Art is Fun -- MAMA -- Museum of Ancient and Modern Art

One of the most gratifying parts of MAMA's art programs have been the many friendships and associations that have developed over the last ten years. In addition to getting to know many truly wonderful people we have also benefited enormously from hearing from you and responding to your suggestions, comments and volunteer efforts. As the Traveling Art Program (TAP) grows and the Saturday Morning Children's Art Class expands, it is more important than ever to stay in touch. Through nurturing this give and take communication we all benefit. Thus "Art is Fun" has been revived.

Created for the children, the parents, the educators, the members of the Museum and for MAMA's donors and supporters, "Art is Fun" is a way to let you know all the exciting things going on as TAP travels around northern California presenting assemblies and as the children in the art classes explore an amazing variety of artistic expressions. Take a look at the summer program schedule and imagine what beautiful creations will be present come September at our annual children's art show.

I hope that you will look forward to receiving "Art is Fun." And please take a minute to let us hear from you, too. You may send e-mail to artisfun@mama.org. We don't ever want to lose the ability to stay in touch. See you this summer!

Zoe Alowan

"From a Kid's Point of View" artists

Creativity Abounds at Summer Art Classes Creativity abounds as MAMA's Summer Saturday Morning Children's Art Class Program takes off. Artist Della Heywood started thesummer session off with an unusual technique of combining india ink and colored pastels.

Coming up are three months of dynamic art experiences which will culminate in MAMA's seventh annual children's art show called "From a Kid's Point of View." Some of last year's art show crew are pictured above with the Museum's Children's Art Director, Zoe Alowan.

This summer, July will be devoted to an intensive exploration of the Yuba River. Children will be painting scenes from the Yuba as well as depicting masks of the animals of the river.

Children's art work will be saved

throughout the summer for the show on September 19^th. Commemorative program books will also be assembled. Parents who wish to help work on the show are welcome to sign up with Zoe at 432-3080 and at Parent Volunteer Day on June 27. We're looking forward to a great show with contributions of the children's creativity and parent's enthusiastic support!

Ink and Pastel Gesture Drawing Katrina Hajimihali age 11

Martian Princess grants interview at Seven Hills School

Inside:

The Martians Have Landed ........ page 2 What's Coming Up At MAMA .....page 3 Where Is Santorini? Iven Lourie Knows ...... page 3

DINOSAUR TAP TOUR VISITS SACRAMENTO START PROGRAM

MAMA'S TRAVELING ART

PROGRAM ON THE MOVE

S.T.A.R.T. kindergarten student proudly displays her dinosaur painting

It is summertime and it is HOT.

Museum of Ancient and Modern Art volunteers are setting up a life sized 27 foot Triceratops dinosaur in the multipurpose room. at Fruitridge School in Sacramento. The youngsters are already captivated and firing questions from the sidelines as they prepare to enter the dinosaur exhibit looming now in their midst.

Dinosaur enthusiast Tim Elston presents a captivating figure as he shares valuable data with them, crushes pine cones dino-stomach style and shares a video of computer animated dinosaurs that he created in conjunction with The Oregon Museum of Technology.

Anderson Smith demonstrates the process of fossilization and shares the timeline with them and MAMA storyteller Marie Ellerby delights the large gathering of young children with an interactive story called "When Dinosaurs Invented Flowers." Dancer, Yanesh, works with children in the second phase of the tour, as they dramatize the dinosaur story with a large diplodocus puppet and a cast of dancing angiosperms (the first fruit bearing flowers).

At other creativity stations, some children are practicing exacavation in mini bone beds, others are writing stories, making dinosaurs out of clay or painting pictures of their enormous prehistoric friends from ancient times. Everybody, volunteers, and students alike are all having an enormously good time!

Yes, it is truly HOT but everyone is so intent upon creating and discovering that no one seems to mind the high temperature, in fact, it lends a kind of prehistoric swamp like atmosphere to MAMA's Traveling Art Program event.

The Martians Have Landed at Seven Hills School!

Seven Hills Middle School science students were treated to MAMA's space science and meteorites traveling art program, "The Martians Have Landed!" In front of beautifully painted panels depicting our solar system, students were introduced to an exciting science program. Charles and Ray Eames' "The Power of Ten" video was presented as well as a spectacular variety of meteorites (including a sample of the highly prized SNC (pronounced "snick") material from neighboring Mars) all from the museum's collection. Presenter Anderson Smith captivated the student's attention as he created a "comet" right before their eyes and presented a slide show of spectacular photos taken with the Hubble Telescope from deep space.

Science fiction writer, Janna Hart, offered a different perspective when she presented a mysterious visitor, Princess Zabalucca, a young alien from Mars. Princess Zabalucca consented to an interview with Zoe Alowan as Ms. Hart translated her speech. Delighting her audience, the alien princess proceeded to perform a dance to the unusual strains of "Venus Rising". Following the presentation the students worked in dance, creative writing and sculpture as well as drawing as they offered their enthusiastic creative responses to the science and art assembly.

The Medieval Art of Illumination

Students at Clear Creek School made perfectly regal models for their classmates to draw as they donned robes and crowns during MAMA's The Medieval Art of Illumination TAP tour in May. The sixth through eighth graders assumed poses from the historical story "Berta the Broadfooted", the story of King Charlemagne's mother and father. This famous King is important to the history of medieval art because he standardized writing during that time making the knowledge of writing and reading available to many more people.

Below is a photo of the children posing in friezes. Also shown are a few examples of the children's "gesture drawings" completed in exactly ninety seconds. Their drawings depict Berta's departure from her beloved parents.

Jason B., grade 8, Clear Creek School

Chris R., grade 8, Clear Creek School

Upcoming Events

Meet Saturday Morning Children's Art

Class Parent George Marks

George Marks has been involved in early childhood education for many years. As a teacher at the Marin County Waldorf School in the Bay Area he has been especially focused on an education style that marries the arts with the intellect. Two years ago George and his wife Susan and their daughter Laurel moved to Nevada County to participate in The Yuba River Charter School. Through friends they were introduced to the Museum of Ancient and Modern Art's Saturday Morning Children's Art Classes.

"I think it is a wonderful resource for the children of Nevada County" comments George. "It is a dream to have access to so many artists and their techniques. If this was in the Bay Area there would be 200 people going! Each class would cost $25 and there wouldn't be a place to park. This is just wonderful. It's a true family environment!" George pointed out also that the art class style "fits right into the temperament of children which is constantly changing and exploring. It balances the overly stressed intellectual side of society by nurturing their artistic aspect.

"We discovered this incredible resource in l996 when it was still located in Penn Valley...When the art classes program moved to the Nevada County Library, we began to go every week. Our daughter treasures the things she makes at these classes and, of course, so do we."

Iven Lourie Presents Slide Show and Talk on Atlantis and The Ancient Minoans

Thursday Evening Discovery Series

Fresco of Minoan Princess 1650 BC

Is Atlantis lost deep in the mid-Atlantic Ocean or the Bermuda Triangle? Or has it actually been found in the Mediterranean Sea? Using a slide show, photographs and drawings, author and editor Iven Lourie will introduce the theory of archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos and a growing group of scientists that the culture described by Plato was actually the

island empire of the ancient Minoans. Decide for yourself whether the eruption of a volcano on Thera (Santorini) around 1450 B.C. was the cataclysm that destroyed fabled Atlantis. When yousee examples of the breathtaking art and advanced technology of the Minoans, you may agree that Atlantis has resurfaced.

Mark your calender for July 23rd, Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the Madelyn Helling Library for an unforgetable encounter with newly excavated discoveries from the island of Santorini in the Agean Sea.

Talking About Mummies, Myth and Magic

"Thank you very much for taking your time to teach us about the Ancient Egyptians. I really enjoyed the dancing and the sculpturing. My favorite thing out of both of those was the dancing because I could really imagine what I was doing. Thank you very much." -

Becca R., Pleasant Valley School, 6^th grade

"It was a pleasure having you at our school. My favorite part was when I was King Tut. That was really fun. I enjoyed all the things about Egypt. Thank you for coming.

Jared P., Pleasant Valley School 6^th grade.

Everyone falls in love with Chris Harbour's silk painting "This Is How You Look To Me." So, we decided to make it available to people as either a Giclee print on fine art paper, framed or unframed, or as a T-shirt.

( from original silk painting )

Framed $39.95 Unframed $15.00

T-Shirt $19.00

Call 530 432-3080 to place an order.