We at the Children’s Art Foundation were very lucky to be given these extraordinary felt pen drawings by the Egyptian government in the late 1970s. Besides being unusually strong works of children’s art most of them depict a day in history that still resonates: the visit by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Israel in 1977 to negotiate a peace treaty. Most of these pictures depict the parade that celebrated his return from that visit. Welcome to Sadat, by Khaled Abd Al Jalil, age 12, Egypt Celebrating the 6th of October Anniversary, by Nahed al Majra, age 14, Egypt Parade Marking Signing of a Peace Treaty with Israel, Cairo 1979, by Moustafa Mouhamud Hussein, age 14, Egypt Delighted with Peace, by Wahid Saif Al Nassar, age 13, Egypt The Street, by Aissam Abd al Jowad, age 13, Egypt The Street, by Arfat Mousani Abd Al Azziz, age 13, Egypt Elections, by Ashraf Anwar Ahman, age 11, Egypt Playing at School, by Souad Ramadan Mouhamad, age 13, Egypt Picking Oranges, by Tahal Taher Al Bata, age 14, Egypt Baking Bread at Home, by Saben Hassan El Sharkawi, age 14, Egypt Elections for the National Assembly, by Azza Abd Al Samiya, age 14, Egypt This was an historic meeting. It was a meeting that led to signing of a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, two countries that had formerly fought each other. Sadat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in bringing peace between Egypt and Israel. He was assassinated in 1981. Stepping back from the history–just look at these astonishing drawings of crowds! Pay particular attention to the freedom with which space is depicted. The young artists do not try to use vanishing point perspective, the drawing system that makes objects and spaces look three dimensional, that makes them look real. You have a bird’s-eye view, or perhaps you can think of it as a helicopter view of some of the street scenes. In the image on the upper right you see a wall of people. Notice the vibrant colors–the imitative way in which color is used. These young artists felt free to interpret the excitement of the day through an imaginative use of color. In reality, Cairo’s streets look like ours. They are not pink or orange or blue or green or yellow. Cairo streets don’t change color at intersections. But, they do in a couple of these pictures–and none streets are colored grey or black. You can also research these pictures for details of different lives and cultures, in specific points of history. Look at the second-to-last last picture, ‘Baking Bread at Home’. Note the details in the kitchen: a wood-fired bread oven; a kerosene light that suggests the house doesn’t have electricity; and the wash on the line. Look at the dress of the people in ‘Picking Oranges’, and how much manual labor is taking place. And get an insight into an Egyptian schoolyard in the 1980s in ‘Playing at School’. How different is it from any other school yard? You can order any of these images as prints from the Children’s Art Foundation’s Stone Soup store. Just search for Egypt to bring up the full selection.
homeschool
Writing and art activity: using Ballet as inspiration for creative writing and art
Ballet is an art in which adults partake in a fantasy world that is more often associated with children’s stories. Nobody speaks in a ballet–the classic story ballets are performed silently–although there is a sign language that one starts to recognize after watching several ballets. But no preparation is really required to fall into the magic of the ballet theater–besides, as with the great fairy and fantasy stories, an ability to let the world as we know it fall away as a fantastical world of magic takes its place. In the world of ballet, chickens (La Fille Mal Garde) and swans (Swan Lake) dance, fairies good and bad cast spells (Sleeping Beauty), pirate kings find true love (Le Corsaire), and Roman gods come to life (Sylvia). Watching ballet helps break through barriers between reality and fantasy. It is an art form that can speak to children and inspire young writers to let the dream-world that is in so much ballet enrich their stories. The digital world gives everyone access to some of the great performances of classic ballets. To get you started, we’ve added a few links below to You Tube videos of the UK’s Royal Ballet performing some of the ballets mentioned above. You’ll find many more yourselves. Have fun with the beauty of the movement and the music, and see if a balletic release into a fantasy world can help to get your creative juices flowing! Some simple exercises to try: Story-telling. What story might be conveyed best through dance? Is it an epic tale of fairies and unicorns, or a simple forest walk? Whatever the story is, which styles might you use tell that story? Many of the ballets below are based on full-length novels, or on short stories. Many people identify poetry in the movement of ballet. Once you know your story, and have written your story or poem, perhaps you could write it again in a different way–say, by writing a plot summary for the imaginary program given out in the theater. Art: What might your ballet look like? What is the scenery like, and what to the characters look like? Are they all human, or might they look like something never-before-imagined? Perhaps you can draw the sets, or the characters in their costumes. <iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/rryxZjqLtNs” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
Art Activity: imagining, planning and drawing complex imaginary worlds
This art activity by Olivia Joyce is built around 8-year-old Li Lingfei’s Artist’s Portfolio, published in Stone Soup’s March 2018 issue. Use the link to open the portfolio in a separate window and look closely at the images as you read Olivia’s responses to Lingfei’s work, and think about her drawing activity ideas. Stone Soup publishes many intriguing and entertaining submissions of poetry, short stories, and book reviews. While the writing is often incredible, the artwork Stone Soup publishes is especially fascinating to me. I love seeing how artists express themselves and take on specific styles in their art. The work of the artist Li Lingfei, age 8, stood out to me in particular for its style and imagination. Li Lingfei’s portfolio was published in Stone Soup’s March 2018 issue. It included watercolor paintings of entire worlds that she had imagined, as well as a construction of a house in the shape of a cat. This piece, titled “Cat House,” caught my attention first because of its unique geometrical design and patterns. Lingfei mentions that “Cat House” is inspired by a famous building in Spain, called Casa Batllo. Some artists might feel concern about using other art for inspiration, but I find that this is one of the best ways to create something new and unique! “Cat House” and Casa Batllo might bear some similarities (Casa Batllo’s roof resembles a dragon, and “Cat House” resembles a cat), but their look and style is markedly different from one another. As I looked more closely at all of Lingfei’s work, I saw that the bright indigo and yellow color scheme appeared in her paintings in addition to “Cat House.” The similar colors provide a thread that connects all of her work together, making it feel more united and whole. When I examined each of Lingfei’s paintings individually, I saw that they told stories and included images of multiple people and creatures. Even now, each time I look at one of her paintings, I observe something new. For example, in “My Chinese Dream,” I noticed the most obvious images of two planets and a rocket first, but the second time I looked at it I noticed the Octopus King waving from the corner, and the yellow mist that surrounds each planet. In this way, Lingfei’s artwork is dynamic, providing depth and leaving room for many interpretations. It is clear to me that Lingfei let her imagination guide her when creating these works, which I felt was essential to creating something interesting and beautiful. My favorite of her paintings is “Sky City.” It shows a city inside a jellyfish, floating in space. Aliens or people fly in a squid spaceship outside of the city, and within the bubble, hamburger hovercrafts and ice cream rockets zoom around mushroom- and jar-shaped buildings. The more I look at this painting, the more curious I become about it. Can the city move across the galaxy, or is it more like a planet with an orbit? Is the mushroom building really a mushroom, or just shaped like one in the way “Cat House” is shaped like a house? Would people be happier if they lived in “Sky City,” or on Earth? I think that it is important for art to raise questions and spark curiosity, and Li Lingfei’s artwork did exactly that. As a response to Lingfei’s work, I’d like to ask our readers to try, in a single image, to create a world as complex and detailed as Lingfei has created in each of her images. To do so, you should plan ahead. You might begin by writing out a brief description of the place you’re imagining—and then drawing it. Or maybe you just want to tell your mom or your dog about what you’re planning to draw. Either way, have a plan in mind so that you make sure to have room for everything you want to include in your drawing! Once you’re ready to begin, remember to use the full range of colors and to fill up the entire page—and then submit to Stone Soup! We can’t wait to see your masterpieces! Author Bio: Olivia’s favorite books are the Harry Potter series, which she has loved since elementary school, but she also loves The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and anything written by Sharon Creech. She is in her third year at UC Santa Cruz where she studies literature and writes poems and stories. At schoo,l you might catch her eating too many chocolate croissants or sprinting to catch the bus.
