07/08 Academic Decathlon Art Selection #9

Mary Cassatt is a favorite artist. Officially a member of the Impressionists, she painted this piece "The Boating Party" in 1893. She loved painting women and children in the theme of mother and child. Now, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure WHY this piece is considered to be a piece of art for the Civil War?!? Can any of you come up with an idea? Seriously!

07/08 Academic Decathlon Art Selection #8

Ahhh - the shotgun house - so named because if you opened the front & back doors and fired a gun, the bullet would shoot straight through. This is a 19th c. house, kind of raggedy, huh? Well, I spent a year living in New Orleans and working in the French Quarter when I was a young twenty something ( I sold women's shoes in a shoe boutique!). I certainly got an education working in the Quarter, but I also experienced living in an old shotgun house (not quite THIS old!) There was a big fan (like an attic fan) that was in one of the windows in the back room, and when it ran it drew the air through the house and exited out the fan. Even though we had no air conditioning (can you get your brain around that?), I remember feeling pretty comfortable even in the heat of the summer (New Orleans can be hot and extremely humid!). Search around - find out about what kind of housing was lost during Katrina - are they rebuilding this style of architecture again? Interesting...