Spring Break: Visit With Friends at the Getty

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you know I’m a fan of The Getty. It’s one of those places you can visit over and over again and never see all it has to offer.  (and it is free!)

So when my dear friend who is visiting from quite far away asked if our families could meet up at The Getty, I jumped at the chance to visit some of my favorite people while surrounded by beauty. 

We visited the Renaissance building.   After studying the Renaissance for the past few months I was excited to see some of the paintings we’ve studied.    I wasn’t disappointed with the entire gallery of Rembrandt and Rembrandt Workshop paintings.

Look at the hand!  I can’t imagine being able to paint something this detailed!.

Head of a Women by Micheal Sweerts looks like a women I might see walking down the street and reminded me that people don’t really change. People are people no matter when they lived.

The pottery surprised me.  For some reason I hadn’t thought about what dishes were used during that time period. 

This plate was most likely produced for daily use.

Where as this plate was produced for display.   It shows the Arms of the Vegerio Family. 

This plate with grotesques, fanciful decoration of animals and fantastical creatures, produced in Venice around 1540 was meant to imitate marble.  

This plate depicts the kidnapping of Helen of Troy. 

Keep in mind these plates have been around for 500-600 years!  And without a chip on any of them!

The Getty has a neat kids’ exhibit that allows kids to practice what they see throughout the museum.

And A-M can now claim she has art work hanging at The Getty!

We enjoyed spending the day at The Getty, but really the best part of the day was spending time with dear friends!  

Some of my kids and my friend’s, Jen, kids

And my dear, dear friend Jen!

and her wonderful husband—who was taking the pictures!

Great weather, excellent art, and good friends equals an awesome day!

 

Awesome Art Curriculum

I recently attended a workshop sponsored by The Getty.   Although the young lady presenting the class was young and unfamiliar with homeschoolers in general,  I am very impressed that The Getty is reaching out to homeschoolers.   After a brief introduction to the layout and art galleries at The Getty, we looked at an unique piece of art.   Titled, Bust of a Man,  and created by Francis Harwood in 18th century Florence, Italy this piece really  blew me away.   It's unusualliness is not only in its material (black pietra da paragone--instead of a white marble), but also its subject.    The scar above his eye, the tilt of his head, and the gaze of his eyes, gave him an individuality that really set apart this piece of art for me.   Following our discussion, we created a bust of our own.   Our bust was to represent someone who normally wouldn't be put on a pedestal.   One of the participants represented her trashman.   You know what, trashmen should be on a pedestal!  I've never thought about trashmen like that before.    And that is the point of art.  A classic piece of art is universal and should make us think about our world in a different way.  Last but best of all was the curriculum.  

This curriculum is a gem.   Each of the 28 lessons includes plans for elementary, middle-school, and high-school levels.   These plans includes not only art, but also english and history.   And the timeline feature will make a classical homeschooler's heart beat just a bit faster!    Even though this curriculum is based on pieces found at The Getty, it is completely self-contained and can stand alone.

AND I've saved the best for last!   This and more wonderful curriculum is available to you for free!

Check it out! 

A little bit of clicking around the education part of this website will reveal lots more neat resources.

Enjoy!

Be sure to check out reviews from lots more homeschooling moms at

  Homeschool Curriculum Review Round-Up