BBCo – Page 25 – Blackbird and Company

Posted on September 21, 2010 by BBCo

A Creative Challenge

The new CB Fall Challenge is now posted. What do your young artists have to communicate about "City"?

I realized long ago that I am a mentor who cares deeply about protecting and promoting individuality. In my co-op, my foremost goal is to draw out creative genius in my students. Blackbird & Company Educational Press was established as a result of this realization and to further this goal. I simply want to inspire my children, my students and students at large to dig into their imagination because I believe that creativity is a valuable academic pursuit. I believe that creativity fosters passion for learning and critical thinking skills.

Aaron, Best of Show – Painting, 9-12th grade (Fall 2009 Challenge "Freedom Within Boundaries")

It has been my experience that there is very little opportunity for student artists, writers and particularly student musicians to showcase their work. About a year ago CollectiveBanter.com was established for students to have a safe place to develop their craft and to collaborate with artists across creative domains.

Klarence, Best of Show – Drawing, 6-8th grade (Spring 2010 Challenge "Express Yourself Through Color")

There are three ways for students and teachers to participate:

The Creative Banter Challenge is a competition for student artists, writers, and musicians to explore a specific directive within their chosen art form. Winners are awarded cash prizes and their work is published on CB site with the potential to be included in the CB Review.Twice a year a new directive is posted challenging students to express and communicate a specific concept through visual art, music, or writing. The directive is presented in the form of a lesson plan suitable for use by teachers or individuals. The directive is designed to be used as an extended project, enabling students to develop and refine their ideas over a period of time. This is a great opportunity to show that the best work only comes through diligence and devotion.

Collective Banter Review is an annual online and in-print arts journal dedicated to providing an opportunity for student writers and visual artists to showcase their craft.

The Creative Banter Salon is forum where creativity is published in various stages and critiqued constructively by peers.

Please visit collectivebanter.com to see what all the banter is about!

A Choregraphy of Hues

The day was stained with gray
I turned to a blank canvas
Pouring out my fighting hues
Ideas crashing upon my actions

Blue tumbled to a halt
Giggling yellow jumped in his path
Emerging color
Splashing their way together

Green joined the rushing escapade
Living, breathing color
Red crashed upon the surface
Sprinting from corner to corner

White prowled unseen
Consuming a quite nook
She discovered a cherished friend
Seizing a silent embrace

Pink leapt from within
Unfolding the swelling pigments
Twirling across the exterior
Color and rapture collapsing into one

Emotions clear as crystal blue
Joy strong as radiant yellow
Life lived as fearless red
My portrait, feelings, thoughts

Grace, 2nd Place – Poetry, 6-8th grade (Spring 2010 Challenge "Express Yourself Through Color")

Posted on September 15, 2010 by BBCo — 2 Comments

Happy Birthday Robert McCloskey!

"ku-plink, ku-plank, ku-plunk"…

Onomatopoeia! When you read these words, don't you instantly see the little tin bucket in the hands of Sal and hear it filling up with blueberries? Or when you're at the park and see a momma duck with her ducklings, don't you think about Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack and their adventures in the Boston Public Garden? Thanks to Robert McCloskey and his captiviating, classic stories, Blueberries for Sal and Make Way for Ducklings, I do!

McCloskey was born on September 15, 1914 in Hamilton, Ohio. At eighteen he moved to Boston on a scholarship from the Vesper George Art School, then later moved to NYC to study at the National Academy of Design. I find it interesting that he considered himself an artist and visual storyteller before a writer and in his own words, he reveals, “It is just sort of an accident that I write books. I really think up stories in pictures and just fill in between the pictures with a sentence or a paragraph or a few pages of words.” Here's to happy "accidents!"

McCloskey wrote and illustrated seven other must-read books including Lentil, Homer Price, One Morning In Maine, Centerburg Tales, Time of Wonder, and Burt Dow, Deep Water Man. Burt Dow is a personal favorite for it's Jonah-esque inspired story, brilliant use of 60s pop color, and Jackson Pollock style paint drippings!

From Blackbird & Company:

Great stories have the ability to instruct, inpsire and enlighten and Blackbird & Company's Discovery Guides provide a rich framework for incorporating literature into your core curriculum.

Explore and celebrate Robert McCloskey with your young children by using our Earlybird Author Unit. It is a six week guide, designed for 1st and 2nd graders that takes them through five of his classic stories while working through entry-level literature discovery exercises, complete with vocabulary, comprehension, character analysis, journaling and creative activities.

For your 3-5th grade children, our Homer Price Literature Discovery Guide provides a comic, nostalgic romp through McCloskey's small town America with the one-and-only Homer Price. In six short, imaginative tales, we follow Homer on his hilarious escapades, where challenges most certainly arise…but where things seem to always turn out ok!

For more on McCloskey listen to a short interview with him from the The Horn Book Radio Review.

Posted on September 13, 2010September 6, 2020 by BBCo

Very First iModinarri

I’m not sure how many years have passed since Sara, Evelyn, Hannah and I participated in iMadonnari but I will never forget the experience. We packed a picnic, slathered on the sunscreen, and set out with our bucket of chalk into the unknown. When we arrived at our designated rectangle of road, Sara and I exchanged blank stares, caught our breath. The reality of our lofty goal to transform asphalt to canvas, translate a Renoir to chalk pastel was coming into focus.

We prepped our surface by painting a layer of crushed pastel mixed to a loose paste with water. We chose a pale blue-green value to begin. The pavement was warm so the pastel base dried quickly. Next we gridded off the area to match the grid lines we made on the laminated color copy of the Renoir that the girls would have to work from—preparation is key. These two steps made the process so easy for our girls. Laying the base coat of pastel paste smoothed the surface and helped the subsequent layers of color pop. Helping the girls break the painting down to gridded off parts made the drawing manageable.

The street painting took around five hours to complete. I am pretty sure Hannah and Evelyn never complained once, never uttered the dreaded “B” phrase (“I’m BORED”) because this activity was academic in the true sense… yes, academic. During all those hours I watched the girls merrily engage in scholarship, watched them navigate geometric spatial relationships, engage in complex problem solving, learn about color theory, and make intricate observations. All these years later I can say with certainty that participating in iMadonnari was one of those rare bird’s eye perspective experiences that gave Hannah and Evelyn a hands-on opportunity to be mentored by a creative thinker, Renoir himself.

It has been great this summer focusing on the life work of Leonardo da Vinci with my children and trying to bring something of the Renaissance Man’s philosophy of education into our realm of reality. Looking back on summer and reminiscing gives me an idea. Today school resumes. I’ve decided to begin the year with Leonardo. Why does Leonardo da Vinci have to be limited to summer? After all he reminds me, “For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.”

My favorite phrase comes to mind, “I have an idea.” What about transitioning from Da Vinci Summer to school by celebrating Leonard iMadonnari style? Yes!

Coming soon: Mona Lisa!

Posted on September 3, 2010 by BBCo — 4 Comments

Making Our Teepee

Since my daughter was a wee one, we've always made a summer wishlist—places to visit, things to make, people to see. Every idea gets put down on paper to hold us accountable to some good memory-making and to have a go-to list when boredom creeps in. At each summer’s end, the truth is that we would usually only have accomplished a small handful of things on the list and I’d feel kind of guilty and dissapointed in myself for not following through. As I get older and wiser however, each end of summer comes with less guilt—we'll do what we can and enjoy it fully…but no regrets allowed for what is not done. Certain items are simply forgotten forever and some get moved to next summer’s list for another chance at life.

Making a teepee is one thing that’s been on the list for about five years now. My daughter REALLY, REALLY wanted one, and so did I actually. Teepees are cool, plain and simple! As this past June rolled around, I came to the sobering realization that it was Cloe’s second to last summer before graduating from high school. In the words of David Byrne, "How did I get here?" OK MOM…TIME TO MAKE THIS THING A REALITY!

I love the internet. I simply Googled "DIY Teepee" and within seconds I had a list of approaches and step-by-step instructions on how to make our Arapaho dreams come true. I took "Home Ec" in junior high and I have a pretty crafty mom so I can find my way around a sewing machine. Straight lines are my specialty but beyond that, sewing isn't really my thing and I knew in my gut that I didn't want to pull it out for this project. I wanted to take a more resourceful approach and less of a perfectionistic approach—more intuition, less precision! I also made it a personal challenge to build our teepee using supplies I already had lying around, supplies long-ago abandoned and intended for projects that never got done. I wanted to get in touch with my inner Sacagawea and use what I had and what I knew to build something.

After studying a handful of tutorials and formulating a loose plan in my head, I set to work, feeling excited but a little nervous. After about two hours, we literally had an awesome teepee standing before us and my daughter and I were inside, sitting indian-style (of course) sipping iced tea and reading magazines. It was great fun and many hours have been enjoyed inside by all this summer. Although for us the goal of this project was a simple summer backyard dwelling, you could easily incorporate it into your study of Native Americans, architecture, science or handwork. It really is a fun and doable project (which I should have done years ago)!

Crossing this one off the list!!!!

Here’s how it all came together:

1. Most tutorials recommended eight to ten, 12-foot poles. Panic! I only had six, 8-foot bamboo poles. I reminded myself that Sacagawea did not have a Home Depot down the street to bail her out so I determined to just press on and make it work.

2. For the cover I used a large canvas painter's drop cloth that had been collecting dust, unused for five years in our shed. The material was perfect and the size eliminated the need for sewing panels together to make a piece large enough to cover our poles. Bonus!

3. I folded the dropcloth in half and used a pencil/string device to outline a half circle. I cut out the semi-circles and ripped the cloth in half which gave me a nice rough edge.

4. Cable ties are one of the handiest inventions ever and I had about 30 leftover from some other who-knows-what. I laid three poles on the ground and used one to hold them together at the top. I set up those three poles, and then positioned the other three in between each wedge. It was working! Our teepee was starting to look totally legit! I ripped a strip of canvas from the scraps and tied all six poles together for added stability and frontier charm.

5. I then took one semicircle and draped it over the poles. I was delighted to find that the length was perfect in proportion to the poles! The craft fairies were on my side for once! I thought for sure that I'd have to pull out the dreaded sewing machine for this part but then I stumbled upon a box of colorful metal brads I had bought in a weak moment eight years ago at the scrapbooking store. These will work, I know it!

6. I used the brads to attach my two semi-circles together to create the conical shape that the cover needed to fit properly around the poles. The weave on my canvas was course enough that I could just manually push the brads through the two layers of fabric and it was thick enough to hold together without ripping. I trimmed the extra canvas with scissors to tidy up the inside seam.

7. Lastly, I decided to use the cable ties again to hold the cover in place to each pole and create a cleaner, tighter shape. I simply poked two slits in the canvas with an exacto knife at each place I wanted a cable tie and then I fastened the cover to the poles.

8. Lastly, I adjusted the poles a little so that the teepee was as stable as possible and pulled a small quilt from the linen closet to cover the grass. Mission accomplished!

Posted on August 30, 2010 by BBCo

Inside Søren’s Sketchbook

Keeping a sketchbook is very important for the burgeoning artist. Some sketchbooks should be dedicated to imaginative spontaneous drawing. Some should be dedicated to the work of learning the skill of drawing. I call this the “directive drawing” sketchbook.

At any given moment in time Søren has numerous sketchbooks floating around the house, but one is always dedicated to directive drawing. Inside this sketchbook he learns about and tries his hand at specific drawing techniques.

This week Søren has three drawings of a little glass bottle and two flowers in progress. His is exploring line and value:

Line is a fundamental element of art. Closed line creates shape while repeated line will create texture. I taught Søren long ago what I learned from Paul Klee.

“A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.”

Value is the light and dark in a drawing. The play between light and dark in a drawing gives the impression of three dimensions. Søren keeps in mind Cezanne’s wisdom,

“…light and shadow are only the relation of two tones.”

Søren was directed to draw Still Life with a Glass Bottle and Two Flowers three times, three ways and to incorporate as much detail as possible in each drawing:

The first was to use line only, no soft shading at all.

For the second drawing he was to use soft shading to create value.

And for the third drawing he was taught to stipple. Stippling is the technique of using dots or tiny “pencil touches” to imply value.

Posted on August 26, 2010September 6, 2020 by BBCo

Trash Force 141!

We moved to the city when my boys were toddlers. I shed tears in sessions, endured a hefty dose of grief. During one particular session, being a forward thinker (worrywart), I heaved gut-wrenching sobs for the loss of freedom to roam the countryside that my three sons, then toddlers, would experience.

We’ve been city dwellers for seven years. My boys aren’t toddlers anymore and, it’s true, they don’t have the freedom to step outside their backdoor to explore green roaming hills or wide open fields. But they do have a neighborhood and they do have bikes. Still, in the city we have rules. So they are free to roam as long as they stay together within pre-determined neighborhood boundaries. And they have to check in every hour…

“Mom!”

“M-o-m!”

I get on my feet fast when I hear two moms in a row!

“Mom, today is TF141!!!”

I relax, “TF141?”

“You know… Trash Force 141!”

It began with a blow up raft, the kind you use in country ponds or on lakes. We live near the beach, but this is certainly not an ocean raft. I suggested it might make a fun pool raft.

“No mom, can we blow it up and use it in the studio?”

“…O-k-a-y, sure, of course.” Why not? Imagination is, I reminded myself, more important than open fields.

The next hour Søren and Liam came home with a wooden sword and the hour after that it was a life-sized Sponge Bob costume.

I thought I had seen it all, but later that day when I began closing down shop— putting Legos and colored pencils and bike helmets in their proper place—I found an old backpack I had never seen before and an empty suitcase! I took a deep breath and prayed that our family was not going to become the neighborhood refuse-sorting center. I would give it a week or so, surely the novelty would wear off.

That night after dinner—the hour when activity shifts to quiet mode—I kept hearing a faint music box playing. I chalked it off to Taylor composing something on Logic. But then Søren came into the room with the head of a toy zebra impaled on a wooden skewer. He began to explain that the object is part of an idea brewing inspired by Leonardo da Vinci.

Turns out the creepy music box melody was Taylor composing. He had rescued the music box that was once tucked inside the stuffed zebra and was in the studio recording it to incorporate into a composition.

One man’s trash is another boy’s treasure! I’m so glad my boys can be boys.

Posted on August 24, 2010 by BBCo

The Art Cabinet

I keep all sorts of REAL art supplies on hand, have a dedicated pantry in the kitchen! Here are some tips that have helped me tamp down the chaos of prepping for an art lesson:

I keep my paints in bins organized by color families—primaries (reds, blues, yellows), secondaries (oranges, purples, greens), toasty tones (umbers, browns), blacks and whites.

Drawing materials are all together on a shelf: chalk and oil pastels, charcoal, ink, fixative, rulers, and the oh so vital sundry of magnifying glasses.

I have one shelf for all things watercolor and gouache.

I have an art bin for drawing tools. My children and the students in my co-op are always allowed to dig in. The one rule: Get the tools back in the box!

Every once in a while I do an inventory and I've found that having the one rule works. I rarely find stray pencils or kneaded easers… well, unless the kneaded eraser is cleverly substituted for modeling clay!

Posted on August 19, 2010September 6, 2020 by BBCo

Individuality

It’s time to launch a brand new school year. I open iPhoto
to flip through images hoping to be inspired by antics past. I click through
until I spy little Taylor with two of his elementary home school buddies, “How
cute.” A few more clicks of the mouse and I pause at an image of the same three
characters in their teens. I crack
up.

So what do Mozart, Batman, and the GEICO Caveman have in
common?

Individuality.

We cultivate genius when we inspire the heart, nourish the
mind, and train the will to actively pursue individuality.

Goals 2000 was beginning to be implemented when my oldest
daughter, Hannah was in Kindergarten. I received a cryptic postcard in the mail
from the school district, a disclosure that the exit exam was on its way. In
ten short years Hannah’s graduating class would be affected. I remember being
fascinated by the specific goals the district had in mind, goals that seemed
vague and far removed from academics that would promote individuality. Being an
inquisitive mom, I tucked the postcard into my purse and paid a visit to Hannah’s
Principal.

I began my show and tell. The Principal had never seen or
heard about the information on the postcard. Flustered, he pulled an enormous
binder from a stack on the shelf behind his desk. With a slam and a great puff
of dust he proclaimed, “…must relate to this.” The sad reality is that the
discouraged Principal confessed,
“Who has time to read?”

The next year I began homeschooling.

I have three secret ambitions:
1. Grow a garden that thrives
2. Learn to play guitar
3. Become fluent in Italian

Sometimes my ambitions frustrate me, especially when I walk
up the driveway, look to my left, and see the small plot of city dirt that
holds the potential to feed my family as I rush to my computer to get cracking
on another lesson plan. I become discouraged when I compare myself to Barbara
Kingsolver (Animal Vegetable Miracle), James Taylor, and Pavarotti (okay, so
Italian as the stepping stone to opera).

I had a roommate in college who was a focused high achiever.
While I had so many interests that I found myself spiraling into a state of
indecisiveness, she had two activities on her free time list: exercise and
cheesy romance novels. What I perceived as a lack of imagination kept her
schedule even keeled. My roommate, who eased her way into a pediatric practice,
was living the “can’t do it all” kind of life that I secretly envied.

But the good news is I think I finally understand. As I press
into the work of cultivating my individuality, I’ve made the conscious choice
that there are some things that I simply cannot accomplish.

Continue reading Individuality

Posted on August 17, 2010September 6, 2020 by BBCo — 2 Comments

Cross Bow

We’ve been studying Leonardo da Vinci’s crossbow design. So naturally my youngest son wanted to purchase a toy crossbow. His dad suggested he make one. Søren mulled it over for a few days then whipped out his design at the dinner table for Willie to approve.

It’s Sunday. Søren set up shop on the picnic table, pulled down the plastic picnic pitcher, stocked it with ice water and drew the pattern for his design by hand on a piece of wood supplied by his dad. Søren has been chiseling by choice for two hours.

My husband is a proud dad, keeps tapping me on the shoulder, “He’s been at it a long time.” He’s the dad pacing in the background like a kid himself waiting to jump when Søren is ready to transition to from chisel to file. I don’t think my husband the master woodworker is entirely sure that Søren’s design will work out perfectly, but there is no doubt in either of our minds that our son will learn much and have a blast trying his idea.

Posted on August 15, 2010 by BBCo

Basho Haiku

Basho wandered by foot through medieval Japan, kept a diary
of his journeys—prose woven with haiku. There is sublime simplicity in the
poet’s observations:

A hundred years!

All here in the garden in

these fallen
leaves

With plum blossom scent,

this morning sun emerges

along a
mountain trail

Basho’s work echoes the ordinary, revels in simplicity, and
invigorates the soul.

This time, be creative with haiku form. After all, Basho
warned his students, “Do not simply follow in the footsteps of the ancients;
seek what they sought…abide by the rules, then throw them out!”

Concentrate on crafting lines with a designated number of
words instead of syllables:

five words

s e v e n w o r
d s

five words

But, keep in mind, three lines should be woven to one
thought:

and I wait for the

scent stewed with honey, mottled with sun,

to ripen at room temperature

Explore Basho together and have fun writing some haiku. Use this image of pears in a bowl as a jumping off point or create your own still life. We'd love to read your poems so please share them here.

For more about Basho take a look at this wonderful book.