampus
Lead Carousel Horse, EuroDisney
The non-profit Albany Carousel Carving and Painting Studio is working on a terrific long-term volunteer project (no experience necessary!). Here are some of their animals, in various stages of completion: Quagga, an extinct type of zebra once found in Southern Africa.
Chinook the Salmon
The scales, prior to painting
A drawing of Harriette the frog
This is a 1907 carousel painting by Boris Kustodiev. If anyone has a larger version, I would love to see it.
Visit the IMCA College of Carousel Knowledge to learn about carousels. Thursday, January 1, 2009 The first day of a new year! Hope you have a creative 2009. Today, we have American Impressionists. Drifting with the Tide
By Ralph Wormeley Curtis 
Mrs. Chase in Prospect Park
By William Merritt Chase 
Chase did a number of wonderful paintings of his wife, Alice Gerson, including Tamborine Girl, Reflections, and Blue Kimono (I'm not sure that last one is of his wife, but she looks like the same person to me. What do you think?). El Jaleo
By John Singer Sargent 
I had the urge to post this or this by Sargent, but then I realized I was going for all the paintings with boats in them. Self-Portrait
By Mary Cassatt 
Allies Day, May 1917
By Childe Hassam (1859-1935)  Take a look at the Metropolitan Museum exhibit about Hassam. Return to Tabatha's main page
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