Paul Cézanne, c. 1861.

Born: January 19, 1839, Aix-en-Provence, France
Died: October 22, 1906, Aix-en-Provence, France
Nationality: French
Field: Painting
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Known to many as the Father of Modern Art, Cézanne’s body of work exhibits continuous development, and the constant desire to refine his technique and style. He separated himself from contemporaries to study form and color in his with influence and developed his own unique style of painting. He preferred to work on landscape and still-life paintings, but occasionally created portrait works.

“A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.” – Paul Cézanne

Miss Krista’s Kindergarten class had a chance to celebrate Cézanne’s birthday by putting some of their emotions into still-life paintings of their own. Look at the slideshow below and see how they broke down a still life of apples, bananas, lemons and oranges down into simple shapes in the same way that Cezanne did.

Important Works:
•    Village Road, Auvers, ca. 1872-73
•    L’Estaque, ca. 1882-85
•    Card Players, ca. 1890-92
•    Woman with Coffee Pot, ca. 1890-95

Links:

http://www.paul-cezanne.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_C%C3%A9zanne

Georgia O'Keeffe. Photo by Alfred Stieglitz. 1918.

Born: November 15, 1887
Died: March 6, 1986
Nationality: American
Field: Painting
Movement: American Modernism

When O’Keeffe was a child, she had already decided to become an artist. She found out very early in her career that she would have a hard time finding a place of her own in the art market of the day. She became a teacher and soon after she met the photographer, Alfred Stieglitz. Encouraging her to develop her own style, Stieglitz championed her work. She became famous for her close-up paintings of flowers and desert scenes of the American southwest. O’Keeffe abstracted objects and painted in such an expressionistic way, one could claim her work is unparalleled by any other artist of the time.

The DDC kids searched the internet for flowers and desert objects that spoke to them and interpreted the images using oil pastels and watercolors. Click on the image above to see a slideshow of the student artwork.

Georgia O’Keeffe Links

http://contentdm.okeeffemuseum.org/

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/georgia-okeeffe/about-the-painter/55/

Ms. Krista’s kindergarten class has recently been working on a unit exploring motion. Last Friday, week we celebrated the art of Victor Vasarely and one of his contemporaries, Marcel Duchamp. We explored how we could create art that “moved”. Optical art concerns the interaction between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and seeing. When the viewer looks at Op Art, they may see hidden images, flashing, patterns, movement, vibration or warping. Inspired by the Rotoreliefs of Marcel Duchamp, the kids drew concentric circles and colored them in. Next we placed each disc on an old turntable and let it rip. We recorded about 5 seconds of each disc rotating and spliced the video together and voilà! Instant Op Art- Kindergarten style. Click here to see the video->  Kindergarten Op Art

Kindergarten Art Project - Painting like Pollock

Paul Jackson Pollock was born on January 28, 1912. He was an American painter and an important player in the artist movement known as abstract expressionism.  Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety in his own lifetime.

Known as “Jack the Dripper”, he arranged the canvas on the floor, and painting around it, as if engaging in a dance. He experimented with various paints and materials, mastering control of each to create his famous drip paintings. He dismissed the idea of making mistakes in his art, he denied “the accident”.

Ms. Krista’s Kindergarten class met last Friday to create their own Pollock inspired work. Using cotton duck canvas, sand, acrylic paint, brushes, sticks, combs, a flyswatter, ice cream scoop, and even a feather to create their own masterpiece!

The new painting is proudly displayed in the hallway outside of the Wiggle Room. Congratulations to all of our Kindergarten students on this wonderful piece of art. Check out this time-lapse video of the kids in action! Painting like Pollock

Can’t get enough of this stuff? Create your own Pollock inspired digital painting here: http://jacksonpollock.org/

Just move your mouse to pour, and click to switch colors, when you are all done, just right click and select print!

Make plans now to attend our Holiday Camp, December 20-23, and December 27-30. The Digital Discovery Center is a fun before and after school program for K-6 school age children. Join us for filmmaking, legos, slot car racing, cool art projects and more. Click here for more information.

The kids in The Digital Discovery Center love making stop motion videos in our after school program. You can always find their latest creations on our Youtube channel, ddc2000. But, there are hundreds of other cool films out there. Here is an article that showcases some amazing examples of other short stop motion films on Youtube. Enjoy!

We hope everyone is ready for a new school year. The DDC will be open for before and and after school care beginning Tuesday, August 24. Spaces are still available. Visit our after school page to learn more!

Make plans now for Before and After School Care for your school age children!  Avon Lake buses will pick up in the morning and drop off in the afternoon. For costs, an application, or to learn more, visit our after school page here.

Check out a great new stop-motion animation created by kids in the DDC Summer Camp program. There’s lots more to come this summer!