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Museum Trip is a perfect introduction to art. No words are used in this richly illustrated picture book by Barbara Lehman, and no words are needed. This is fitting since art is better seen than read about.
Lehman’s story follows a boy on a school field trip to the museum. The boy becomes trapped inside an exhibit and must discover the heart of the subject before coming out the other side to rejoin his class. During this journey, he discovers a love of art, something he has in common with the museum curator.
This Caldecott Honor Book and ALA Notable Book (to name only a pair of its many awards) would make a fine addition to any home library. It is a book to be enjoyed over and over again; each read will bring new discoveries and pleasures.
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Today I went to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. When I saw what was in the lobby I was excited because I don’t remember ever having seen one in real life before. It was one of the statues that once guarded Easter Island. I decided that for something I’ve seen so often on TV and in pictures, I didn’t know nearly enough about these statues. So the moai of Easter Island are the topic of today’s post.
Easter Island is a small island near Chile in South America
(see the map to the right). It was formed by a volcanic eruption and the packed volcanic ash, called tuff, became the main material used by the island’s people to sculpt moai. The sculptures, built with extra-large (and long) heads and short bodies with no legs, represent ancestors of the islanders. The moai may have been built by professional sculptors or members of the various tribes of people on the island may have created sculptures of their own ancestors. Either way, the moai look very much alike.
Hundreds of moai were sculpted during the 700 years between the year 1000 and 1700. At one point there were nearly 300 lining the edge of the island and about 600 more in the process of being carved or displayed throughout the island.
The statues were created at sites toward the center of the island and then moved to the coastline where they were hoisted onto stone platforms. Moai completely ringed the outer edge of the island so they could be seen by anyone approaching Easter Island from any direction.
The moai varied in size, the largest standing 33 feet tall. The statue at the National Museum of Natural History was only slightly taller than I am: about 6 feet. Some archaeologists believe that the statues were taken down periodically as larger statues were built to replace them. The people of Easter Island may have thought that spiritual or magical power entered the statues; building the moai may have been a religious practice.
At some point between 1722 and 1825 nearly all the moai were knocked over. Scientists don’t know why, but they believe the moai were toppled by the people of Easter Island. Today, only about 50 of the statues still stand. Some are in museums and some remain on the island, though they are no longer believed to hold spiritual power.
Charcoal is the substance left over when wood is burned. It is used in the same way as pastels to create artwork in shades of black, white, and grey.
It can be bought in sticks, charcoal pencils, or loose powder.
Charcoal can also be used to make parsemage. A parsemage is a piece of artwork made by floating charcoal powder on water, sliding a piece of paper into the water underneath the charcoal, and then lifting the paper so the charcoal sticks to it.
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You can create a parsemage, too. Materials Needed:
Charcoal
Wide Bowl
Water
Thick Art Paper
Eraser (optional)
Next time you go camping take a plastic container with you. Once the campfire has completely cooled (overnight), take a few small pieces of burned wood and bring them home in your plastic container. If your family cooks on a charcoal grill, ask for a charcoal briquette instead.
Fill a wide bowl with warm water. Crumble your charcoal into the water. The powder will float on the top. Try to grind the charcoal into fine powder because if it's too heavy it will sink to the bottom and won't attach to your paper. Slide a piece of thick art paper into the water just below the floating charcoal. Lift the paper out of the water, allowing the charcoal powder to stick to your paper. Lay the paper flat to dry.
You can now create a drawing on top of the parsemage or you can erase patterns in the charcoal on your paper.
Note: You can do this project using chalk instead of charcoal. Just use a pencil sharpener to grind chalk into powder and sprinkle the powder on the surface of the water. Try using different colors in the water to create some cool effects.
To make your own sand painting, you will first need to make some colored sand.
Materials Needed:
Sand
Food Coloring
Plastic Containers
Spoon
Paper Towels
Pour some sand into each plastic container. Use a different container for each color. Pour just enough water into each container to cover the sand. Then add food coloring and stir each mixture until you have all the colors you want. Let the sand sit for at least an hour to absorb the color. The longer it sits the brighter the colors will be.
When you’re happy with the colors of the sand, spoon it onto paper towels to dry. Remember to keep the colors separate. Clean and dry your containers so that when the sand has dried you can return each color to its own container.
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Follow the instructions to make your own colored sand or buy sand that has already been colored. It is available at most craft stores. Now you’re ready to make a sand painting.
Materials Needed:
Colored Sand
Thick Paper like Construction Paper
Elmer’s Glue
Water
Plastic Container
Paintbrush
Pencil
Gather your materials. Decide what you’d like to paint and use a pencil to draw it onto your paper. You can use any color paper because the sand will cover it.
Pour some glue into an empty plastic container. Mix in a little water to make the glue easier to paint with.
Choose your first color. Paint glue into the sections of your masterpiece that you would like to be that color. Try to paint only a thin layer of glue. Before the glue dries, sprinkle colored sand onto it. Tap off any sand that doesn’t stick and pour it back into its container.
Continue to fill in your painting with sections of color until it is completed. Let the painting dry for a few hours.
Cover the colored sand and save it for another project or create another sand painting right away.Return to main page.
Some Native American tribes in the northwest, particularly the Navajos, use sand painting in healing ceremonies. Because the Navajos believe that sickness is caused by offending a god, the ceremony is meant to restore the patient to that god’s good will. The tribe’s medicine man uses colored sand to make pictures on the ground of the hogan (the ceremonial home), or on animal skins. He uses his hands to scatter the sand into special shapes and patterns that are believed to have healing powers.
The paintings are not made to last and are not stuck in place in any way. In fact, we have very few photographs of sand paintings that were actually made during ceremonies. Paintings have been made for the public to see and take pictures of but they are not exactly the same as those made during healing ceremonies.
The ceremony can last for nine days and nine nights if the patient needs it but is can also be performed in two nights or five nights. First, the sickness must be taken from the patient’s body by herbs or sweat baths. Then the gods must be summoned, through sand paintings, so that the patient can make up for his offense.
The medicine man usually chants while his assistants create the sand painting. The painting can range from only a few feet square to twenty feet square and its main colors are blue, white, black, and yellow. When the sand painting is finished, the ill person sits on it so the gods can enter his body and restore harmony. You can see how the sand painting wouldn’t last very long. After the sand painting absorbs the illness from the patient it is swept out of the ceremonial home.
You can look at some sand paintings by clicking here. Just click on any of the artists’ names in the list. Notice that all the sand paintings on the website are for sale which means that they were not created for healing ceremonies. They were also stuck down, not laid loose on the ground to be swept away later.
Check back tomorrow for a sand painting project! Return to main page.
