My Art Bucket List

In the 2007 movie, The Bucket List, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman portray unlikely buddies who both prepare lists of things they want to do before they 'kick the bucket'. (The origin of the phrase has a much darker side which I won't go into here.) Suffice it to say that many people write down their life goals, career aspirations, milestones they wish to reach (e.g. financial stability, retirement), resolutions (e.g. spending more quality time with family), travel destinations, and even daring activities (e.g. skydiving, bungee jumping). Maybe we shouldn't wait until retirement to begin crossing them off!

Hammering Man (1991-2), Johnathan Borofsky

Well before my own retirement, I began to volunteer, acting for the most part as an art docent who taught art in elementary schools. I also devoted my time and energies to assorted charitable efforts, mostly associated with fundraising. I then joined the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), hosting gallery events, serving on their executive committee, and applying to become a museum docent. I didn't make the cut. This iconic in-motion sculpture almost didn't make it to SAM when a crane dropped him in 1991, sending him back to the foundry for repair for another year.

Urns ('buckets') inside The Hermitage Museum

As a family, we also began to do more serious travel abroad roughly ~5 years before our retirement. This is how I was afforded the opportunity to visit famous art museums around the world. It turns out that I've visited the top 4 museums -- The Louvre Museum in Paris, France (2011), The Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY (growing up), The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia (2019 Baltic cruise), and Tate Modern in London (2017). I've also been to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA) in NYC (growing up), The Musee d'Orsay in Paris (2011), The National Gallery of London (2017), and also the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy (2011). That crosses off 8 of the top 14 museums.

Apollo (1963), Henri Matisse

Although the Louvre and Hermitage are certainly impressive to visit, you'd probably need a few days each to do them justice. Maybe some day I'll return (another bucket list item?)! Probably my favorite museums that I've visited are the Matisse and Chagall museums in Nice, France in May 2011 and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden in June 2019. It's exciting to finally see the impressive size of works of art that you've only seen in books, online, or in thumbnails.

A trip to Madrid, Spain would cross off 2 more museums -- The Prado and Reina Sofia, with maybe a side trip to see Salvador Dali's museum in Figueres. A trip to visit my brother in Florida may require a side trip to St. Petersburg to see the other stateside Dali museum. I have no intention to visit Towada, Japan or The Hague in the Netherlands. That just leaves our own National Gallery in Washington D.C. and the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois.

Smokey Joe Williams (1985), Mackie

I'd love to return to New York City and revisit the museums of my childhood. Although the Baseball HOF wasn't on my bucket list, I did travel to Cooperstown, NY with my brothers in July, 2019 for the induction of Seattle Mariner, Edgar Martinez. The Art of Baseball museum was amazing! Love this painting of Smokey Joe Williams by Deryl Daniel Mackie.

Tough Call (1948), Norman Rockwell

And of course the iconic Tough Call by Norman Rockwell.

Seeing the works of HOF artist, Justin Farano was definitely a highlight, and I snagged prints of the Class of 2019 and Ken Griffey Jr.

Sculpted Gate inside the Park, Oslo

Turning to sculpture, I was lucky enough to finally visit one of the top 16 sculpture parks -- the Vigeland Installation within Frogner Park -- on my third trip to Oslo, Norway. I missed it on my first two business trips. The only other venue (from the list) that I've visited is Olympic Sculpture Park in my native Seattle. There are 5 that I could visit here in the USA and 7 more that don't seem as likely. I'd have to return to another part of Italy or venture to the Netherlands to catch sight of the final two parks.

When you go to almost any art museum, expect to be surprised. When you travel to almost any city, expect to witness visual art around you and explore the local art museums. You'll discover things that weren't necessarily on somebody's bucket list but still create wonderful memories to last a lifetime!

Teaching Art for Any Age

I've recently embarked on a project in which I get to teach art to home-schooled children. This means teaching to multiple ages in a single lesson. When teaching 3rd- and 5th-graders in elementary schools for my grand-nieces and grand-nephews, I had already experienced the reuse and adaptation of projects. It is important to choose the right project that employs an element or principle of art while taking advantage of or enhancing the existing skills of your students. Here are nine projects that I have adapted for any age from elementary school age children to retired seniors.

1. Salt Painting

• Works for all ages
• Requires watercolor paints and salt
• May also paint with spices

Watercolors is a great medium for teaching any age. Adding salt is a great way to add texture and fun to the project. My Color Wheel Sky project was inspired by the colorful artwork of German Expressionist, Franz Marc and Russian Abstract Expressionist, Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky's concentric circles was always one of my favorites. When using watercolors and salt, the colors blend together with the salt accentuating the effect, turning the sky-scapes into Impressionist works.

My 5th-graders went outside the box and created some wonderful color schemes and interpretations of my project constraints.

Spice Girl, Patterson

Seniors from my class at Franke Tobey Jones Senior University created their own watercolor compositions, learning resist techniques, and experimenting with salt in their paintings. Since watercolor painting is such a popular topic at FTJ, I had to offer my version as Salt Painting.

Later, in an online Circle of Love class, sponsored by Heart Art Healing, we learned to paint with spices. Using spices instead of traditional watercolors or experimenting with salt is a way of incorporating science into an art lesson.

2. +/- Space

• Leaf project works for younger students (used for 3^rd-graders)
• Manet ‘Vase’ project works for older students
• Requires 12x18 construction paper and an ability to draw (used for 5^th-graders)
• Manet ‘Notan’ Project works for older students (would be fun for teens)

5th-Grade Japanese Notan Project

3rd-Grade Leaf Project

Positive/Negative Space is one of my favorite concepts to teach and the projects may be adapted to any age. 

While I haven't done such lessons with Seniors, I can definitely see both of my Manet projects being used in a 2-day session with them. I'll have to see what the FTJ Sr. University Administrator thinks about such projects.

3. Contrast

• Dali ‘Hand’ project using opposite color washable markers works for younger students
• Adding Zentangles makes it a great project for older students, even adults

My Contrast lesson is inspired by Spanish Surrealist, Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory. It is the perfect example of the use of contrasting color and value. Everyone can trace their own hand. And Zentangles are amazing!

Contrasting Construction Paper &
Sharpie Zentangles

Concentric Circles &
Washable Markers

I enjoy teaching students about color. You can use the color wheel to teach vocabulary: analogous,  primary & secondary, opposites (contrasting), or warm/cool colors. 

4. Self-Portraits

• Picasso Cubist self-portraits worked for 3^rd-graders
• Reynolds wrapping paper self-portraits worked for 5^th- and 6^th-graders
• Also had success using magazines, patterned paper, and wrapping paper for seniors

Self-portraits are common to many artists, such as Rembrandt and Picasso, with portraiture being popular in art galleries throughout the world. 

5th-Grade Patterned Self-Portraits

3rd-Grade Portraits

A Cubist self-portrait inspired by Picasso is an elementary way to introduce drawing the proportions of a face and learning what a profile is.

More challenging is making your selfie from patterned wrapping paper cutouts, inspired by portrait artists, Gilbert Stuart and Sir Joshua Reynolds. My collage portrait class with seniors was also a great success.

5. Op Art Weaving

• Worked for 5^th-graders. Referenced a video demonstration.
• May work for younger students with some assistance from an adult or teen helper.

Op Art Weaving Inspired by Victor Vasarely

Op and Pop Art are genres that can intrigue young students, especially when showing them optical illusions. Since many of my older students prefer not to get messy, I chose to use scissors and paper and weaving to create our Op Art. The results were spectacular!

6. Pissarro Ocean Scene

• Requires warm and cool colors of chalk pastels and white tempera paint
• Worked for 5^th-graders and should also work for much younger students
• Older students won’t want to get messy and may find it more like finger-painting

5th-Grade Seascapes Inspired by Pissarro

There are many ways to teach budding artists about warm and cool colors. A fun project for younger students is to make a torn paper collage using either warm or cool colored tissue paper and your Grandma's liquid starch. The resulting artwork may then be used as a background for follow-on projects. A messier project involves chalk pastels and white tempera paint to create an ocean scene or seascape. Younger students may like this project more than older students.

7. Movement Compositions

•  Requires cutting out complicated figures from a template
• Younger students may use their own stick figure drawings or get help from an adult
• As this project is also about composition, an option would be to skip the figure cutouts

Movement Composition Inspired by N.C. Wyeth

Students may find this project challenging because of the scissor skills that are required and the repetitive cutting of complicated figures out of oaktag. The project may be adapted to younger students by simplifying the cutouts. Everyone should be able to cut out geometric shapes (from scraps) for the background.

8. Miró Composition

• Works for all ages
• Requires cutting our simple shapes from construction paper
• Requires using recycled newspaper and collecting it prior to class
• Can highlight any element of composition, but works great for balance and movement

My Sample from Online Class with Adults

This Miró Composition lesson is my favorite, second only to my Manet +/- Space lesson. It also worked for my adult online class on Balance. Miró is an acquired taste but his People and Dog in the Sun is fun and may be used as a warmup exercise for visual observation. I actually found seven figures (mostly dogs) in this painting and made stick puppets out of them to help students visualize them.

9. Millet Layered Landscapes

• Worked for 5^th- and 6^th-graders, but should be fine for younger students
• Requires some simple drawing skills and some help with shading
• Requires chalk or oil pastels.
• Crayons may not be as good for blending and
• Colored pencils may take too much time to cover the paper.

5th-Grade Layered Landscapes
Inspired by Millet

Perspective is one of the more challenging concepts to teach about. You can also teach vocabulary like foreground, middle ground, and background with my Layered Landscapes lesson, which was inspired by French Realist, Jean-François Millet. Simply drawing three different sized trees and arranging them properly helps students understand how size and placement create the illusion of space. The shading of the hills also shows how color saturation, light/dark hue or value also contribute to the effect.