My classroom has no windows, although I can see light from across the hall through my doorway.... small consolation some days. I have filled my classroom with visual interest, posters the students have made, art posters, a word wall, etc, etc... and my Smartboard which arrived this year. Everyday, I choose an image or two to grace the Smartboard when I am not using it for academics. It has great resolution. I have displayed Calder wire faces, Eric Carle's joy, Homer, Sargent, Sorolla, today a Paul Rand, illustration... vivid, powerful, deceptively simple genius.
Seems this winter, now spring, we have seldom seen the sun, and in fact, this mid-week of April, it was dreary and cold and drizzly, and enough is enough. So, I called on Childe Hassam for a "wow the rain is beautiful" image, and here's what I got. "Nocturne, Railway Crossing Chicago" from 1892. Suddenly, the gray day that merges into a gray night, is not so dreary... I am mesmerized by the silhouettes and tonalism in this quiet watercolor, and spent a little bit of time studying its gracious lines... what a masterpiece. And, hey, the sun is coming out tomorrow!!
