Stuff to Do While Practicing PHYSICAL Distancing
Week 5
Well, have you missed us? As promised, we're going to a weekly "Stuff to Do While Practicing Social Distancing" newsletter for the duration of this COVID-19 work-from-home situation. If you have suggestions or comments for us - about these newsletters or anything else - please reach out by emailing us at info@greensboroart.org.

Going live by 5 p.m. today! Online art workshops and classes - for all ages!
In the CVA Gallery: Self-Recognition through the Other Exhibit
This Week's Featured Artist:
shaggyjxnes
About the Work (clockwise from top left): Borrowed Time; Knot Yet, From a Distance; Edge of the Earth; and Dreams Beyond Lucid. All digital collages, created between 2017-2019.

Artist Statement:
There are feelings we all have that we can't explain with words. The first step is of course to be aware of these feelings. Art gives us the freedom to express these feelings in an infinite way. The process of my work is more than creating something, it tells me what I am feeling, it is healing me

For more of shaggyjxnes work, click HERE .
Today's Museum Tour:
Musee d'Orsay - Paris, France
Postcard view of the new station and the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur, Musée d’Orsay, Paris (ca. 1900).
Edouard Manet, Le Dejuner sur L'Herbe , oil on canvas (1863)
(above) Gustave Klimt, Rosebushes under the Trees , oil on canvas (ca. 1905)
From the virtual tour website : " The history of the museum, of its building is quite unusual. In the centre of Paris on the banks of the Seine, opposite the Tuileries Gardens, the museum was installed in the former Orsay railway station, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. So the building itself could be seen as the first "work of art" in the Musee d'Orsay, which displays collections of art from the period 1848 to 1914."

From the Musee d'Orsay website : " The national museum of the Musée d'Orsay opened to the public on 9 December 1986 to show the great diversity of artistic creation in the western world between 1848 and 1914. It was formed with the national collections coming mainly from three establishments:
  • from the Louvre museum, for the works of artists born after 1820 or coming to the fore during the Second Republic;
  • from the Musée du Jeu de Paume, which since 1947 had been devoted to Impressionism;
  • and lastly from the National Museum of Modern Art, which, when it moved in 1976 to the Centre Georges Pompidou, only kept works of artists born after 1870."

We loved seeing so many iconic examples of famous Salon des Refuses work, like Manet's Le Dejuner sur L'Herbe, and other works like Paul Serusier's Talisman, which inspired so many other modern artists. Such a fascinating period in visual art!

On the main Google Arts & Culture page featuring the museum , there's a cool overview of how the museum came to be. It's not quite a virtual tour, but there are a lot of cool images and videos to explore on the Musee d'Orsay's main website HERE .
(above) Rosa Bonheur, Ploughing in Nevers , oil on canvas (1849)

(left) Paul Serusier, The Talisman, the Aven River at the Bois d'Amour , oil on board (1888)
This Week's Art Activities for Kids:
From Our After-School Art Instructors
Activity #1 -

Paint like famous artist Jackson Pollock using this fun lesson from Deep Space Sparkle! With tempera paint and yarn, create fun abstract art of your own. This lesson gets messy, so try it outside in the grass! Make sure to lay down an old towel or drop cloth so you don’t get paint everywhere, and wear clothes that can get messy!
 
Supplies needed:
  • Large paper or poster board
  • Something to cover your work surface in!
  • Yarn
  • Clothespins or popsicle sticks
  • Tempera paint

Cool kids book to find: Action Jackson, Amazon , or why not try Greensboro's wonderful Scuppernong Books ?
Activity #2 - Perspective Drawing

This is a cool perspective drawing lesson that's best for grades 3 and up. This lesson uses a  ruler  and  drawing utensils.  If you do not have a ruler, a straight edge should work! Use the video below to help teach about perspective, and how to draw using one-point perspective. Then, use this knowledge to draw a perspective drawing of the road you live on! Think about what is at the beginning, where your house is located, and where does it end? 
Thank you all and remember to keep making! We miss you SO much!
Ms. Sydney, Ms. Alexis, and Ms. Olivia
Today's Art Activity for Teens and Adults:
This article has it all: detailed background and art history, instructions on the exercises suggested, and some helpful downloadable templates to practice on.

Using principles and techniques of atmospheric perspective (aka aerial perspective):

  • Exercise 1 is to color a landscape (they provide image)
  • Exercise 2 is to ink a landscape with varying pen widths
  • Exercise 3 is to focus your detail in one area
  • Exercise 4 is to color a landscape with warm fading to cool tones
  • Exercise 5 is to color a landscape with cool fading to warm tones

Random Art Inspiration:

Encroaching Storm – Mud Bay

48" x 48" – oil painting
“ If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him. ”

President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Thanks for reading. Hope this "Stuff to Do" is helpful and inspiring - please share images of any artwork you or your children make. Email them to info@greensboroart.org or post on our social media. It will help US stay sane :)

Stay healthy, stay home, keep your cool, and try to focus on the positive. Check for new newsletters about once a week from here on out.

love,
THE CVA