Nugget Art: Art and Emotion

Photo posts are temporarily on hold (apparently I'm out of photo upload space in my google account...) until I figure this out without having to pay for more space...hmmm.


For now, a Nugget Art Post. 


This week I talked to the kids about how different works of art can make you feel different ways; about how a drawing, painting, etc. can carry a certain emotion with it even without a real-life  representation. I chose five emotions: angry, sad, confused, relaxed and happy. First, we reviewed the meanings of the words and what an emotion is. Then they each picked one of the emotions out of a hat and were told not to tell their classmates what word they had chosen. They were given a piece of blank paper to represent the emotion in an abstract way - only lines, shapes and colors were allowed. (As I've said before, spanish children seem to have more trouble with non-realistic drawings, so we try to practice this and stimulate their creativity). When everyone had finished, each drawing was shown to the class and the nuggets had to vote for the emotion they thought the drawing represented. Anything involving a vote always gets kids excited, am I right? They go crazy. We wrapped up the class by discussing what colors and lines and shapes we thought were most commonly used for certain emotions. 

Rome: The Spanish Steps

And the view from the top of the steps as the sun was setting:

(Ancient) Roman Soldiers

Being a roman solider is a tough job, but someone's gotta do it! 
At least they get some downtime to relax:

And chat with other soliders:

Trevi Fountain

Before my trip I had always assumed the Trevi Fountain was in a big plaza off an equally big street in Rome...I guess its size in photos always made me jump to that conclusion. 

But in reality you walk down this small street:

And then all of a sudden you see this:
There is no huge street or large plaza; the fountain pretty much is the plaza. 

Although it's beautiful anytime of day, we were lucky enough to see the fountain's water and white marble lit into peachy, blue and turquoise colors by the golden hour sun.

Details from the fountain:

We loved it so much we headed back to see it lit up at night. It was really beautiful, but hard for my point and shoot camera to handle haha. Here we are:

Left: Me & my sister; Right: My mom and my sister

The Colosseum

I'll let the photographs do most of the talking for this one!

Exterior of the Colosseum:

Interior of the Colosseum:

The ground of the arena is removed so you can see the intricate system of chambers (for gladiators, animals, etc.) that was underneath. The tour of the Colosseum made the history dork in me want to curl up with a bunch of books on Roman History, which I may very well do this summer!

Vatican City

The Vatican City wall:

St. Peter's Basilica

Oh, Holy Light:

Lindsay, illuminated.

It's HUGE:

A cathedral just isn't a cathedral without some frightening cherubs, am I right?

The close-up details of the ceiling (lots of stairs later...). From far away it looks painted, but it's actually really intricate tiling - incredible!

Lots more stairs later and we were up at the top of the Vatican, with the view below - the view, and a refreshment pit-stop. I kid you not, there is a small restaurant on the roof of the Vatican.

The plaza:

The Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel:

The Sistine Chapel is actually inside the Vatican Museum (something that, admittedly, took us some time to figure out after lots of mumbled "But...where IS the Sistine Chapel??"). No photos are allowed in the Sistine Chapel itself but it's seriously amazing. I did get some photos of the details found within various rooms of the museum, beautiful in and of itself.

Ceiling detail (I loved the bright blue); wall detail; stained glass.

Overall, I'd say the best way to describe the Vatican would be "decadent", "extravagant" or even, "a work of art"; but "holy"...not really. At least not for me. But it doesn't make it any less awe-inspiring; beyond the grandeur of the buildings and art it's really incredible to think of the scope, power, and wealth the Catholic Church has had for centuries upon centuries. So much so that the Vatican City is its own country. Learning about the religion and faith of different people, past and present, is completely fascinating. 

Cafe con Leche

With my mom and sister visiting this past week, I've been spending my time site-seeing, relaxing, and drinking lots and lots of coffee.

Rome, February 2012

Photos from the week (our wanderings around Madrid and trip to Rome) coming soon!

Tranquility

Marrakech, Morocco - April 2011

Cotton Candy Skies

Muted Palette

The photos from my flomography logo:

I love the way my Diana Mini captures cloudy weather, it creates more depth in the color palette than my digital point and shoot, which tends to wash it out.

El Retiro

Kids Say It Best

In one of my private english classes today I had the 8 year old boy make a valentine (in english) for any person he wanted. He chose his best friend, Victor, and wrote:


Hello Victor!
You are my friend.
Are you happy?
Do you like valentines?
Love,
Sergio


He topped it off with a green heart, a yellow star and lots of monster stickers. Most of the time, kids say it best - simple, sincere and right to the point. No frills attached, unless it's actual frills on a Valentine's card :)

Calle Gran Via

Nugget Art: Finishing Up the Murals

Tomorrow we're putting together all the different parts of the mural! After weeks of poking and prodding at the imagination and creativity of the spanish nuggets, we've got some impressively spike-y cacti, sandy pyramids (apparently the desert they envisioned is in Egypt haha), twisty snakes and loads of other desert creatures! Now it's just a matter of getting 25 spanish kids to calmly work as a group (in english, hypothetically) and make it all come together. Two things are certain: it will get really, really loud and there won't be a dull moment. Maybe, in the end, we'll even wind up with a mural ;) Hopefully I'll have some photos to share tomorrow!


In the meantime, some food for thought: 
"You must work, we all must work, to make the world worthy of its children." [Picasso]

Street View Sky View

I love taking a sky view of a street. I think these photos can actually provide a lot of information about a place - sometimes more than a normal street view picture. You can find shapes, shadows, curves, details, and angles that you may not have noticed before; for example, the jumbled cables in the Tangier photo, a building reflected in a mirror in Toledo, the pastel blue sky of Cadiz's golden hour...

Toledo, Spain

Left and Right: Trujillo, Spain

Left: Cadiz, Spain; Right: Tangier, Morocco

El Oso y El Madroño - The Symbol of Madrid

Located in Puerta del Sol

Segovia

The castle and cathedral in Segovia (a day trip from Madrid):

Lomography Lag

As a result of an accidental exposure to a roll of film from my Diana Mini camera (oops), I´ve been lacking lately in lomo photos. I plan on finishing my current roll tomorrow and dropping it off at the photo lab to get developed. I should have the photos sometime next week :)

A Weekend Trip To: Ciudad Rodrigo

Jose and I decided to do a one-night trip to Ciudad Rodrigo, an old city in the region of Salamanca, close to the Portuguese/Spanish border. We stayed the night in a parador, an old palace or castle in Spain that has been converted into a hotel. This particular parador was previously the Castle of Henry II, built in 1372.

Below is the main plaza, where we sat for lunch. Thank god for the blue sky and strong sun that persist even through winter in many places in Spain...

Some spooky trees and a mer-child (?) fountain:

More photos from the town:

The city's cathedral, built between the 12th and 14th centuries:

Remnants to the fact that it was once a fortress city:

Overall a great weekend trip!

Portugal Pattern

My obsession with pattern continues...I love the diagonal design on the ground against the straight, rectangular lines of the windows. Why don't we have such beautiful plazas and sidewalks in the US?

Lisbon January 2011