“Snow Over Clouds” by Hannah Parker, 12 Published in Stone Soup December 2018 A note from Sarah Ainsworth Having grown up in California, I can’t say that I am very familiar with snowy, cold winters. But now, living in Canada for graduate school, it’s something I am slowly getting used to. This week, I had a snow day, where class was cancelled– a first for me! This made me want to revisit some of the excellent work that Stone Soup has published over the years with wintery subjects. From December 2018, “Snow in Clouds” (pictured above) is a beautiful photograph by Hannah Parker. Not only are the colors mesmerizing, but also the composition is very appealing. Hannah’s photo follows the rule of thirds, which is a classic photography rule, but modifies it slightly by rotating it and having the subjects diagonal. The result is an eye-catching photo that served as a stunning wrap-around cover for Stone Soup. There has also been some wonderful writing published in Stone Soup on the subject of snow. “Snowmen” by Sharon Wang, features some descriptive language that captures the atmosphere of a Michigan winter. Eliza Wagner’s poem “Snow” uses spacing to create a rhythm that feels like you are watching snowflakes falling outside. And those are just two examples! If you, like me, find yourself with extra time indoors this weekend trying to stay warm, I’d highly suggest going through the past issues of Stone Soup we have on the website. Maybe you have a theme in mind, or maybe you’re just looking to explore the past issues generally. In any case, leave a comment on any stories, art, poetry or reviews that strike you. Happy weekend, Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Daniel Zhu, 10, reviews “Undying Glory” by Clinton Cox. Read the review to find out more about the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, which was composed of Black soldiers who fought in the American Civil War for the Union army. Daniel recounts how the soldiers of the 54th Regiment were consistently treated unfairly, and what he thinks we should take away from the story today. In “An Early Morning,” new blogger Sophia Libman writes about a run she participated in with her dad and brother. Though it was challenging, Sophia enjoyed herself and writes that she “was smiling ear to ear” at the end of the run. Read more about Sophia’s experience on the blog. Sabrina Guo, 13 From Stone Soup January 2020 Huài shì hǎo shì (Evil Things, Good Things) By Sabrina Guo, 13 (Oyster Bay, NY) Every New Year’s Eve, my friend tells me she smashes six pomegranates on her lawn, and when I ask her why, she says it is because she is Greek, and when I want to understand more of what she means, I read up on pomegranates in Greek mythology, discovering that after Persephone was abducted by Hades and joined him in the underworld, her mother Demeter mourned by drying the Earth in a long, cold winter, until Zeus arranged for Persephone’s return, but because Persephone had been tricked into eating six pomegranate seeds, she had to return to Hades to spend every winter with him in the darkness, …/MORE Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s Advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
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Saturday Newsletter: January 11, 2020
Pond, Tomb of Rekhmire, approximately 3,300 years ago, Egypt. A note from William Rubel Last week, editor Emma Wood wrote about a painting by “outsider” artist Morris Hirshfield. If you missed that newsletter, please read it here. Emma wrote about the artist’s evocative and yet not exactly realistic way of depicting scenes. Keeping with this theme, this week I would like to offer you this painting of a pond with people and trees that was painted on a wall in Egypt 3,300 years ago. What I want to remark on is the way in which the space is depicted—specifically, the trees that are painted around the rectangular pond likes spokes around the center of a wheel. This way of depicting trees around a pond has a very strong meaning for me. When I was in sixth grade, in 1963, I painted a pond with the trees organized just like this. I will never ever forget what my teacher said. She said that this was wrong. That the bottom trees should be upright, not “upside down.” And she laughed! I was so upset. That pond had meant a great deal to me. I had just moved to Los Angles from Washington, DC, and it was spring. I missed going with my mother to the see the cherry trees blooming around the tidal basin by the Washington Monument. When the teacher said that the trees should be upright, I remember thinking, “But the leaves will get wet!” I vowed at that time to never paint a painting again. And, somehow, I managed not to until I was in college, when I took an art class. This terrible memory of being bullied by a teacher into depicting a memory the way she wanted me to, and not the way I imagined it, was actually one of my inspirations for starting Stone Soup in 1972—just 10 years after my terrible sixth-grade experience. So, please, all of you—whether you write or draw or compose music or dance or whatever else you may do to record what and how you see and feel—follow your personal star! I will also point out that by depicting the trees surrounding the pond in the way this ancient Egyptian artist did, we can see the people in the pond and exactly how the garden around the pond was landscaped. Notice how very clearly you can make out the different kinds of trees around the pond—in other words, this “unrealistic” way of representing the space actually gives us more information that a more “realistic” painting would. As Emma said last week, “I hope this painting will inspire you to create something similarly strange, striking, and beautiful.” Until next week, Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! On Tuesday, we posted Lucinda’s second installment in her series 103 Elements and their Interesting Facts. Want to know which element makes up the majority of the yellow surface of Io, one of Jupiter’s moons? Or how about what foods have potassium or iron? Read the post to find out! (Plus, read the first post here.) Have you ever chosen to do something because you wanted to, even though it wasn’t very popular among your peers? Maya describes her experience of magnet-making in the library, and how even though she had reservations about doing something by herself instead of choosing a more popular activity, she enjoyed herself (and it turned out one of her friends did show up!). Canon PowerShot Sx600 From Stone Soup January 2020 A World Without Color By Elyse Bambrough, 7 (Bristol, UK) Art: Eternal Hourglass by Sage Millen, 11 (Vancouver, BC) Dear Diary, I woke up again yesterday and saw the hammering rain pouring harshly down on my small little house. It was the worst sight I had seen in years! It was quite a boring sight, though I’m used to it, so I wasn’t that surprised. I had another amazing dream. I dreamt that I was in a forest with tropical trees and exotic flowers. There was spikey grass and even tigers! I guess it didn’t come true. I had to try to tidy the rubbish by sifting and sorting, burning and burying, but it didn’t work. However, while I was sorting the rubbish, something caught my eye. It was a tiny tin flower! Suddenly an idea planted itself in my head. The idea sprouted and grew roots. Day after day, the idea got bigger. While I was feeding on the rubbish, a forest emerged under my hand. It was not the forest of my dreams, but it was a forest just the same. In the forest, there were tigers, toucans, tree frogs, and even butterflies! I was still a bit disappointed because it was a very dull forest with no color at all. As I walked through the forest, my heart was aching with emptiness. Listen to a recording of the author reading her story, see the artwork in more detail (and read more from the January issue) on the website here. Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s Advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
Saturday Newsletter: January 4, 2020
Tiger by Morris Hirschfield, 1940. On display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. A note from Emma Wood It is still 2019, but by the time you read this, it will be 2020—so happy new year! I have spent the holiday visiting with my family—my parents as well as my brother, his wife, and my newborn nephew—in my hometown, New York City. This morning, my husband and I braved the freezing rain for a trip to see the recently renovated Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). We saw many old favorites as well as some new pieces that the renovation had created room for. I am not sure whether this painting, Tiger, by Morris Hirshfield, was previously on display or not, but this time I was really struck by it (as well as by his other paintings). I love the tiger’s expressive, strangely human face, which seems simultaneously fierce and curious, as well as his long, plump body. I love the cloud-striped sky that echoes the black stripes on the tiger’s coat. And I especially love the three birds perched in the tree in the bottom-left corner. This is obviously not a realistic depiction of a tiger in a landscape, and I love it for that reason; it is playful and funny while also being complex and serious. I love it for another reason: it reminds me of some of the art we see submitted to Stone Soup. Morris Hirshfield, the painter, was what is known as an “outsider artist.” This means that he had no formal training as an artist. In fact, before he began to paint, Hirshfield owned a business that manufactured women’s clothing and another company that made slippers! Outsider artists have a special kinship with child artists as many children begin making art without any formal training or at least without much knowledge about the history of art. It is helpful and very valuable to eventually learn the history of your field, but working without that knowledge can also be freeing—and mean your own work is more unusual and distinctive. I hope this painting will inspire you to go create something similarly strange, striking, and beautiful. Until next week, Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Calliope, 10, reviews Alex Gino’s book George. Read how Calliope immediately fell in love with the book and how the story features similarities to E.B. White’s classic Charlotte’s Web. A video on the blog this week! Caitlin Goh, 13, created a movie from the photos and videos she took while on vacation to the beaches in Normandy, France, where D-Day took place during World War II. Watch the video on the blog here or on our YouTube channel here. Contest, partnership, & project news We are excited to read through your submissions to our personal narrative contest and are gearing up for a photography contest as well as our second annual book contest in 2020. Stay tuned! From Stone Soup January 2020 The life of a ghost By Mazzi Maycotte, 10 (Austin TX) to go to school I cross 2 rivers, 1 lake, a pond, 1 mountain, and 2 hills then I raise my hand but no one calls on me I ask a question and no one answers me Why oh why do I have the life of a Ghost Read this poem (and more from the January issue) here. Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s Advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
