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Read the following text “Colossal Creations”
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Some works of art are known as much for their gigantic size as for their beauty. Perhaps the most famous “big” creation is Michelangelo’s painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. This grand masterpiece in the Vatican covers 10,000 square feet of plaster and includes 343 figures. Many of the figures are 10 to 18 feet in height. The imposing project took four years. Michelangelo had to do much of the painting while lying flat on his back on a scaffold! Tintoretto, like Michelangelo, was a 16th century Italian artist who worked on a grand scale. Over the course of his career, he became famous for his many huge paintings. Tintoretto once painted a picture of paradise that was 72 feet long (a bit shorter than the length of a basketball court). Why did Tintoretto create this tremendous picture of paradise? To decorate a great palace in Venice. In the 19th century, American artist John Banvard painted a picture a mile long. His gigantic mural showed 1,200 miles of landscape along the Mississippi River. Banvard camped out along the Mississippi for more than a year, making thousands of sketches as he traveled upriver. When he painted his final canvas, he wrapped it around a large roller. He pulled out as much canvas as he needed and worked on one section at a time. After painting that part of the canvas, he then rolled it up on another large drum. Banvard took his massive creation on tour across the United States and Great Britain. The tour made him wealthy. When he died, however, his mural disappeared. Before long, strips of it were spotted. They were being used as stage sets. |
Read the following text "Young Artists in the News"
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In the Pacific Northwest, Latina teens have founded a group called La Raza. Organization members put together an exhibit of their original poetry, photographs, and films. They titled their display “Out of the Box/Fuera de la Caza.” The exhibit showcases the work of 15 young women, ages 13 to 19. “We wanted to use art and methods of filming to give a positive message about Latinas,” 18-year-old Alejandrina Felipe explained proudly. Many of the photos and films in the exhibit reflect everyday moments among friends. The girls modestly describe their work as products of “just fooling around.” As a whole, the project gives a glimpse into the different personalities and experiences that make up La Raza. High school sophomore Amparo Felipe wrote a poem for the exhibit. Here are some lines from her poem: You think about yourself first. I think of others before me. You speak with your words. I speak with my drawings. Other members of La Raza produced a film called Tonale. The movie title comes from an Aztec word meaning “our deeper selves.” It is a montage of images accompanied by a soundtrack of original poetry. In a photo taken by 13-year-old Paulina Zepeda, a sad-eyed girl peers over a scarf that hides the rest of her face. Miss Zepeda had just broken up with her boyfriend. The photograph Love/El Amor portrays her feelings. La Raza members agreed that “fooling around with art” helped them find out who they are. Their work showed for three weeks at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art in Portland, Oregon. |
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