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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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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:

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

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

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

 

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Trash Force 141!

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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!”

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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I have one shelf for all things watercolor and gouache.

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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!

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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!

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Cross Bow

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Basho Haiku



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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.

 

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A Bike of His Own

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Fixed gear bicycles are all the rage in our neighborhood. I think this means that the bike can’t coast because the bike’s crank and the rear wheel are dependent of each other. What is so great about that? I mean I love coasting, don’t all girls?

Still Liam assures me that fixies are, “…awesome Mom.”

Whoever makes and markets these bikes is completely aware of this fact too because the bikes cost a small fortune. So this is how the conversation goes:

“Dad, can I get a fixie if I pay for it myself?”

“Sure Liam, but why don’t you make one?”

Liam had $200 to spend. All his friends ride $500 fixies. Back when his dad was a kid everyone had to have a BMX bike. He couldn’t ever have the newest or the coolest, but if he wanted it he could build it from a combination of used parts and a few new essentials.

Liam’s dad assured him that a homemade bike will never look like Lance Armstrong’s track bike, might not even look like the ones his friends ride but he will ride with the satisfaction of knowing that he made his bike.

And so bike construction began. Liam learned today how to purchase a spoke for 60¢, install it, and true the wheel instead of plunking down $100 for a brand new wheel. 

Ownership is certainly valid, but pride in craftsmanship has personal investment that can’t be bought.

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Foiled

The year I moved back to LA the first thing I did was pack
the kids in the car and head to art museums. I had been teaching art for years,
but here I was in LA, an art hub for sure, and I wanted them to experience what
we had studied in books and on the web in all its glory! So that first summer I
sought out art opportunities for my children, enrolled them in week-long
workshops at the Getty, Otis, and LACMA… back to back.

Week 1 Taylor and cousin Cloe hit LACMA, got some really
cool t-shirts with bright orange graphics and got to wander behind the scenes
at the museum. Last time I was at Tracey’s I smiled at the sculpture Cloe made
of blocks of wood that is perched on a shelf with other works of art.

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Week 2 at the Getty our kids came home with sculptures made
of meat trays, paper towel rolls, and yarn. Really? Tracey
and I raised our eyebrows, didn’t need words. Not sure what happened to those
sculptures.

Week 3 was Hannah’s turn to go to camp with cousin Cloe.
Otis Art Institute was on the schedule. When we arrived to pick our girls up, their faces were less than
enthusiastic. The girls had been given tempera, newsprint, and an easel and
were told to paint a dream… for three hours!

“Mom we have an easel in the back yard, do I have to go back
tomorrow.”

“No dear.”

That was the last summer I enrolled my children in art
workshops. Looking back, I know much was gained from those experiences that I
cannot re-create in our studio, but where was the canvas, acrylic and chalk
pastel on rag paper and clay that had to be fired in a kiln? Looking back, I must
admit I was a bit of an art materials snob.

I believe the creative work of children should be elevated
to a state of permanence. The
creative work of children is important. Striving for “perfect” is not the goal,
but elevating a child’s creative work validates their process and is a very
important goal. Back then I somehow came to the conclusion that using
sophisticated art supplies was the best way to achieve this goal.

But I’ve been enlightened by aluminum foil.

This past spring I wanted to teach the elements of sculpture
but didn’t want to simultaneously dive into the complexities of manipulating
clay or alabaster. So I taught my students to look at and think about 3D
objects and handed them a roll of foil. I think the results speak for themselves.

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LEGO Learning

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Building with LEGOs is academic. I have witnessed my boys
following complex directions, engaging in problem solving and demonstrating critical
thinking for hours upon end as they engage with LEGOs. When we pour two enormous tubs onto the
wool rug in the living room, I have witnessed my three boys learning to live
together in harmony on LEGO Island.

Being the mother of three imaginative boys, I made a pact
with myself long ago to not be annoyed by LEGO blocks scattered here and there.
But early yesterday morning in the kitchen, as we were racing to start the day,
I went sliding across the kitchen on a Ferrari F-1 driver, severing his
arm and nearly cracking my skull.
The race came to a halt. My
youngest son caught my eye. I took
a deep breath and said between gritted teeth, “That was close.” I took another breath, “Can he be
fixed?” Søren’s face beamed with a
wide smile.

I think what saved me in the kitchen
this morning was an image I had just snapped the day before—a little LEGO world
Søren had tucked near the leg of my desk right next to work stacking up. This
juxtaposition made quite an impact.

Today I was reminded of the value of play: LEGOs are
academic.

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A House of Many Hats

For the past fifteen years, three (sometimes more) days a week my
home is transformed to a co-operative home school! It is tricky for a
house to wear many hats but ours has become an expert.

We utilize every
inch of our 1200 square feet (now there’s a math workout). During school
we give each space a name. To begin, a favorite space is: On the
Floor. The living room is transformed to the Great Room and in that room
is Old Wood, the table where, by night, our family gathers for dinner. 


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The
kitchen table is always the kitchen table… but not exactly, sometimes we call
it the Gathering Place, other times The Table in the Pink Room. And then
there is our detached garage transformed School Room, the classroom with a
clubhouse feel.

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Because the weather is even keeled in our neck of the
woods, much learning takes place in our postage-sized backyard. In the Garden
we’ve created cozy nooks to read and write. And then there’s recess… hmmm,
the boys always find a way for fun! 


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Ultimately our school environment is authentic,
and that is precisely what makes it, well chaotic at times, but without
doubt an artful inspiring home that is at once a school.