Just 7 Medieval Cats Acting Silly
Last summer, we ran a post featuring a few art-historical dogs during the “dog days of summer.” That post, and the fact that we started this year with a blog post about a cat’s art-historical hijinks, mean that it’s high time we showed cats some more love–and medieval cats, specifically. Art in medieval western Europe […]
Artist Spotlight: Annie Leibovitz
Over the past two months, you’ve gotten to hear about a few of the artists included in our new units for the 2020 school year. (Robert Smithson and Constantin Brancusi, to be exact.) In the next installment of our summer series, we’re going to introduce you to an artist we’re sure you’ve heard of. Or, […]
Art Reads: A Piece of the World
If you get our newsletters, you’ll know that we hinted that a review of Christina Baker Kline’s novel A Piece of the World was on its way. Well, wait no further: we can’t wait to dive into A Piece of the World with you! A Piece of the World is a fictional memoir that centers around the life of Christina Olson, […]
Artist Spotlight: Constantin Brancusi
If you’ve been following our blog, you’ll know that over the summer we’re doing a series of Artist Spotlights in honor of our three new units (which will be available starting with the 2019-2020 school year). Our last Artist Spotlight looked at Robert Smithson, an artist featured in our new fifth-grade Environmental Art unit. This […]
Roberto Benavidez’s Art-Historical Piñatas Are Beyond Cool
What could possibly make piñatas even more fun? According to artist Roberto Benavidez, creating piñatas that reference art historical works. Benavidez, a Los-Angeles-based artist, started work on his Piñatas of Earthly Delights series in 2013. Each piñata in the series references a creature found in 16th-century Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch’s tour de force of weirdness, The Garden of Earthly […]
Kids’ Art Reads: Jeanette Winter
If you’re looking for some fresh titles to impress the young readers in your life (while teaching them about art history), look no further than the books of Jeanette Winter. Winter’s picture books, which tell the stories of artists, architects, historical figures, and folks who’ve striven to make a difference in the world, make for some […]
Artist Spotlight: Robert Smithson & Spiral Jetty
As you might have read a few weeks ago, the Art Docent Program is introducing three new units, which will be ready in time for the 2019-2020 school year. In honor of these new units, we’ll be spotlighting a different artist from each unit throughout the summer. As we introduce our new 5th-grade Environmental Art […]
The Art Assignment Should Be Your (Kinda) New Obsession
Maybe we’re a little late to the party, but forgive us—we’ve recently discovered what might be our new favorite YouTube channel. The Art Assignment by PBS Digital Studios, whose videos are available on YouTube or via their website, is a channel full of all the art-related videos you could ever need. And we can’t stop […]
Discover Rubens’ Early Artwork at the Legion of Honor
Seeing artists’ styles mature over time is an easy task to undertake in an art history class. But, as with all art, it’s way more fun a change to examine up-close and personal. And through early fall, that’s exactly what you can do at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco (you know, the […]
Bouquets to Art at the de Young is Back
In the world of art viewing experiences, the de Young Museum in San Francisco might just boast the greatest of them all with their annual pairing of fresh blooms and artwork, Bouquets to Art. And proving that good things come to those who wait, Bouquets to Art is returning in June this year. One of […]