Baseball HOF 2019 Induction Trip

In honor of Edgar Martinez making it into the Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2019, I was able to attend the induction events and experience family bonding with my two brothers. This involved flying into Detroit, Michigan, spending the night with my older brother at his home near E. Lansing, then driving back to Detroit to retrieve my younger brother and beginning our road trip to Cooperstown, NY. Turns out that my  Michigan brother and his wife have plenty of artwork of horses and dogs, not to mention my brother's extensive collection of baseball memorabilia.

These two watercolor portraits of Whippets are amazing! The two Whippets in motion is very futuristic and reminiscent of oil paintings by Marcel Duchamp.

On our road trip, we also visited some wineries. This photo is a great example of positive-negative space. Notice how the sky creates a negative space emulating leaves.

This heron sculpture was pretty impressive as well.

Once we arrived at the HOF Museum, I headed directly to the Frank and Peggy Steele gallery. "Art of Baseball", included works by the HOF resident artist, Justyn Farano. I was able to purchase a couple of his lithographs, such as the Class of 2019 & this KGJ work.

“Casey at the Bat”, c. 1975 (1938-2005)

“Tough Call” (1948)

Here are a couple of classics by Robert Heindel (left) and Norman Rockwell (right). In my 5th-grade classes, I like to use Rockwell's "The Dugout" to teach about perspective.

"Smokey Joe Williams" (1985) 

"The Hall of Famer" (1996)

Deryl Daniel Mackie's painting (left) reminds me of those of Kehinde Wiley whose portraits had been on display at the Seattle Art Museum. You may also recognize the painting (right) by Leroy Neiman.

There is so much more I want to show, including a silkscreen of NY Mets Pitcher, Tom Seaver, by Andy Warhol, and a collage-style picture by LaVern Brock (2006) made up of thousands of baseball cards depicting Phil Niekro's jersey.

Collage Portraits with Seniors

I often do a lesson with my 5th-graders that I like to call, 'wrapping paper self-portraits'. It was inspired by artists, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gilbert Stuart, and Amedeo Modigliani's "Girl With Braids". 

Rauschenberg collages

by Vera De-Gernier

For my recent class with seniors, I decided that we would explore collage portraits using a variety of styles and methods. As the inspiration, I used Robert Rauschenberg's collages of JFK  as inspiration. I also found a mixed-media collage of Marilyn Monroe.

My own example (left) is inspired by the Baseball HOF induction of Edgar Martinez following my recent trip to Cooperstown, NY. Tissue paper is very easy to apply using liquid starch as the adhesive. Simply brush the surface of the paper with a little starch, then carefully lay cut or torn pieces of tissue where you want it and coat lightly with more starch. You don't need much starch. The less you use the quicker it will dry. As there is a tendency to use too much starch, your paper may curl and need to be lightly ironed later to flatten. Instead of regular white construction paper, we used an old pad of stiffer watercolor paper.

Here are some more examples I found on the Internet that were used to further inspire my senior students to create their own collages.

I am pleased to say that everyone went outside the box and created something completely their own. We even went high-tech with a monitor for displaying examples.

I'm excited to show the amazing results from a very successful collage portraits class. In addition to using tissue paper for the chicken (left), the artwork on the right made use of floral napkins in her collage.

This 'Gardener' (left) reminds me of the character Wilson from the old Tim Allen show, "Home Improvement". Mary's version is probably an homage to Mrs. Wilson.

The collage (right) makes use of a National Geographic photo of an archaeological dig. The artist made a collage surrounded by rocks to form a beautiful canyon setting for her landscape. The torn paper edges and range of values contribute to a balanced composition pleasing to the eye.

Judy challenged herself to make her collage from a family portrait. She placed a photo under a piece of clear acetate and began to draw the facial features using a silver Sharpie, then she pasted both torn and cut out pieces of patterned paper on as details. I suggested adding cardstock behind the decorated acetate to stabilize the work. She added the frame in a contrasting color. A truly beautiful result!!

The final portrait is very lively, complete with wonderful textures and colors. This artist found the hat (I'm guessing) in a magazine, along with several other great patterned papers. Notice the hair is actually fishes swimming in blue water. This work may look simple, but it was very well-planned and executed using contrasting colors and a variety of value and texture. The simple background makes the old man stand out. Well done!

Baltics (4 of 7) - St. Petersburg, Russia

Another bus tour was our first guided excursion to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. This is a massive (2nd largest in the world) and historic museum. The main building was known as the Winter Palace and was decorated very opulently by the Empress Catherine the Great. Our guide was able to point out to us the 'most important' pieces since we were only given a few hours to explore the entire space.

Here is the Military Gallery which originally contained 332 portraits of Generals who fought in the War of 1812. 

Throughout the rooms of the Winter Palace were plenty of opulent ceilings the designs of which were reflected in the intricate patterns of the wood floors. Often there were mosaic tile patterns on the floors.

Even the large marble vases and tabletops were done using mosaics. Due to the reflective surfaces, it was difficult to show the detail without showing windows and my handy smartphone.

One tabletop, in particular, caught my eye as it emulated the 'Pollock Polygons' hexagon project I did this year with my 5th-graders.

"Madonna Litta" by Leonardo da Vinci was on view behind protective glass much like the Mona Lisa that we saw on display at the Louvre in May 2011. The Internet also credits painter, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio as the 2nd artist of this Madonna painting. I could show many more paintings, including several by Rembrandt, but I wouldn't be able to downselect.

On our way, our guide pointed out "The Bronze Horseman" located in Senate Square and dedicated to Peter the Great.

In Monument Palace Square opposite the Winter Palace is the Alexander Column dedicated to Alexander I.

Another must-see is the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. We were early to our second excursion to see the ballet, so we were able to stroll through a souvenir market on the way to capture a photo of this opulent church. Like many of the buildings we saw it too was under renovation.

Inside the Mariinsky Theatre, we watched the two-act ballet, Giselle. Our guide led us to believe that we were going to be seeing Swan Lake. His joke didn't resonate with some of his English-speaking passengers.

The most impressive decoration was over the stage and on the ceiling.

My photos certainly don't do the artwork justice, though I think I captured the chandelier pretty well.

We saw the city lit up at night, then went on another boat tour the 2nd day. The bridges were also well-decorated.

Baltics (3 of 7) - Helsinki, Finland

As we were only at the port in Helsinki for half a day, we chose to walk around the city ourselves. We visited the Senate Square containing the statue of Russian Tsar Alexander II and the Helsinki Cathedral (a.k.a. the Rock Church). What I find amusing is how many statues are photographed with a bird perched atop them (even on the Internet).

The steps leading up to the Rock Church is a popular place for people to hang out. It reminds me of the Spanish Steps in Rome with its Trinità dei Monti church at the top. Alas, there was no fountain below, only a monument to the Tsar.

We also managed to hop onto a boat for a water tour. The City Hall was located directly across from an open-air market next to where our boat docked.  My only other photo of Finnish architecture is of the Uspenski Cathedral.

We found a very familiar pizzeria -- Via Tribunali -- like to one back home in the Georgetown area of Seattle. We heard from the staff that people ordering pizza online often confuse the two venues.

Unfortunately, there was no time for art museums. Next time we'll explore museums or maybe relax in a sauna! We would love to see more of Finland.

Baltics (5 of 7) - Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn is a city with the quaint gothic architecture of a medieval village. Like many of the Baltic cities we visited, the buildings are colorful and ornate. Old Town was a short walk from our cruise ship, but we chose to hire a taxi for a quick tour of the city.

Here's a closeup of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral we chose for our first destination. it was built in the late 19th century in Russian Revival style when Estonia was still part of the Russian Empire.

Toompea Castle (left) now houses Parliament.

St. Olaf's Church (right) is one of more than ten in the city of Tallinn. And finally, St. Mary's Cathedral (below).

In one of the touristy souvenir shops adjacent to a lookout point with breathtaking views of the city, I found this little gem. I don't mean to get all political in this blog, so please forgive me.  Throughout our trip, we would see matryoshka (nesting) dolls in every gift shop and on our boat. Here is a chess set where some of the pieces are famous 

U.S. Presidents and Soviet Leaders. It's hilarious that they are mere pawns in the game.

Truly you can find Art in historic buildings and appreciate the precious Architecture that has been so long preserved for us to see. I would have liked to visit an art or natural history museum, but again there wasn't time. Instead, I appreciated the beauty of the Old Town part of this city.