Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art History

Technology is one of my favorite things! For those of us who were born mid-20th century, we remember time without technology. I know I'm dating myself here, but I still marvel at the tools that we have at our finger tips that open the world of knowledge to us. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has the most incredible Timeline of Art History that is completely interactive, in depth and incredible. I encourage ALL of you to check out this site - go dipping around in time and check out the art! I bet you can't check just one!

Artist of the Week - Willard Wigen

I am constantly amazed to see where the artistic vision takes people. Willard Wigen creates his artworks in the eyes of needles and the heads of pins. The viewers must look at this artwork through microscopes when it is on display! You must visit his website to see more about him and his artwork. When creating his art, he uses biofeedback to slow his body systems down in order to work in between heartbeats and breaths for the ultimate physical steadiness! Wow! Willard is a perfect testimony on the human drive to seek out new, seemingly impossible challenges. Things are only impossible if we think they are!

Artist of the Week - Keith Haring

I love the work of Keith Haring. My Art I students get twisted up if they can't make "real art" (you know - something they can tell what it is). We have been working hard at that, looking at abstract expressionists, color field artists, etc. I haven't shown them Keith Haring, but I need to. His art is so approachable, so grounded and so universal that people can relate to the emotions and ideas he communicates through his art. His life was short, 1958-1990, but his work powerful! Check out his kid's site - it makes you want to be a kid again ---- and do some art!!!

Dust Art

Easy come, easy go. That saying really applies to Scott Wade's artwork. He must live in a really dusty place, cause the collecting of his art material doesn't look hard. The first good rain that comes will wash it away, which I think makes it extra special. It's like an art happening - on display for a limited amount of time for only a few to enjoy. Thanks for the pics! You made my Art Blog!

Gum Art

As a high school art teacher, I have had the distinct pleasure of having lunch pizza parties in my classroom for the last two days with anywhere from 40-100 kids diving for pizza slices like it was the last food on the planet. Admittedly, they were hungry. However, I have come to the conclusion that an adult MIGHT be able to get ALMOST anything they want from a teenager

IF they have pizza as the reward. I digress. It was AFTER the pizza party today, during our studio art critique, that I noticed a bottle of water on one of the tables with a VERY carefully placed piece of chewed gum on top of the unopened bottle top. Obviously it was to be rechewed after the yummy pizza. At first glance, we said "uhhhhg" (as any self-respecting gentile student or teacher might say), but then, later I remembered this site I stumbled upon late the night before as I was searching for random food art (a popular medium on my blog - i.e. the most comments about...). Yes, this site has an amazing display of artwork created from chewed gum. The important statistics (how many pieces, how long it took to accumulate, etc.) are there. The range of work is impressive. I might even go out on a limb and say this is my favorite site in a while ( and I LOVE everything)! So...now I am sorry I pitched that bottle & chewed gum away...I could have started collecting!

Artist of the Week - Paul Klee

I have loved this image ever since I was a child. Long ago, there was a wonderful publication called "Horizon" that my parents subscribed to. Days when I was home ill, I thumbed through these books, looking at the spectacular artworks, reading the articles about literature and listening to classical music. As I begin to find out more about Klee, I see that he valued the "primitive" and especially the art of children because of the directness and innocence of their artistic approach. A man after my own heart, he drew from botany, astronomy, physics and psychology. His work spanned the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, yet his work still looks fresh and contemporary. If you are not familiar with his work, check him out!