Art education

Now that I have kids, I often wonder why we stop drawing, playing in the mud, building forts, having imaginary friends and so on. Perhaps it's difficult for growing minds to make the distinction between childish behavior and child-like activities so both get left behind as we grow up.

I was looking for something on the Internet today when I stumbled upon an article on doodling on about.com that has some relevance to the topic. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Usually we have a limited visual vocabulary that we have at our disposal; depending on the age at which our artistic development stalled. Children learn a set of formal symbols – the face, house, sun, moon, flower, tree, bird, fish, and basic geometric shapes – that are established in early primary school. They might add more complex forms later, but rarely learn observational drawing. In the early teens, when realistic expression and detail become important, children keenly feel an inadequacy in their ability to draw realistically, and stop drawing. People who stopped drawing very early will tend to limit their doodles to repetitive geometric forms and the learned symbols from their childhood. Those that continued drawing in their teens will include more involved patterns and complex symbolic representations, while people who maintained an interest in creative expression may create intricate doodles and complete drawings.

Now, I'm not saying that kids need to have training in the arts so that they can be good doodlers when they grow up, but I think ongoing education in the arts is important. My kids may decide they have no interest in art when they grow up and that's fine - but I want it to be a choice, not just something that happens.

Pottery Sale on September 15

Interested in Pottery? Check out the Circle of Eight fall sale. No, the Circle of Eight is not a coven of witches. They are a group of very talented potters who are having their 3rd annual fall sale. You should come check it out even if you're not a fan of pottery. You might become one after attending this sale.

Saturday, September 15
10am-4pm
1225 Dade Street
Charlotte, NC 28205
http://circleofeight.blogspot.com/

Back to school

Isabel starts 1st grade today. Amelia will be starting school (4k) next week. I wonder if the first day of school will seem like such a huge milestone every year. I am filled with pride and worry. Maybe I'll write a book and call it Pride and Worry (move over Jane Austen). It would resonate with all parents and become a huge best seller.

We met Amelia's teachers on Monday. The seem very nice and capable. They assured me they will take good care of my baby. Amelia is very excited about starting school. Mommy is very excited to have a couple of hours of peace and quiet every day.

We attended open house yesterday at Isabel's school. We met her teacher. She is a new teacher (just finished her internship last year); I'm looking at the silver lining - at least she's not all cynical and jaded. Isabel has a two or three classmates from kindergarten in her class this year; it was nice for the kids to see some familiar faces.

I took the day off from work to attend the open house and hang out with the kids before school starts (last year I took the whole week off). We didn't do anything major (we were afraid of melting in the heat) but I did enjoy spending a day with them. The highlights of the day were meeting Isabel's new teacher, getting an incredible deal on some new sneakers and playing the Picnic Game (thanks to CS and H2) with the girls.

It was a good day.

Who Killed The Electric Car?

I just watched this movie and I'm so pissed off.

Why are we not all driving electric cars by now?? There are SO many good reasons that we should: the environment, dependence on foreign oil, gas prices, health issues and perhaps most importantly is that we would be able to shape foreign policy based on what's best for Americans instead of what's best for the petroleum industry.

Everyone should watch this movie and then go buy an electric car (if you can find one) or at least a hybrid.

rut row... he's in trouble

Concert Ticket = Dance Lesson

I just realized the cost of one concert ticket = the cost of dance lessons for one month for one kid.

Van Halen is starting their tour in Charlotte on Sept 27.

Bush's Brain

Regarding the impact of Karl Rove's departure from Bush's White House:

"At the risk of sounding a bit too shrill (President Bush) goes from lame duck to lame brain."

-- James Moore, co-author of:
Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential

A Day at the Beach

One of the people in my office was on vacation last week, so I had no time for random thoughts. My brain is just now catching up.

First things first -- I have a friend who works for the MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) in Charlotte who is looking for volunteers to help with the telethon on Labor Day Weekend. They need people to work the phones, etc. If you are interested, please email me or leave a comment and I will put you in touch w/ my friend.

The weather report said we are done (for now) with the temps in the 100's. Yay. I never thought I would be excited about 93 degrees.

Had dinner with Matt & Michele Friday night at Red Robin in Ballantyne. They have good burgers but it's not a good place to go if you want a quiet dinner. It is however a good place to go if you want to hear the Happy Birthday Song five times. The Finnster is 10 months old!

Had dinner at Jen's & Joey's Saturday night. The food was incredible but we were surrounded by evil princesses. Debi and I discovered we like dates (the food, not the mating ritual). Got to see the progress on Jen's kiln. It's way cool. I can't wait to see the finished product and the pots that come out of it.

I tried to throw some mugs today. It seems I was not in the zone. Everything I threw was a disaster. I think the problem was that my clay was too hard. Well, that's my story anyway. I decided to just move on to other things. I made handles for some mugs I threw a few days ago. Even that went a little wonky. Of the four handles I made, only one of them seemed to be just right. Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.

I finally got around to updating our football pool for the new season. For those unfamiliar, it is quite an impressive spreadsheet (MATT, WAKE-UP). To all the pool parts - I emailed it today. Let me know if you didn't get the email.

The girls wanted to take an imaginary trip to the beach today. Although it was a chilly 93 degrees, Debi and I joined them. It was quite a site -- the four of us in their little blow-up pool in the back yard. I'm REALLY glad there were no paparazzi around.

Debi and I realized we missed another presidential debate on TV this week. Even Tivo can't keep up with these debates. Anyone know where I can find a schedule of debates that will be televised?

I think we're going to the arts & crafts festival in Blowing Rock this coming weekend. I hear it's a pretty good festival (and Jen will have a booth there selling her "puffy tiles"). Anyone want to come with?

No ranting about world events for now. I'm way too relaxed after a day at the beach w/ the kids.

Peace, Pottery & Heat

Debi and the girls have been in Louisiana all week - it's been very peaceful but almost a little unnerving. I guess you get used to the pandemonium. I miss my girls and I'm glad they're coming home tomorrow!

I haven't thrown anything in a few weeks so I was happy to have some time to putz w/ pottery while they were gone. I know Jen says that every potter is his/her own worst critic, but in my case, it's all true. My mugs seem to come out too big or too small or too heavy or uneven on the top, or just oddly shaped. And don't EVEN get me started on the handles. Good thing class will be starting up again in a few weeks. Anyway, I managed to make 12 mugs over the weekend. It will be interesting to see if any of them are usable after being glazed & fired.

The temperature outside is currently 95 degrees. With the heat index, I'm guessing it's about 159. This global warming thing seems more real every day...

Remember when?

We celebrated the birthday of a friend of mine at work today. We were having cake and chatting when the conversation turned to the crazy things we used to do when we were younger. No one 'fessed up to anything majorly embarrassing (we were at work after all), but the question, "when was the last time you were naked in public?" did come up.

Not like streaking or flashing. Just like skinny-dipping and such.

What I want to know is exactly when did I transition from doing fun & crazy things to talking about when I used to do fun & crazy things? I suspect it was sometime in 2001. C'est la vie.

One day before I die though, I will return to Concord, CA to see a very dear friend of mine run naked through the sprinklers of the ball field on Cowell Road.

Design Dilemma

What would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

How do we get out of this mess in Iraq?

I heard on the radio on this morning that Britain is pulling their troops out of Northern Ireland. When the troops first went into Northern Ireland in 1969, they thought it was going to be just a few weeks. It’s been 38 years. If the Protestants & Catholics in Ireland can keep a feud going for that long, just imagine how long the Shiites & Sunnis can keep it going. I don’t want the US to be still fighting this civil war in Iraq 38 years from now.

Not to belittle the progress in Northern Ireland… it’s great news that they have agreed to settle their remaining differences peacefully & diplomatically. I’m sure Bono was behind it. Maybe someday there will be a united Ireland.