Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Art Masters payed off-thank you Amy: Barcelona,Spain

 Waiting in the rain outside the Pablo Picasso Museum,notice JT in the gray jacket :)
              Johanna, Joshua, JT between their heads, and creepy looking Samuel in the background. The kids were always trying to be funny(ruin) my posed pictures. Now its kind of funny,at the time not so funny.
        In front of the museum. We wondered why the line was sooo long, we had to wait for about an hour to get in. When we got to the cashier and tried to pay she told us that on the day and time we were there the museum is FREE!!! We saved  50 Euros so about $70 bucks. This museum has the best collection in the country of the work of Picasso, especially his early works since he spent his formative years, ages 14-21 in Barcelona.
              Christopher Columbus Monument, 200 feet tall built in 1888 for an exposition. It is at the point  where Ferdinand and Isabel welcomed Columbus home after his first trip to America.
                                     Most of the countries we went to have an area where they allow graffiti
       Sarah and JT went up in an aerial gondola and took this city view. I missed out because of my fear of heights :(
                                

              Many visitors come to Barcelona for its Modernista architecture. The most influential name is Antoni Gaudi(1852-1926)  Gaudi's most famous and unfinished landmark church is the Sagrada Familia or Holy Family Church. He worked on the Sagrada Familia from 1883 until his death. Since then construction has moved forward in spurts since the church is funded exclusively by private donations and entry fees. It is not expected to be completed for another 25 years.                  
The rest of the church has been inspired by Gaudi's vision but designed and executed by others.
              It is amazing to see all the different artists interpretations in this one church. Everywhere you look its amazing, you notice different details.
              Not your tradition Catholic church, but a very modern version.
In mid September we headed off for Barcelona,Spain. Why Barcelona,well Joshua's friend JT had mentioned he would like to go there,and it was a cheap non-stop flight on Ryan Air. Bought our tickets, rented an apartment, and off we went. The flight was fine and we caught a bus to take us into the city. Then we needed to catch the Metro and upon exiting, walk a couple of blocks to our apartment where the landlord would be waiting. Well needless to say, do to ALL the involved parties, we got lost. Luckily this was in the afternoon and we didn't have much luggage, because the catch to flying Ryan Air is you are only allowed one piece of carry on luggage,basically the size of a man's basketball shoe box. Oh and if you have a purse, that needs to fit into the shoe box :) Ok back to the story. Well thanks to JT and his Iphone and whatever app you use to navigate,we found the place. When we were outside the apartment we called the landlord and let him know we were there. He proceeds to exit the bar next door and all the introductions were made. Lets just say he had been at the bar for a while and was really happy to see us, show us around the apartment and talk. The kids thought it was hysterical until he got too close to you. We finally got him to leave and were trying to leave ourselves when we decided to test the door locks. Basically, if we left the apartment we would be locked out because one of the tumblers on the lock was broken. We called the landlord immediately and lucky for us he was still close by, that's right, in the bar downstairs!! After him telling me how much it was going to cost him to have a locksmith come out,as if it was my fault, the lock was fixed and we were off. That was our first 3 hours in Barcelona...haha
Back to the title of this post. Art Masters is an art program purchased by our school.The lovely, lively, and knowledgeable Mrs. Amy Donfrio comes into the school, gives a lecture with slide show to the students about a particular artist, and later in the week comes into our classrooms and does an appropriate art project related to that artist. All eleven years I've been at Los Altos, Amy has been our Art Masters instructor. When we got to Barcelona, there was art everywhere, in the buildings,on the walls,the architecture and of course in the Pablo Picasso museum. I have sat through numerous slide shows where we have been instructed to look at the art and "notice the lines, follow the curve of the brushstroke, take in the colors, take in the lack of color" I have been prompted to ask myself "why did the artist: use shading, lots of color, only black and white, focus on different objects, use hard edges, use exaggeration, do close-up, do distant " you get the idea. Well the instruction that was suppose to teach the students, was actually teaching their teacher :)  As I was looking at the art of the city of Barcelona, I could hear Amy's voice prompting me to "SEE" all that was around me. Thanks Amy :)
                                                  The view from our front balcony.
                             A Tapas restaurant, that's ham hanging from the ceiling.

                                        Enjoying a good meal.
                            Stained glass windows of the Sagrada Familia

We had a great time!!!    Sorry the pictures are out of order, I didn't have Joshua to help me :)