Ethan and I (Aidan) have been interested in art for a long time. So we were excited when we heard we would have a chance to join an art class called Sketch. We had a little trouble arriving at the right destination, but we finally found the church sandwiched between two other companies. We entered into a large room where tables were set. They were handing out art supplies, and we picked up our supplies and took our seats. We had a little more trouble getting all of our supplies. We were instructed to look at a list inside of our bags and to see what was missing. But when we searched the bag we found, to our great disappointment, there was no list to be found! After a couple of questions and a few minutes of confusion, we finally found all our supplies and settled down in our seats. The leader began to teach us about the artist we were studying. We learned about a French Artist named, Jean-Honore Fragonard. He lived from 1732-1806. If you know your history you can see he spent some of his adult life in the French Revolution. He began his life as the son of a glove maker, which, though a seemingly simple trade, allowed his family to live comfortably. This was the time period where gloves were in great demand. Fragonard's father tried to make some investments, but they ended up being unsuccessful, and he lost much of his money. As Fragonard's father watched his children grow, he decided they were old enough to make their own profit and take care of their mother and father. Fragonard decided the life of an artist was the life for him. But when he went to an artist to learn the trade, he found his skill at it was not profound, so he was sent to art school to improve his skill. After he came back from school, he was taken as an apprentice, and he copied the art the artist created. Although this was not ideal, it was how he was apprenticed. After a while he became more independent. He started during an art period where the pictures were serious and rigid. As he painted the French Revolution began. It was unfortunate for him, for the king had noticed his skill and had asked him to make more. Now that he was painting for nobles, he found himself in a very bad position. As the nobles were being killed, no one bought his paintings. He had painted many paintings, and a great number of them were of his daughter. After a while, he found a noble who loved his paintings, and he began to paint enormous pictures. But as the noble studied them, she saw that many of them looked much like her. The paintings were made in a series. It began with a small boy who grew up to man hood. Through his whole life he loved a girl. This is the girl who looked disturbingly like Fragonard's client. At this period in history, paintings were more open and fun. Even though they were beautiful, she refused to buy Fragonard's paintings. Fragonard decided he had had enough of France and the revolution, so he sailed over to America, who had recently finished the American revolution. He visited a relative in America. Fragonard loved the huge paintings he had painted earlier, and he still had them, for he had carried them across the ocean to America! As Fragonard looked at his enormous paintings, he decided to fill a whole room with them! He followed this motive and filled an entire room with the paintings. All the paintings stayed at his relatives house, and Fragonard decided to return to his homeland, France. He said farewell to his relative and returned to France. The revolution had ended and Fragonard was safe again to paint. But he saw that he had made well over five-hundred paintings, and had no clients to sell them to! He decided it was time to stop his profession. It was a good choice, for Fragonard died happy with his family. After his death, it was found he had only signed five of his paintings! This was the story of the Artist we studied.
After we learned about this artist and studied his pictures, we started our own art. Sketch is set up to give gifts of art to charity organizations, and the organization this month was called Sole Hope. This organization was helping people in Uganda. People in Uganda usually don't where shoes when they walk, and they can get bugs called jiggers in their feet. These bugs are extremely painful, and it is almost impossible to walk with them. Sole Hope takes out these bugs and wash the peoples feet. They say that wearing shoes and washing their feet will completely prevent the bugs from going into the peoples feet. If someone asks why they are washing their feet, they tell the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet, and how we are told to serve others. The packet held many things, including Styrofoam and cloth. The parents cut out patterns in the cloth, while the students used the scraps to make patterns in the Styrofoam. We pushed the cloth into the Styrofoam and with a plastic knife and made patterns. After about an hour, when most of the people had cleared out, we were still working. After we finished, the leader took pictures to make cards along with the shoes. After cleaning up our area, we left. I can't wait until the next Sketch.
