Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti (10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman, and printmaker. Alberto Giacometti was born in October 1901 in Italian-speaking Switzerland and came from an artistic background - his father, Giovanni, was a well known Post-Impressionist painter. Alberto was the eldest of four children and was always especially close to the brother nearest to him in age, Diego. From the beginning, he was interested in art.

DOG


CAT

Chinatsu Ban

Ban’s beautifully crafted work features elephants and human figures floating against Japanese washi paper backgrounds or in front of candy-colored stripes. Rendered delicately and with a childlike touch, Ban’s endearing characters are frequently shown wearing underpants or tights, or stranger still, sprouting cactus plants from their heads.

Asked why she chooses elephants and underwear, the answer lies in the comfort they provide.
“These things are like talismans. It’s scary to imagine that someday I won’t exist in this world anymore. I am troubled by the urge to run away from this fear. Elephants make me feel safe. They have saved me many times,” says Ban.

Klimt

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt was born in Austria to a poor, immigrant gold engraver. Klimt’s brother became a gold engraver like his father and Klimt began his career paintings murals and ceilings in buildings. His decorations and ornamentations grew in popularity and he remained in steady work. He would continue to develop his style of ornamentation throughout his life and it would become increasingly organic looking, in the Art Nouveau style.

read more...http://artsmarts4kids.blogspot.com/2008/01/gustav-klimt.html

Owls in Art

Georgia O'Keeffe Poinsettias

Snow Scenes in American Art

Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades.^[1] Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.

Carmen Lomas Garza

http://www.carmenlomasgarza.com/index.html

Biography
Carmen Lomas Garza was born in Kingsville, Texas, in 1948. Inspired by her family, Garza decided to become an artist at the age of 13, and ever since has dedicated herself to creating beautiful and engaging images of special and everyday events in the lives of Mexican Americans based on her memories of her childhood in South Texas. Her narrative works of art depict childhood memories of family and friends in a wide range of activities from making tamales to dancing in a patio to conjunto music. She dedicates her work to creating images that instill recognition and pride in the cultural and historical contributions of Mexican Americans to American society, as well as to educate others.























Tamales

What is going on in this picture?

Do you think this is an everyday scene in the
home where the artist grew up? if not, what visual clues suggest it depicts a special
occasion?

How many different mini-scenes can you find within this painting?

This is a scene from my parent’s kitchen. Everybody is making tamales. My grandfather is wearing blue overalls and a blue shirt.
I’m right next to him with my sister Margie.We’re helping to soak the dried leaves from the corn. My mother is spreading the cornmeal dough on the leaves and my aunt and uncle are spreading
the meat on the dough. My grandmother is lining up the rolled and folded tamales ready for cooking. In some families just the women
make tamales, but in our family everybody helps.

Tamales are one of the favorite foods during the Christmas holidays
in Garza’s native Texas and in Mexico.Tamales existed in Mexico well before the Spaniards had discovered the country.The word is believed to have come from the Nahuatl word "tamalii." The cooking ingredients and
method almost certainly comes from the Aztec belief that corn is the source of life.



QUESTIONS:

How does your family celebrate special occasions? What are your family's daily routines?

Every child inherits his or her own cultural identity through the everyday routines and special traditions of family life.

Family traditions differ across cultures and regions, and yet they have many things in common.