Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids
By Kip Fulbeck. Foreword by Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng. Afterword by Cher

Excerpt – “I have a personal stake in this. For starters, as an artist, I’ve created work exploring personal identity for the better part of two decades. In many ways, I’ve bet my career on the fact that we all have a need to tell our own stories, to define ourselves, and I’ve been fortunate enough to share this work with audiences of all ages all over the world. But this book is something more significant. On March 21, 2009, I became a father. My son, Jack, was born—named after my own father. And in this one moment, my life, and the meaning behind my entire work as an artist, shifted significantly. After two decades making art that questions the very idea of race, that explores the complications and consequences of choosing sides or affiliations (or worse, having them chosen for you), that argues against the concepts of compartmentalization, categorization, and conceptual laziness, my stakes have suddenly been raised.”

Photos from the book Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids are currently on exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California (March 20, 2010 to September 26th, 2010)

via Chronicle Books

architecture, 2006
oil on canvas
110 x 130 cm

The following is an exert from ARTIST STATEMENT FOR THE NY DRAWING CENTER – Text by Sabine Finkenauer for the exhibition Non – Declarative Drawing in the Drawing Center, New York, September 2007

“I am in the habit of using a wide range of colors. I apply them according to the emotion they convey and in order to grant the right weight to shapes, rather than because of their representational value. I am not interested in complicated technical procedures or sophisticated materials. What attracts me to drawing is precisely the frugality of the medium, which facilitates a very direct and immediate execution. The quality that underscores the bareness and simplicity of the expression I seek in my work lies in this austerity of resources.

My work generally treats just of “things”,objects taken from daily life such as pieces of furniture, dresses, plants, buildings, or mountains. Figures such as little girls, princesses, or dolls that appear to be related to children’s stories and imaginary worlds are also present. This whole universe of “things” is portrayed in a simple yet rigorous formal language, playfully situated between abstraction and concrete images. Also leading to poetry and irony, my approach to this seemingly naïve or even stupid imaginary world is clearly formalistic. In my search for the limits of representation, things are divested of their attributes and converted into “form”. Form is the true theme of my work—the ambiguity between representation and definition being a sign or symbol that travels in an intimate and subjective way from the visible to the invisible, from what we see to that which exists.”

head, 2007
lacqued iron bar
165 x 230 x 1 cm

Sabine is currently an Artist in Residence at Cité International des Arts de Paris (March-April 2010).

via itisnicethat.com

Just discovered The North American Association for Environment Education, a “network of people who believe in teaching people how to think about the environment, not what to think.” I have spent the last hour exploring the Teachers section, I highly recommend that you take some time out to do the same.

A Conference !

“Trees” an “Animated Art Gallery – Poetic Documentary about trees – Made by 22 Italian pupils (9y old) during Art and Music classes. To make this work they learnt to play the recorder, they played a real concert harp, they spent 2 years learning watercolour techniques for sky, bush and trees, studying the shape of a tree in different situations.

This video is produced with Free Open Source Software. Frames were grabbed with Stopmotion
developer.skolelinux.no/info/studentgrupper/2005-hig-stopmotion/index.php. Editing was done in Cinelerra. This video is published under the Creative Commons License BY-NC-SA 2.5 Italy.”

Alberi from Raffaella Traniello on Vimeo.

The making of ALBERI from Raffaella Traniello on Vimeo.

What is the National Institute for Play?

“The National Institute for Play is a 501c(3) non-profit public benefit corporation committed to bringing the unrealized knowledge, practices and benefits of play into public life. It is gathering research from diverse play scientists and practitioners, initiating projects to expand the clinical scientific knowledge of human play and translating this emerging body of knowledge into programs and resources which deliver the transformative power of play to all segments of society.”

This isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing resource but there is some valuable information and reference material available for both parents and teachers who believe in play.

While visiting Extremadura, the western region of Spain, I had the pleasure of taking a ride into Monfrague National Park. “The landscape includes dry open pastures, woodland of cork and holm oak, rocky outcrops, a reservoir, and is a bird watchers paradise.”

It was in Monfrague Nation Park that I saw the Quercus Suber aka Cork Oak Tree for the very first time. I knew that cork was a renewable resource but I had never thought about how it grows or where, that is, until I had the pleasure of seeing a Cork Oak forest.

Upon returning home, I turned to wikipedia to find out more — The “tree forms a thick, rugged bark containing high levels of suberin. Over time the cork cambium layer of bark can develop considerable thickness and can be harvested every 9 to 12 years to produce cork. The harvesting of cork does not harm the tree, in fact, no trees are cut down during the harvesting process. Only the bark is extracted, and a new layer of cork regrows, making it a renewable resource. The tree is widely cultivated in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Morocco, France, Italy and Tunisia. Cork Oak forests cover approximately 25,000 square kilometres in those countries (equivalent to 2.277.700 hectares). Portugal accounts for 50% of the world cork harvest.”

A quick refresher for parents and teachers – more info available here at enchantedlearning.com – when you see clouds, take some time out to talk about them and re-create them.

International Women’s Day “is celebrated in many countries around the world. It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women.

In 1975, during International Women’s Year, the United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions. In adopting its resolution, the General Assembly recognized the role of women in peace efforts and development and urged an end to discrimination and an increase of support for women’s full and equal participation.

International Women’s Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe.”

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“Tinkering School is a summer program where kids learn to experiment and take risks. The school’s founder, Gever Tulley, explains that instead of focusing on teaching kids a specific skill, the school’s goal is to teach kids to design, build and celebrate their mistakes.”

“Gever Tulley has also written a book, Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do), which recommends teaching kids how to use tools, play with fire, climb and throw things safely. He says it is important to let kids learn how to do potentially dangerous things on their own so they don’t grow up to be sheltered adults who hurt themselves later. Using a knife or driving a car is empowering and helps kids develop “an extended sense of self.

Watch this video to see the five dangerous things Gever Tulley says you should let your child do.”

via The Third Teacher

The Heart and the Bottle, a new book by Oliver Jeffers – via swiss-miss.com – thank you Tina for the heads up, I am just as excited as you and Ella!