Creative Quilt Squares

Summer Fun in Webby’s Art Studio

I am so excited for the return of art activities this summer in Owl Cottage. I am even more excited that the series of art activities are now titled “Webby’s Art Studio”.  If ducks could blush I would be blushing. Each week there will be a different art project with TONS of supplies and great creative ideas. 

 This week I got to design my very own creative quilt square. I used lots of different patterns and colorful buttons to try and copy the cool quilts I see in the Hat and Fragrance building. Here are some quilts that my friends and I made!

  

Wow! Look at all the different ideas everyone came up with. What colors would you use on your quilt? 

If you missed this week's art activity, check out the list of upcoming activities below. All ages are welcome. 

 Colorful Compositions: June 24-30, 2013

Mystical Creature Sock Puppet: July 1-7, 2013

Miniature Masterpieces: July 8-14, 2013

Black & White in Color: July 15-21, 2013

Art Out Loud: July 22-28, 2013

 

Folk Art Fun: July 29-August 4, 2013

21^st Century Circus Posters: September 14, 2013

3D Paper Art: October 12, 2013

Funky Folk Art: November 2, 2013

 (Can you spot me?)

Meet the Quack Pack!

I'm so excited to introduce you to this year's Quack Pack: my new flock of friends who flew in to Shelburne Museum from all over the country to bring kid and family visitors a lot of fun things to do this summer.

Below is each person's likes and interests. If you see of my awesome friends on the grounds this summer, be sure to say hi! And tell them Webby sent you!

Name: Wells G.  
From: Shelburne, VT (Hey! I think I've seen her around before!)
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Phish Food  
Favorite Place on the Grounds: The Carousel, because I love the beautifully crafted horses and the upbeat tunes that remind me of an old-fashioned circus.  
Favorite Mystical Creature: Mermaids

Name: Liza B.  
From: Los Angeles, CA  
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Cake Batter  
Favorite Place on the Grounds: The jail. It reminds me of a jail that would be in a 19th century book or film.  
Favorite Mystical Creature: Phoenix

Name: Emily Q.  
From: Decatur, AL  
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: White Chocolate Macadamia, especially as a slushie!  
Favorite Place on the Grounds: The Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building, because the rooms look like New York City apartments did 100 years ago!  
Favorite Mystical Creature: Elves & Fairies

Name: Jordan L.  
From: Concord, MA  
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Cookies 'n' Cream  
Favorite Place on the Grounds: The Train Station. I feel like I'm traveling back in time as a member of the Webb family waiting at Shelburne Station for a train to New York City.
Favorite Mystical Creature: CHAMP!

Name: Emma H.  
From: Huntington, VT
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Mint Chocolate Chip  
Favorite Place on the Grounds: The Apothecary Shop. It's packed full of history; there are hundreds of little bottles and vials, and each one tells a story about what it was like to live before modern-day medicine.
Favorite Mystical Creature: Dragons

Wow! What a cool group. Here are just a few of the many activities you'll see the Quack Pack helping out with this summer! 

•  Webby's Art Studio at Owl Cottage Activity Center : June 17-August 4, 12-4 p.m. Join Quack Pack members each week to enjoy free and fun activities based on the Museum's collections and exhibitions.
• Art on the Go Cart: June 17-August 2, our bright blue Art on the Go carts will be filled with art supplies, games, activities, and books. It will be stationed in Circus Building at 11 a.m. and the Round Barn at 2 p.m. Make a special souvenir inspired by Shelburne Museum’s transportation collection; from horse-drawn carriages to steam-powered engines to circus parades, we’re taking Art on the Go to new destinations!
•  Family Day: Circus-Palooza:Sunday, July 21, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Come one, come all to a circus spectacular as Shelburne Museum plays ringmaster to all things circus.
• SMArt Series: Shelburne Museum now offers specialized art-themed programming year round! Programs are geared toward families but all are welcome. During extended hours, visitors are invited to participate in the following activities:     
• Through the Looking Glass, Wednesday, July 10, 4-7 p.m. Join Alice, the Mad Hatter and friends for an enchanting evening filled with activities and fun in the Museum’s own Wonderland.
• Mini Golf Mania, Wednesday, August 7, 4-7 p.m.  “Fore” golfers of all ages! Tee off at Shelburne Museum. Play nine holes inspired by the Museum’s grounds and buildings.

Stamping My Passport

Webby here!

On Wednesday I took a stroll around the grounds and made lots of new friends. Fourth graders from the East Montpelier School were at Shelburne Museum for Passport to Learning, our interactive workshops for kids in kindergarten through eighth grade. 

Hanging out with (L to R) Luke, Dylan, Arianna, and Jordan

I asked them about their favorite part of the day. Luke and Jordan loved testing brains versus brawn while using pulley systems to load cargo on the Ticonderoga. Caroline and Carmen agreed that playing judge at the Castleton Jail was fun, especially when their group "got to act out the skits." Claire told me that she shopped till she dropped at the General Store.

Here I am with (L to R) Caroline, Claire, Peyton, and Carmen

I stopped for awhile with one group to test out a new contra dancing workshop at the Settlers' Barn. It was a blast! I learned how to swing my partner and do si do.

Have you ever come to the Museum with your school? What was your favorite spot? Leave me a comment to let me know!

--Webby

Create-a-Scape

Webby here! 

One of my very favorite spots at Shelburne Museum is Pleissner Gallery, which features the paintings of Ogden Pleissner. Like me, Pleissner loved the outdoors. One of his hobbies was fly fishing, and he painted a lot of beautiful water scenes of his favorite spots to fish.

Pleissner was a lifelong artist. When he was five years old he loved the wallpaper in his stairway at home because it was covered in tiny boats. One day, when his mom wasn't looking, he drew people in all the boats with a crayon! Even though he got in trouble, it shows us just how much he loved to draw.    

Pebble Beach Golf Course, ca. 1950-1965, watercolor on paper.
©Ogden M. Pleissner

Looking at one of Pleissner's landscapes is like standing at a window where you can see way into the distance. He has divided the painting into a foreground, which is what's right in front, the middle ground a bit farther back, and the background reaching to the skyline. The artistic term for this is "composition."

I thought we could try making our own compositions with a foreground, middle ground, and background. Here's what you'll need:

• Paper
• A pencil
• Crayons (colored pencils or pastels--chalk or oil--would work, too!)

Using your pencil, draw three lines to create a foreground, middle ground, and background. You don't want to draw them straight across the page; instead, make them wavy and crooked.

Next, draw something in each section. I drew a house in the background, a tree in the middle ground, and a turtle in the foreground, but you can make your composition whatever you want! I also drew a road that comes from the background into the middle ground. Hint: draw it wider as it gets closer to the foreground.

Finally, I colored in my picture!

What Ogden Pleissner-inspired landscape will you make? Email me your creation at webby@shelburnemuseum.org for a chance to appear on my blog. Don't forget to sign your artwork!

Go here to learn more about our upcoming exhibition in Pleissner Gallery, and visit the Museum when we open on May 12th to see the paintings. 

--Webby

Webby's Vacation

Webby Here!

Things are getting really busy at Shelburne Museum as we prepare for the season opening on Sunday, May 12.  I have been working so hard preparing my Dive In with Webby cards that when my friend Denise and her family asked me to go with them on a cruise to the Bahamas, I simply could not say no.   Here are some pictures from my wonderful adventure to the tropics!

Off we go to the airport.  I made sure to buckle up and kept my suitcase with me at all times.

What a view from the window of our ship's cabin room. Boy, that cruise ship looks nothing like steamboat Ticonderoga.

One of the first things I did was put on my sunglasses because I was ready to enjoy...

Lounging under the sun! Do I look as relaxed as the figures in Edouard Manet's Au Jardin (In the Garden) painting on display at the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building?

Edouard Manet (1832-83) Au Jardin (In the Garden), ca. 1870, oil on canvas. Collection of Shelburne Museum.

Denise let me have some soda during lunch!

As well as some berry smoothie for an afternoon snack.  I had so much sugar that I had a little bit of a tummy ache.  Denise gave me something to settle my stomach, so there was no need to visit an Apothecary.

Here I am, enjoying the beach at our first port.  I spent all day working on my sandcastle fortress.  When I'm not at the beach, I like to build and create all sorts of things at Owl Cottage.

Denise and I thought all the servers were so great on the ship. They even let us take this picture with them.

The family tried to teach me how to play the game cornhole, but I didn't understand the rules very well.  Perhaps I'm too used to the games that are on display at the Toy Shop.

But the coolest thing about my trip is that I met so many new friends:

Like this fellow.

I had a fun dance party with my new elephant friend before bed.

And I even let this new buddy borrow my sunglasses while we lounged together.  We chatted about the all-new exhibit of Patty Yoder's beautiful hooked rugs on display at the Hat & Fragrance building for this season.

One day we played trivia!  The person running the game let me read one question to the other players.  I answered all of the questions using what I have learned from Shelburne Museum.



And I won the game!  They gave me lots of medals. 

Once the ship returned to the mainland, it was time to go back home.

I made it back safe and sound to the Museum.  I can't wait to show everyone my new hats and large beach towel.

I feel so refreshed after a fun vacation with Denise and her family. I'm now ready to get back to work helping the staff prepare the grounds, programs, and events for another great season. Tune in next time when I share how you can create landscape art.

--Webby 

It's All About the Light!

Webby Here!

Have you ever painted or drawn a scene you saw outside?   Did you make your picture outdoors or did you create it later, entirely from memory?  What about the scene inspired you to create your piece of art?

Here is a picture Ayesha made last season at Owl Cottage! 
Click here to see other pictures done by amazing artists at Owl Cottage.

Whether it is violent waves washing up on a rocky cliff or tall trees flickering back and forth with the wind in the quiet countryside, the outdoors has been a popular subject for artists for hundreds of years.  But out of all these artists, there was one painter whose works remain some of the most famous outdoor scenes in the world.  Shelburne Museum’s Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial building has some excellent examples of these landscape paintings by artist Claude Monet.

Claude Monet was an Impressionist painter, which means he liked painting real life moments as they were actually happening.  Other artists of that time would recreate outdoor scenes from memory or a picture while working entirely inside a studio.  Monet, however, preferred to start and finish his paintings outdoors in front of the actual scene. 




Les glacons (The Ice Floes) 1880, Claude Monet

But why?  To Claude Monet, his paintings were not about the subjects.  Instead, he was interested in recording how the light hit the subject exactly at the moment he was painting.  That’s why Monet painted many works of the same object at different times of the day and even different seasons of the year.  Click here to go to Columbia University's fun and interactive study of Monet's series of the Rouen Cathedral in France.  It truly is amazing how not one of these paintings look the same!

As the sun moves across the sky, the light it casts causes colors to look different and shadows to grow and shrink.  Do you ever notice how the light of sunrise can be bright and intense while the sunset appears low and calm?   Monet was an expert at showing these differences of light on his canvas by carefully choosing different colors of paint and carefully studying the shadows. 




The Thames at Charing Cross Bridge, Londres
(The Thames at Charing Cross Bridge, London)
1899, Claude Monet

Meules, effet de neige (Grainstacks, Snow Effect)
1891, Claude Monet

Interested in capturing light like Monet?  All you need to be an Impressionist is a camera and a scene.  Since I have been cooped up inside for these long winter months, I chose to be a part of the scene.  Take pictures of your scene during different times of the day.  To really get a fun assortment, take pictures over a couple of days, a week, or even a month.   If you really want to see some differences, try taking pictures of the scene during different seasons.  Don’t forget to label each picture with the time of day!

8:30 a.m. & Cloudy



10:45 a.m. & Partly Sunny

Feel free to take pictures of your scene from all different angles and distances.  Pick the ones that you really like and compare the colors and shadows.  Is there one that is really bright?  How about dull?  Are the shadows small or really big?  Which time of day do you think shows the best light?

2:00 p.m. & Sunny

4:30 p.m. & Sunny

Send your pictures to:  webby@shelburnemuseum.org for a chance to appear on my blog. 

Be sure to check out Shelburne Museum’s great collection of Claude Monet’s paintings at the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building and my new Dive In cards site starting on May 12!

-- Webby