The Christmas Spirit

I liked this video reminder of what Christmas is really about:

Sometimes I feel like the odd man out because I'm not a big gift giver.  The gifts I like to give are ones that I know will last because of their thoughtfulness--pictures, letters, memories, a hand-made blanket, a purse for the friend whose mom passed away years before, 12 Days of Christmas, etc.--or that are needed and practical--church shoes, candle warmer, etc.  I would rather spend time with someone or give them shoe laces, than give them a gift that they'll use and break, throw away, or shove in a back corner (kids are excepted from this--they break toys all the time, but they still "get" the magic of Christmas giving; every gift is--or should be--exciting because it's new).

I realized that this Christmas season. I was having a difficult time getting into the gift-giving mode of Christmas and I couldn't figure out why.  Well, it's because I couldn't figure out what people closest to me needed or needed. And while I probably am still giving out some perfunctory gifts that came from someone's wish list, at least it shows that I love them, because I do.

But...

I did get some great gifts for my parents and Cody.   My parents' gift is no secret. My sister and I are paying for family pictures, since the last ones we took were when I graduated from college and Cody and Westley weren't in our family yet.  We get to do that today (hopefully, if planes arrive on time...).  And Cody's gifts...I don't want to give away any surprises, but I know that he won't be surprised by the loving practicality of some of the gifts, since I gave him shoes for church last year. However, I do know that there is at least one gift that he will be surprised by.

Thorvaldsen Christus

I'd like to close this Christmas message with a quote that I always have displayed in my room:

"However dim our days may seem, they have been a lot darker for the Savior of the world.  As a reminder of those days, Jesus has chosen, even in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, to retain for the benefit of His disciples the wounds in His hands and in His feet and in His side--signs, if you will, that painful things happen even tot he pure and the perfect; signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn't love you; signs, if you will, that problems pass and happiness can be ours."  --Jeffrey R. Holland, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

NGA: East Building

My only piece of advice if you are either 1) Rusty on your art history movements since Impressionism, 2) Not knowledgeable at all about anything with modern art, or 3) Want a docent's perspective, is to definitely go on a tour!  The docent for my tour of the East Building (containing works from Impressionism on to the present) walked us through the history of the building, of each art period and how they progressed and why, some advice on how to approach the art in each movement, and she was really nice.  I felt a lot more confident after that tour to be able to say, "I can appreciate modern art," instead of the bewildered feeling that might have ensued or the thought, "My almost-15-month-old nephew could do that."

Fifteen Pairs of Hands, Bruce Nauman, American, 1996, white bronze with painted steel bases

Just like with when I visited Rodin's home in Paris, I took a lot of photos of the hand sculptures, I couldn't resist here either. I love sculptures or bronze casts of hands. Even with paintings, I always look at how the artist depicted the hands. 

Part of Fifteen Pairs of Hands

I liked this sculpture because it reminded me of how Cody and I hold hands sometimes.

Part of Fifteen Pairs of Hands

This one has both of them saying, "I love you" with sign language, which is really cute.

Part of Fifteen Pairs of Hands

This one is just cool. I love how much they both look like they are floating.

Synecdoche, Byron Kim, American, 1961-present, oil and wax on wood

This was the last piece that the docent showed us on our tour.  Her first question was, "What do these colors remind you of?" All of us mentioned skin tones. And that is what they are!  The artist started this piece in 1961 by going out and matching his oils to people's skin tones.  Not only does he just match it and paint a block of wood (as shown), he keeps track of which block goes with which person. There was a diagram off to the side of this piece that showed every person's name in order by first name that is in this piece. Isn't the diversity amazing? Yet at the same time, it's just monochromatic.

Beasts of the Sea, Henri Matisse, 1950, paper collage on canvas

I mostly got these next few pictures for use in my class this next year. I thought doing some paper collages would be fun, especially if they can see that it really is real art, not just an arts-and-crafts activity at summer camp.

I also wanted my students to see the scale of this paper collage piece by Matisse. Talk about HUGE!

Cow, Alexander Calder, American, 1929, brass and copper wire

This is for my students.  It's a cow made out of wire. There was a quote by Calder saying that by using wire he is able to create 3-D creations that look like a 2-D design. I'm still thinking about how I can incorporate this idea into a class art project, but it would be really fun, however I'm able to do it.

Tableau No. IV; Lozenge Composition with Red, Gray, Blue, Yellow, and Black,  Piet Mondrian, 1924-1925, oil on canvas

Okay, okay, the infamous Piet Mondrian whose only "claim to fame" is that he can paint rectangles, squares, and lines, right? Actually no.  That isn't really why he is famous.  He's famous because he can completely flatten out the colors. Instead of the warmer colors popping out at you (i.e. the red and yellow), they are seen on the same level as the cooler colors (blue, gray).  It's because of the varying widths of the black lines that Mondrian is able to do this. When the docent explained this, my opinion of Mondrian went from, "Why is this even in here?" to "That really is a big deal that he could do that." The docent also informed our group that Mondrian's work really influenced architecture and that modern architecture is what it is now because of Modrian. He streamlined it--no more curlicues and grotesques--just the lines.

Piano mecanique, Joan Mitchell, 1958, oil on canvas

Here it is. The painting my nephew would make if only my sister let him have access to paint.  It's also a visual image of what a mechanical piano sounds like to this artist.  And look at the lower painting detail--look at how thick that paint is! That's all I'm going to say about this one; you can think about it yourself.

Detail from Piano mecanique

Day 28: Theory on Hands & Said "Hi" to Napoleon

Judy, Grace and I started off after class time by going to see the Grand et Petit Palais. As we crossed over the Pont Alexadre III bridge, we noticed an uncanny resemblance of one of the lion statues to Simba...unfortunately I did not get a picture of this resemblance; Judy as that picture, though she claims that he looks more like Aslan.

(View of Pont Alexandre III & Invalides in the distance)

We walked by the front of Invalides and made our way to the Hotel Biron which is where the Musee Rodin is located. Hotel Biron was built in the 1720s and is where Rodin lived in the early twentieth century. The gardens were beautiful!

(Garden outside Musee Rodin)

Even though daisies are (and will remain) my favorite flowers (with lilacs being a close second), I love roses because of Beauty and the Beast--especially the renditions written by Robin McKinley (Rose Daughter and Beauty). So I took some pictures of the roses and of some pretty blue flowers that I really liked. It's not often that you find truly blue things in nature--besides the sky of course. And since blue is my favorite color, I thought I would get a picture of them.

(Pretty blue flower in the garden at Musee Rodin)

(Yellow rose outside Musee Rodin)

(Red rose outside Musee Rodin)

We saw some of the famous Rodin bronze sculptures outside--Penseur, Gates of Hell, etc. But I think some of my favorite were inside--The Kiss (of course...this is because of Amelia's love for this piece when she took Humanities in high school), Cathedral, Secret, Main d'Amants--all by Rodin...and all of which are hands but I have a thing for hands. But I also really liked two of Camille Claudel's pieces: Clotho and La Petit Chatelaine.

I think that hands are so beautiful. They can express so much feeling and can tell a lot about a person. I tried to explain my "Theory on Hands" to Brian and Philip (at different times) and I think I did a rather horrible job of explaining because, as I remember, it sounded terribly cliche. However, I am going to try again to explain why I love hands so much and why these pieces by Rodin really caught my attention.

One: Have you ever tried to draw or depict a hand that is proportionally and realistically accurate? It's incredibly hard and painstaking work. I've tried it once and I haven't ever seriously attempted again. There are so many lines in a hand from all the movement of the knuckles and the veins and the nails. If someone can ever depict hands in an artistic way, I give them props and my admiration because hands are hard.

Two: Hands are one of the ways that we connect with someone else. We don't put our heads together and walk down the street--that would be weird, though hilarious. At the museum today I saw two different pairs of kids holding hands so that they would stay together and not get lost. That was so cute! I remember when I've held hands with my parents and my little brothers and the security that I felt holding my parents hands and the feeling of wanting to protect my little brothers from everything when I held their hands. And of course, as I've gotten older and have held non-familial hands to show affection, that is another kind of connection that I just love about hands. They seek each other if they know the other person will hold it.

Three: Scars. I love scars on hands because there is always a story (well, there is usually a story with all scars and I do like scars in general), but hands are highly visible and you don't have to roll sleeves up or take off your sock to show scars on your hands. Callouses are also pretty cool on hands and develop pretty easily from playing an instrument, mowing the lawn, etc.

So I don't know if that explained really at all my "Theory on Hands" and why I think they're fascinating, but it was an attempt to explain why I liked especially those three pieces by Rodin.

(Cathedral by Rodin)

(Secret by Rodin)

(Main d'Amants by Rodin)

(Main d'Amants by Rodin)

(Main d'Amants by Rodin)

(La Petite Chatelaine by Claudel)

(Clotho by Claudel)

After spending a good amount of time in the museum, we left and went to Invalides. We were super hot and the cool marble building felt so very nice. I took two pictures of Napoleon's tomb and told Napoleon that Sam Bateman said hi (yes, I remembered).

(Napoleon's tomb; it is huge)

(Outside of Invalides)

After we were sufficiently cooled-down, we bought some food at a Carrefour, then went and ate it in front of the Eiffel Tower. Overall, a very nice afternoon.