Roderic O'conor was born into one of Ireland's most weathly and distinquished families. He attended an exclusive private school in England where he excelled and his  path as a Victorian gentleman was set from an early age. It was a shock when he 

 wanted...

Suzanne was born Marie Clémentine Valadon in a small town to an unwed mother who worked as a Laundress. They relocated to a poor neighborhood in Paris when she was five where she attended a convent school until age eleven. She left to take a variety of jobs including i...

Happy Holidays!

I hope  you enjoyed the end of term project and your gift. As a continuation of our lesson in Folk Art, we featured Woodland Creatures and combined various techniques of printmaking, drawing, painting, and collage. Quite a feat in a short amount of time....

Holidays are a perfect time to look at Folk Art from around the world. This week we looked at images of birds, flower motifs, and wildlife that primarily make up the designs. Many of our holiday designs and imagery can be traced to the Folk Art of rural areas of the wo...

 This week we celebrated the season and harvest time, by looking at the work of the artist Paul Cezanne. Born in Aix, France he is regarded as the master of modern still life paintings. His father was the co-founder of a French banking firm and had high expectations fo...

Alfred Sisley was born in 1839 to an affluent British family living in Paris. Throughout his life, he had a foot in two worlds. That alone established him as an outsider among his peers. Along with Renoir and Monet, they became known as" The Impressionists.” 
 

As a you...

If you have never heard of Helene Schjerfbeck, you are not alone. She was virtually buried in art history and recently resurfaced with a large retrospective at the Royal Academy of Art in London, over one hundred years after she first exhibited there. I first came acro...

The colors of  Fall were exceptionally beautiful this year with the dazzling

 palette of crimson, yellows and oranges .

We had to look no further than 

outside the classroom for inspiration. 
We expanded our horizons and also took a look at Fall  paintings created by the...

During Halloween week we explored the history of masks through several cultures and periods. We also looked at an artist that was greatly influenced by African masks, Pablo Picasso ( 1881 – 1973). He was a Spanish painter and sculptor,  who spent most of his adult life...

 I have wanted to present a lesson on Louise Bourgeois for quite awhile, and now seems like the perfect time to coincide with the exhibit of Christopher Marley's Exquisite Creatures at OMSI and Halloween.
Louise Bourgeois was born on Christmas day in Paris. H...