Sunday, May 30, 2010

me and mary

by karen #1965 third grade teacher...now folks...i am not real into this serious art, but i could not resist getting my picture made with this piece by mary cassatt...mary is famous...check out her work here...


quick story on mary ...she was born in 1844 to a wealthy family in pennsylvania...they traveled to europe a bunch...she wanted to be a painter...she had difficulty "breaking into" the world of impressionism...she met edward degas...they were bffs...check him out... 
so anyway...degas introduced her to some of the old masters...like claude monet, auguste renoir, camille pissarro and other impressionist rebels... so...of course, mary had her lucky breakthrough...and now she is remembered and we blog about her...

mary was one of these folks that spoke her mind...never holding back her thoughts...she said that claude monet's later work reminded her of "glorified wallpaper"...and she was not fond of picasso either...(ouch, that hurts...)

i really don't think mary would appreciate me having my picture made with her painting in this manner...of course, i didn't realize it until i read a little about her...and i am a little like mary and really don't care...make life fun...enjoy...

so...what can we do to educate kids about her?...she was really one of the first women to break out the paintings and make a name for herself...
you could...read this book...
this is the story of a painter who is commissioned to paint the members of the royal court, but who would rather paint landscapes...mary was kind of in the same boat...she received a commission for a mural for the woman's building at the chicago world's fair...could discuss commissions...compare and contrast the two artists...

get students to take a picture with someone in a chair like this...

mary painted this...caused some controversy...and supposedly...degas helped...you might could get the picture the kids took and run it off on a copier and get the kids to work in pairs and color the picture with chalk pastels...

pretty good resource to introduce mary cassatt...

the monkeys, 1966

Mary, Mary, where you goin' to?
Mary, Mary, can I go too.
This one thing I will vow ya,
I'd rather die than to live without ya.
Mary, Mary, where you goin' to?


happy may 20, 2010!

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