Going to the Art Gallery of Ontario last week was an interesting experience. I can't help but focus on two pieces of artwork that I saw in the galley. The first piece that really stood out to me was in the Thompson Collection. It was a sculpture titled "Allegory of Life and Death" (early 17th century Germany). I thought it was just amazing. The sculpture was that of an infant/baby lying on their side with a skull underneath their head. The baby gave me the feeling of happiness and warmth and something new. The skull on the other hand had a depressing feeling, like something you could not get away from.
My initial response was "wow". Something beautiful like a child and something depressing like a skull don't seem like two things that would go together, but then again, the first word in its title is 'allegory'. To me the child represented life and the skull represented death. Although life may be a joyful experience and death is a sad time, both go hand in hand because with life comes death we cannot get away from the latter (at least not yet, technology has not advanced that far).
The second piece I wanted to mention briefly was by Richard Diebenkorn, titled "Women Outside" (1957). I feel I had to mention this work because it was one of the paintings that made me stop and stare. I think what caught my attention was the colours in the painting. To be truly honest, the colours were all I enjoyed and did not see very much in the painting itself. I loved the blue and green colours that were present in the painting. I got the feeling of an incomplete painting when I looked at it.
Image from: http://amica.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/view/all/what/Paintings/oil/?os=150&res=2&printerFriendly=1
The art word of the week was inspired by Diebenkorn, which is colour. Schirrmacher and Fox (2009) define colour as "the visual sensation of light caused by stimulating the cones of the retina" (p 364). My personal definition of colour can be summed up into one word, beautiful. Corny, I know. Certain mixtures of colours just work very well together, and seem to make anything aesthetically pleasing.
Imagine the world all purple. EVERYTHING was purple; grass, cars, streets, people, traffic light, dogs, buildings and even water. Now even though purple is my favourite colour, I would not be very content living in a purple world. Everything would blend into everything and that does not seem too appealing. I feel as though lots of accidents would occur. Colours make the world exciting, and I like it that way.
I think the Art Gallery of Ontario, or any art gallery for that matter, would be truly a good place for a field trip. Children may not understand paintings and sculptures in the same ways that adults do, but it can open up their eyes to different forms of art. Instead of mass produced wall papers and cut outs on classroom walls, place wonderful works of art that can be discussed in the classroom. Paintings can get children discussing the colours they see or what is in the painting.
I think the Art Gallery of Ontario, or any art gallery for that matter, would be truly a good place for a field trip. Children may not understand paintings and sculptures in the same ways that adults do, but it can open up their eyes to different forms of art. Instead of mass produced wall papers and cut outs on classroom walls, place wonderful works of art that can be discussed in the classroom. Paintings can get children discussing the colours they see or what is in the painting.
References:
Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar
Other Links:
Art Gallery of Ontario - http://www.ago.net
Art Gallery of Mississauga - http://www.mississauga.ca/agm/agm_root/
Other Links:
Art Gallery of Ontario - http://www.ago.net
Art Gallery of Mississauga - http://www.mississauga.ca/agm/agm_root/
*Note: To see a picture of the sculpture you can go to Google Images and search "allegory of life and death early 17th century Germany" and "Richard Diebenkorn woman outside". The only picture I found were on someone else's blog so I did not want to post it on mine.
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