Totally Rad ’80s Slang: Word Find

Locate the given words in the grid, running in one of eight possible directions horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. There may be an unused word or a message hidden another way to discover related to the puzzle.

Lunchtime 5: Look Closely

Celebrity as Muse

Spend a few minutes exploring artworks from the collection related to this month’s topic. By looking closely, you’ll discover surprising details and have a restful moment of learning during your Friday lunch break.

Dwight Tryon – Tonalism

Dwight Tryon was a born New Englander who painted the region with knowing confidence. In this picture of Rhode Island Sound, he included a lone boater sailing out to sea, perhaps to start a day of fishing. The tiny figure is dwarfed by nature, yielding a contemplative, melancholy mood.

Tryon rarely painted in watercolor, yet he put impressive finesse into this work. He used a limited number of marks and colors—just a few whites, grays, and blues, plus the light brown of the paper itself—but suggested a stunning range of detail. Sunlight streams down onto the distant horizon, while clear water washes over the rocky shore in the foreground. By showing so much with so little, Tryon heightened the dreamy quality of his picture.

What do you think that Tryon’s sailor would have thought of this scene? Would they have paused to consider the poetic qualities of the water, the sky, and the sunlight? Was this just a regular morning as they headed out to work?

Tryon loved rural life in New England and spent much of his time sailing and fishing. He bought his clothes with durability as a top priority, purchasing them from a country store where his fellow shoppers were farmers and sailors. As a rule, he avoided going anyplace where he couldn’t wear his rubber boots to the table. Though he spent time living in New York City, one of his favorite activities there was crafting model ships and racing them in Central Park. However, these countrified sensibilities did not dissuade members of high society from enjoying Tryon’s paintings. The wealthy and refined Detroit industrialist Charles Lang Freer, for example, became the artist’s most important financial supporter, and also one of Tryon’s closest friends.

Among art historians, Tryon is known as a central practitioner of a painting style called Tonalism, which flourished in the United States from around 1880 through the first decade of the twentieth century. The art historian Wanda Corn defined Tonalism as a “style of intimacy and expressiveness, interpreting very specific themes in limited color scales and employing delicate effects of light to create vague, suggestive moods.” With its economical use of color and wistful atmosphere, Morning Off Narragansett Pier certainly fits this description.

ARTstrology: Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Can’t you imagine stringing up a hammock in this lovely landscape? Of course YOU can, Taurus! You are a master of relaxation! As an earth sign, you are grounded and love the sensual delights of the natural world. You’re not lazy by any means, but you love a good dose of R and R, and what better place to do it than this scene in Seville?

Tauro 20 abril – 20 mayo

¿No te imaginas colgar una hamaca en este hermoso paisaje? ¡Por supuesto que TÚ puedes, Tauro! ¡Eres un maestro de la relajación! Como un signo de tierra, siempre estás con los pies sobre la tierra y te encantan los deleites sensuales del mundo natural. No eres perezoso de ninguna manera, pero te encanta una buena dosis de descanso y relación, ¿y qué mejor lugar para hacerlo que en esta escena en Sevilla?

ARTstrology is made possible with support the Henry V. and Frances W.  Christenson Foundation

Kitchen Lithography

This project might take a couple tries. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll really enjoy your results.

Steps:

1. Tape aluminum foil to cardboard. Use flat cardboard, like chipboard, instead of corrugated cardboard.
2. Use wet, fine sandpaper to sand the foil.
3. Apply vinegar to wipe the surface.
4. Draw an image with a crayon.
5. Pour soda on the image.
6. Pour a small amount of vegetable oil on the surface and buff surface with a sponge.
7. Use a different sponge to wipe the plate with water.
8. Roll on ink. Wipe and roll again.
9. Print. Use a spoon or brayer to apply pressure.

Lunchtime 5: Get Art

Making Your Mark

Explore the regional artist installation in Corbin, O’Neill, and the Lobby. Works range in media including lithographs, screenprints, and collaged works.

Édouard Boubat

“There are days when one walks around without getting a single photograph, without running into anything. …But there are other times when things are offered to me, like gifts. …But in order to seize that gift, one has to be prepared. If I am, and if my camera is there at the right moment, click, all I have to do is accept it.” —Édouard Boubat

When this photo was taken in 1956 in the rural village of Sotoserrano, Spain, the country was still under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and many regions remained impoverished and unmodernized. The tightly composed image centers on a man in traditional dress and tattered shoes. He stands on a cobblestone street in front of a covered wagon with a wooden wheel almost as tall as he is. Based on the lettering of the wagon’s cover, the man appears to be one of the Gonzalez Brothers (“Hermanos Gonzalez”), owners of a “panadería,” or bakery in English. Two children on the left look on with somewhat perplexing expressions—the young girl seems concerned while the boy’s eyes are cast upwards at the sky. It’s as if Boubat stumbled into the middle of a little narrative, the participants pausing just briefly enough for him to capture their portrait.

What do you think daily life would have been like for this man at this particular time in history? What aspects of our lifestyle today might surprise him?

Traveling the world as a photojournalist for the French magazine Réalités, Boubat often found himself in just the right position to accept one of the “gifts” he mentions in the quote above. But, this claim that successful images simply presented themselves to him like gifts downplayed his keen vision as a photographer. If great pictures really were always just waiting around to be taken, then we all might be professional photographers, consistently in the right place at the right time with our camera in hand. However, as fellow photographer Frank Horvat once said, “Boubat looks at the world as if he had just landed and as if his eyes had just opened.” Through his photographs, we find a curiosity in the small moments of people’s lives that can easily go unnoticed. For this reason, Boubat’s photographs are, in themselves, little gifts.

Lunchtime 5: Creativity Invitation

Sound

Need a little inspiration? Sometimes all it takes is a prompt, suggestion, or idea. Tune in to get a creative spark inspired by the museum’s collection and exhibitions.

Lunchtime 5: Video Tour

April Showers

Bring on the rain. Explore five works in the collection that bring to mind spring showers. You’ll see paint and glazes imitate driving rain, gentle sprinkles, and splashing puddles.

Lunchtime 5: Look Closely

Anxiety & Loss

Spend a few minutes exploring artworks from the collection related to this month’s topic. By looking closely, you’ll discover surprising details and have a restful moment of learning during your Friday lunch break.