New Art

Look at the new art piece Noam came up with!
For a few weeks, the kids have been drawing monuments. Today they got their inspiration with the Eiffel Tower. I like how my little Canadian-(American-Israeli) boy "claimed" the metal structure... Note the maple leaf taking some similarities to the Brazilian map.

Self-Image

There is something about being young, really young, and still having a very positive image of oneself.  As parents, we all hope to provide our little ones with the necessary tools so they love themselves the way they are, with their special talents and their little flaws. We know too well that as we get older our own flaws become exaggerated by our personal experiences, our lack of self-esteem and often by our desire to achieve some abstract form of perfection given by the media. Sadly this distorted image of oneself we carry within us is too often far from the reality. Did you see the Dove test?
In art, self-portrait is one of the most common type of work, yet certainly one that is very challenging. "Draw what you see!" was saying my old drawing teacher at McGill, Gerry Tondino. The simple challenge of drawing what is in front of your eyes is then increased tenfolds when you stand in front of a mirror. Yet when Deborah gave my boys a paper, a pen and a mirror, and with a little guidance, they were able to draw the most lovable self-portraits ever!
 

Self-Image

The kids have been doing art classes with Deborah for the last 8 months, and it feels like they are getting a good hand at it. When she started them on the idea of self-portrait I did not expect much. And here it is: pretty amazing!

Mastery of the Line

Abraham Palatnik is a Brasilian artist that I just discovered today at the CCBB. Born in 1928, he lived a portion of his life in Tel Aviv before returning in Brazil to become an artist. He contributed to the development of kinetic art, or a type of art that moves and transform itself mechanically. He experimented with various ideas, creating little machines with springs and pendulums, mechanical boxes moving shadows and lights, all very different from one another. The portion of his work that I found really mesmerizing had less to do with mechanics and movements, but more with movements created by the shifting and juxtaposition of textures. Very narrow bands of textures, all stemmed from the same board, and therefore having initially very little variations one from another, are laid side by side. Their positions are shifted a few millimeters, creating the impression of movement in the newly created texture. The craftsmanship of the work is extremely accurate, precise, leaving an impression of perfection. Very architectural too. Really inspiring.