Blog Post Assignment Due 1/25

This week I want  you to continue with the thought process we have been working on all year (Observe+Infer, Interpret, Extend) and connect it to some of the visual arts work we have done in our poetry unit, including our study of Frida Kahlo's "Self Portrait on the Border" and the pairing of works by Jean-Michel Basquiat with Maya Angelou's "Life Doesn't Frighten Me."  Your job is to:

•  Find a piece of visual art that you love and display it at the top of your post (use the button that looks like a picture when you write your post).  
• Make observations about the work you chose.  What do you infer from them?  What do you think that the work is actually about based on them?
• Turn these ideas into an organized blog post.  These steps are the same ones you should be following each week to meet standards anyway.  Remember: 

Paragraph 1: A lead, an introduction to the work, your theory
Paragraph 2: Evidence that supports your theory
Paragraph 3: Extension: how do you connect to this work? how does it connect to humanity? etc.

*as always, write more to exceed standards and check out mentors if you need help.
*don't forget that you are now commenting on at least TWO other posts per week!

Here are some online galleries that you can visit to find a piece of visual art that you love or find thought provoking.  Be sure to take your time to browse and explore so that you can find something you are excited about!

The Google Art Project takes you to amazing museums around the world. 
The Museum of Modern Art's (Manhattan) online collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's (Manhattan) online collection
The Brooklyn Museum's online collection

Extra credit: Along with  your post, write a poem in response to the piece of art.  It must incorporate at least three of the poetic devices that are on your sheet (that you are actively studying!) Name those devices in an introductory paragraph to your poem. 12 line minimum.

Next Blog Post Assignment due Thursday 1/13

I would like for you to respond to a poem of your choosing for your next post.  You may already have one that you love, or you might have to search on www.poets.org or www.poetryfoundation.org (you can search by category or by author...take the time to find one you like!). Your post must do the following things:

• Include the poem itself and poet's name
• Include at least 3 specific observations and your inferences about them
• Include an interpretation of the entire poem based on what you observed and inferred
• Extend your thoughts into connections to your life or the world

You may be creative in your formatting, or allot one paragraph for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th bullet points. I will have a mentor on my blog: www.akindoflibrary.blogspot.com.

Observe+Infer=Interpretation

Here are the pictures that accompanied our first poetry lesson, in which we decided that poetry is an art form and used the metaphor of painting to hone our skills.  Feel free to continue to observe/infer/interpret and even turn your response into a blog post (isn't writing FUN when you have something interesting to say!! share your thoughts! I promise it will make you feel really smart!).

Remember that this "equation" can be used in all kinds of genres and in all kinds of art.  You can, of course, still consider what the author/painter, etc. wants you to know, feel and think!

Self Portrait 1932, Frida Kahlo

The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dali