Samuel F B Morse - Inventor & Artist

As I've been debating on where to go over Spring Break with Alex, one of my thoughts was a return trip to Washington DC! We both loved it, we were comfortable getting around on our own, and there is so much more to see! One place we didn't see was the National Gallery of Art, and they currently have a special exhibition of Morse's painting, The Best of the Louvre.

We studied Morse way back in 2006, but the books we read about him only covered the telegraph. I hadn't realized that he was a painter before an inventor - or if I'd read that fact, I'd forgotten it. He was also a Christian who described his life work by saying, "'It is His work. “Not unto us, but to Thy Name, O Lord, be all the praise.” (Answers in Genesis has a great article about him here.)

The painting, The Best of the Louvre, showcases many pieces of art that were actually in the Louvre though they were not all in the same room. (Can you find the Mona Lisa?) In the center of the the painting you can see Morse looking over the shoulder of his daughter who is painting. Also pictured, in the left, is his friend and author, James Fenimore Cooper pictured with Cooper's wife and daughter.

In an interview with NPR's Susan Stamberg, author David McCullough said, ""It was an extremely ambitious undertaking because many of the paintings that he was copying were hung very high up. And so he had to build a movable platform, or scaffold, that he wheeled about the galleries of the Louvre to reach his subjects. And he and the movable scaffold became a tourist attraction themselves"

As to why the painting was created, David McCullough said, "There were no museums here, as yet, in the 1830s, and no color representations of paintings, so he was going to bring the culture of Europe — mainly the Renaissance Italian masterpieces in the Louvre collection — back to the United States for the benefit of his countrymen." (Quotes from the NPR site.)

As we also look forward to our trip to France this summer, I am really enjoying this painting! And, I'm looking forward to reading McCullough's new book, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. It is the story of Americans, from the year 1830 to 1900, who went to Paris to excel in their work - whether they were artists, authors, doctors, politians, etc.

P.S. Another great site about Morse and his art is found at the Terra Foundation for American Art website. www.terraamericanart.org under "collections".

A Worker Reads History

I watched session 1 of a Yale Open Course today. It is a free course titled "France Since 1871" and it is taught by Professor John Merriman. Although the video itself is a little choppy, I am finding the professor quite enjoyable and am looking forward to learning about France. There are 24 lectures and the class reads six books and watches three films. I thought this would be a great way to prepare for our trip to France this summer.

The first lecture was mostly about what to expect in the course. At the conclusion, though, the professor read a poem by Brecht that he said highly influenced him to become a history teacher. The poem is "A Worker Reads History."

Who built the seven gates of Thebes?
The books are filled with names of kings.
Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?
And Babylon, so many times destroyed.
Who built the city up each time? In which of Lima's houses,
That city glittering with gold, lived those who built it?
In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished
Where did the masons go? Imperial Rome
Is full of arcs of triumph. Who reared them up? Over whom
Did the Caesars triumph? Byzantium lives in song.
Were all her dwellings palaces? And even in Atlantis of the legend
The night the seas rushed in,
The drowning men still bellowed for their slaves.

Young Alexander conquered India.
He alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.
Was there not even a cook in his army?
Phillip of Spain wept as his fleet
was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears?
Frederick the Great triumphed in the Seven Years War.
Who triumphed with him?

Each page a victory
At whose expense the victory ball?
Every ten years a great man,
Who paid the piper?

So many particulars.
So many questions.

Saint Sebastian

I am currently enjoying a DVD course from The Great Courses entitled World's Greatest Paintings by Professor William Kloss. Professor Kloss is superb and I am learning so much from his passionate lectures.

by Ter Brugghen

Today's lecture included three artists, including a painting by Ter Brugghen of St Sebastian titled St Sebastian Tended by Irene. As a Protestant, I am not familiar with the stories of many of the saints and see that many works of art are based on their lives. So, I am trying to become more familiar with their stories. I read several articles about St Sebastian, but the most interesting piece I found was at Tom Reeder's Blog, which is both informative and humorous.

by Boticelli

St Sebastian lived in Rome during the third century. He was a bodyguard for the Emperor, Diocletian. (Side note: Diocletian appointed 3 other co-emperors and each of them ended up ruling 1/4th of Roman Empire as Tetrarchs.)
Diocletian persecuted Christians and Sebastian was visiting them in prison. He was also converting other sodiers to Christianity. When Diocletian found out, he ordered that Sebastian be tied to a post and executed by archers.

by Il Sodoma

However, Sebastian did not die from his wounds, according to the stories. He was nursed back to health by a lady later known as St Irene. After he was healed, Sebastian confronted Diocletian and, this time, Diocletian made sure that Sebastian was killed by clubbing.

by Andrea Mantegna

Sebastian became a saint and was later called upon during several plagues, including the Plague of Justinian. This Plague started in about AD 540 and ended in AD 590 after killing 25 to 100 million people -  possibly half the population of Europe. It was said that "the random nature of infection with the Black Death caused people to liken the plague to their villages being shot by an army of nature’s archers. In desperation, they prayed for the intercession of a saint associated with archers, and Saint Sebastian became associated with the plague." (quote from link from fisheaters site titled Symbols of the Saints in Art.)

Marie Antoinette's Poufs

I have started to prepare for a trip to France this summer by reading a book about Marie Antoinette. The book, To the Scaffold: The Life of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson, is quite fascinating.

Yesterday, I read about Marie's incredible poufs. In 1774, the women of the court were wearing elaborate hats. But, they started styling their hair in elaborate ways instead. The pouf a la circonstance featured "a cypress and black marigolds, a wheat sheaf, and a cornucopia filled with every sort of fruit and white feathers. The allegorical meaning of the Circumstance Pouf was that while mourning Louis XV, France welcomed the bounty certain to be enjoyed under the new King. A medical coiffure came next, the pouf a l'inoculation. Louis had submitted to being inoculated against smallpox about a month after becoming King, and the new hairstyle commermorated this with a rising sun, an olive tree and a serpent entwined around the trunk, a flower club near him." (quote from the above book)

Another amazing pouf was coiffure a 'Independance ou le Triomphe de la Liberte (shown above) which celebrated a naval victory in the American War for independence.

I particularly enjoyed a post I found on the subject at a blog entitled "Dressed in Time: Historical costuming with a special love for the 18th century." The post is called "Wiggery and poufs!"  The author tells all about the poufs: how they were powdered, how they scratched their itchy heads (with a tool called a grattoir), how they slept (with their hair wrapped in a triple bandage), how they protected their hair from the elements, and much, much more! I found it absolutely fascinating!

Japan's Influcence on Western Art (1854-1918)

We are headed to San Antonio this weekend for my 3rd half marathon. (Yeah!) And, I'm hoping to go to the McNay Art Museum while we are there. There is one exhibit, in particular, that I'm interested in seeing. It is called: "The Orient Expressed: Japan's Influence on Western Art 1854-1918."

Alex & I studied some about the influence of Japan on Western art when we studied Mary Cassatt. I read here the following: In 1890, Cassatt visited an exhibition of Japanese woodcuts at the Beaux-Arts Academy in Paris. She was so intrigued by the prints that she decided to do a set of prints in her own personal style. These prints are some of her most well-known works and are considered by many to be her most beautiful creations.

(Alex's print from our study of Cassatt in March 2007)

This exhibit includes a teacher's guide which can be found here. It is 42 pages long and includes a background of Japan's influence starting with Commodore Matthew Perry's arrival and the reopening of Japanese ports after over 250 years of isolation. The guide also shares reproductions of many of the paintings from the exhibit along with the texts from the wall. It is a fascinating read whether you can see the exhibit or not.

What's the Genre?

Alex has to read a lot of books this school year (wow!) and she has to fill in this chart that tells what genre each book is. Well, I was having a little trouble telling the difference between Science Fiction and Fantasty. But, I found this neat site that I found very helpful at the BookNutsReadingClub. I wanted to have it here to look back at and maybe some of you will find it useful, too!

NaNoWriMo

Some people believe in ghosts. Others don't. In a small city in Timberland, called Millstone, where I live, everyone does.

This is the start of Alex's NaNoWriMo novel. I love it! She's writing a novel with NaNoWriMo. Are you familiar with it? It's something I'd seen off & on the past few years, but we've never tried. Now, at school, Alex is writing a novel along with all of the students in 6th grade.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it is an annual project held every November. You can find out more on their website.

Maybe Mr Do should have a will...helping verbs help!

As some of you might have guessed, after 6 years of homeschooling, Alex is now in a private school. We have leaned towards this decision more & more the past 2-3 years and it was time for us. She is enjoying her new school and adjusting well. It is a small, international school. She's in 6th grade and there are two classes with a total of about 35 students. She is on her volleyball team which, besides the homework, keeps her quite busy! In fact, the transition has been pretty dramatic. We were used to finishing school by noon or 1 pm, and now it is not uncommon to be doing homework until 8 pm. In fact, we've been up until 9-10:15 a handful of nights! She is getting great grades, though, and is enjoying her school.

I have been staying very busy with my running & exercising, errands, house repairs, Bible study, and miscellaneous tasks. I have two hobbies I'm really trying to work on: digital scrapbooking (though I'm still arranging my digital albums!) and genealogy. I am even taking on online, graded genealogy course with the thoughts of someday becoming certified. I am also working on scrapbooks to give as Christmas presents for our 3 trips this year: Japan (with my brother), Florida (with my husbands's family), and Yellowstone & Grand Tetons (with my mother).

I do miss teaching, though I'm helping with homework every night. I keep coming across things I want to teach and that is kind of frustrating! I wonder if there isn't some other kind of teaching in my future.

Tonight, Alex was working on Helping Verbs and had a question. I Googled online and found a neat mnemonic to help you remember them! It's a cute story called "Maybe Mr Do should have a will." Check it out if you're studying helping verbs!

I might continue to blog as I come across other things. And, I've thought about continuing to blog about our travels. I'm just not sure at this point. I don't really want to leave the homeschooling community behind! I've even thought about teaching at our co-op again.

I miss you all! I know I didn't blog much last year - it was kind of my way of breaking away as I knew we wouldn't be homeschooling any more. It was a hard decision, but it is the best one for our family at this time.

I hope you are all off to the start of a great year!

It's Getting So HOT Out!

This has been a HOT week to workout! Right now, my daughter has swimming practice from 7-8 pm 3 days a week. Then, on Fridays, here practice is 4:45-5:45. So, this is my main workout time.

So, this week I did the following:
Sunday - ran 6 miles at 7:00 am in hills at lakehouse.
Monday - ran 2 miles at 6:30 am.
Tuesday - ran 3.5 miles of intervals at 7 pm...temp in lower 90's.
Wednesday - did 30 minute Pilates video workout. Planned on bike ride, but dd's friend called & she was in a musical that night, so we did that instead.
Thursday - did 30 minute cardio/sculpting video in morning & 3.5 mile run (working on 'mile repeats') at 7 pm...temp about 94.
Friday - rode bike about 11 miles in 50 minutes....temp about 95.
Saturday - REST DAY as we spend 6:45 am - 2 pm at swim meet. Then drive to lake house!

These workouts are HARD in this heat!!! I need to be carrying water, but haven't been. Thankfully, we just have one more week on this schedule & then we switch to mornings (since school will be out). Practice will be from 7:30-8:30 am, and the temps will hopefully be closer to 80. Yeah!!!

Oh, and today was our last day of homeschooling...truly! We have been doing it for 6 years and my dd will be going to private school next year. It's kind of sad to leave this behind, but we are both ready for a new adventure!!!

Freedom Riders

Watch the full episode. See more American Experience.

I know I rarely post any more, but this opportunity sounds too good to pass up. American Experience will be airing an episode called Freedom Riders on May 16th. In honor of the 50th anniversary of this historic civil rights event, 40 college students will be boarding a bus today and following the route of these civil rights activists.

From the website: FREEDOM RIDERS is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.

You can follow the present day riders and learn more about this time in history!