A is for Apples and Artists

Fridays in our house are dedicated to art and Shakespeare. It's my ahhhh at the end of the week. Our Shakespeare studies are outlined here. Look for that whole page to be re-designed. I had trouble following it last week;-)

In our framework for lessons here in the heart of my home, Along the Alphabet Path, art is definitely an every age endeavor. There is more than enough here for everyone. Using Museum ABC as a spine, we have an introduction to 26 great works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For the letter "A" we studied Cezanne's apples.

The Met website does a fabulous job with this particular piece, with a wonderful online lesson. There is an online biography of Cezanne with plenty of information about the artist and his place in the art world. 

There are online games and activities and there are suggestions for "on paper" games and activities.

That would be plenty.

But wait, I have more;-).

Remember Degas and the Little Dancer? We love her. Laurence Anholt has written a whole series of books like that one. These are painstakingly researched books which bring to life the stories of real children who knew the artists. Cezanne's story is one of his son, Paul, and the friendship father and son develop when they are reunited on a painting expedition in the mountains of southern France. 

And, there's an app for that! Well, almost. Anholt's Van Gogh and the Sunflowers book has been developed into an iPad app. It's a truly lovely app, at that:-) I look forward to seeing more of his books broadened this way.

We also really enjoy Mike Venezia's series, Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists. His volume on Cezanne offers plenty of biographical detail so that children can create a notebook page and lovely reproductions that expose them to much more of this artist's work. 

The Met site suggests a simple hands-on still life activity. Laurence Anholt's Artists Activity Book poses a charcoal challenge in the spirit of Cezanne. Anybody else find that charcoal is most challenging for mothers? Ah, the mess. Let them make a mess. Say it with me. Maybe we'll believe it. There are activities in the Artists Activity Book for each of the books in the artist series. This book is a keeper!

Then, pulling books off my shelf, I found a more detailed still life activity and a lovely biography in Monet and the Impressionists for Kids. In Discovering Great Artists, MaryAnn Kohl offers still more still-life instruction. Clearly, there's a theme here.

Finally, for the child who is just super stuck and can't get anything on paper, there's a coloring sheet in Masterpieces: A Fact-Filled Coloring Book that provides the basic forms and lets kids focus on color. .

For more about our Storybook Year, please visit here.

{this moment} is for Shawn

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Our strength is not in our hair.  We are #Kuykenstrong.

(19 inches donated to Beautiful Lengths. )

While the apple cake baked...

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We read some more apple books.

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The Apple Cake This is a charming story about an old lady who wants to make apple cake but has plums instead of apples. She chats along and trades, continuing to give up what she has to meet the need of somoene else. Nicholas baked a delicious, yeasty apple cake using the recipe on the back of the book with 

Alyosha's Apple This is a lovely fairytale told and illustrated in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. A young orphan girl ventures bravely into the forest to seek healing for her borther.

Brother Bartholomew and the Apple Grove Sadly out of print, this is a beautiful parable of humility and stewardship.

Apples to Oregon Papa moves from Iowa to Oregon and the whole family and lots fruit trees go along for the ride. There are plenty of facts mixed in with the tall tale.

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World This one is a classic favorite. Gather the necessary ingredients for an apple pie from locations all over the world and have a grand time enjoying the process.

Folks Call Me Appleseed John This is the legend of Johnny Appleseed told by John Chapman himself.

Rain Makes Applesauce This one is pure whimsy. It was introduced to me by a friend who came to stay in my dorm. Her boyfriend lived in the suite downstairs and when she came from New Jersey during her senior year in high school to visit Patrick Murphy, she slept in my room. Later, she, too, went to UVa and she was a sorority sister of mine. She could quote this whole book by heart and she did frequently when it rained. My friend Patrick died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and somehow this book has become part of our repertoire on that day. 

For more about our Storybook Year, read here. 

You can find the cake pan here.

needle & thREAD

We had two weeks off from dance after the end of the summer season and before the beginning of the fall season. During that time, my friend Heather and her husband completely overhauled the look of the studio. Heather bought some ready-made Martha Stewart drapes at Home Depot. They were each about 30 inches short for the floor-to-ceiling windows where she wanted them to hang. Her initial thought was for me to take a third panel, cut it, and sew it to the two window panels to lengthen them. I let that idea roll around in my head for a few days and decided that I couldn't really match the repeat and make that seam look decent. Kristin suggested colorblocking with the accent color. So, that's what I did! I'm fairly pleased with the result. My really good Shark iron tumbled from the ironing board in the process and heaved a final sigh. I still look at these drapes every day and think they need a better pressing. And I need a new iron.

I've started a whole new set of headbands. I'm not overly enthused about them;-) Headband burnout, no doubt.

And, I've ordered two new Oliver + S patterns, the Playtime Dress, Tunic, and Leggings and The Library Dress. Maybe I'll even take the plunge into knits this year. 

 

Reading? Let's see, what am I reading? I've been chronicling much of our reading in the Storybook Year archives. as we ramp up to our fullest potential during our learning hours at home, I'm kind of hopping from one of their books to the next. Not a whole lot of time for me. But it's coming... I'm thinking that I need to take those Storybook Year posts and gather them together and categorize them by topic so we can all find them more easily. What to do you think?

What are you reading and sewing this week? 

I am eager to hear!

  Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

    Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and theREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and theREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link:-).

Dear Fifteen-Year-Old Me,

That whole Mike Foss thing? It works out really well;-)