What is the person in The Scream screaming about?

The Scream

by Edvard Munch

(in Norwegian, it's Skrik)

created 1893-1910

I know wikipedia is much decried for inaccuracies, but I used it for information and the article is here.

This painting has always given me a creepy feeling if I study it long enough. I think the screaming figure is especially weird because he's bald. No one in real life looks like this, so it's otherworldly. He looks afraid. There are two people coming toward him, but he's looking off to the right and something there is scaring him. The transliteration of the Norwegian word is "shriek," and that seems even more appropriate for the picture. A scream of surprise.

I often have dreams about the end of the world. I am trying to deal with people chasing me, dangerous terrain, aliens, natural catastrophes. My family is in danger and I'm trying to help get us all to safety. I guess watching shows like Falling Skies on TNT doesn't help me at night!

The scenery in The Scream is the kind of imaginary world I might see in my dreams of the end of the world. One of the theories about the red sky is that there was a volcano eruption that spewed a lot of ash into the sky and gave Edvard a red sky at sunset which inspired him to paint this painting. The sky seems almost to be moving around like the stream going under the bridge, or even as the body seems to be moving. I feel like the screamer is about to slip down to the ground, melting down with fright.

But the question today is, "What is he screaming about?" I think something is just off the other side of the bridge. Something is coming out of the water. Something so scary and threatening that it scared the hair off him! It's a man with a knife and a heavy brow, storming his way up the bank of the river, coming right at the screamer. The two people coming up behind him are going to catch him if he tries to run the other way. There is no escape . . .

Pictures of this weekend

J had a show this weekend---Flashback Fever. They are singing songs from the 50s and 60s. Here are some good shots of J---in the blue bowling shirt.

"Oh Boy"

"Maybeline"

J's song is "Traveling Man" and the girls are lining up behind him, giving him the stink eye because he's got so many girls.


B was involved with UIL events this weekend. Her event was Art Memory. B has been saying for weeks that L would get 1st place and she would get 2nd. I knew there'd be a lot of competition, and she said there were about 20 fourth grade kids in the room. We were surprised she got 1st place in district! Her BFF L was second place. Those are two smart girls.

They are posing with their coach and Art teacher,

Mrs. M. We all love her. ;-)

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, April 5th

This week's theme is glass. I took pictures of many stained-glass church windows in Houston in February.

I enjoy stained glass and consider it an art! The churches I grew up in and attend now don't really use stained glass.

I hope you'll come back and see next week's theme: twisted. Sounds interesting!

Check out more photo hunters at TNChick.

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, September 29th

Today's word is Original. I thought of Coca-Cola first, the original formula. This is my drink of choice, and for younger readers, you might not even know there was a formula different from original. "New Coke" from the 80s, although a bust, still lives in my memory.

I also thought about original artwork. We have lots of that around here.


But this pictures is original in two ways.
Last spring, 2006, part of J's Troupe group wrote an original musical play (the songs were all Disney), and then put it on. J got the part of Timon, which you can see here---he's in the yellow costume. He's singing "Hakuna Matata" with the Pumba character. I loved it and am very impressed with the kids who wrote it.

And this is also original because J is one of the most original people I know. He does not shy away from being who he really wants to be (like I always have). He is weird---he admits it---but he loves being a stand-out. He doesn't want to follow anyone. He wants to take something and make it his own, somehow. He's an original.

I am recovering from a slumber party of B's. We had three girls over last night, and I'm a bit sleepy this afternoon. ;-) They had a real fun time at B's "Spa Slumber Party" as we called it. This was our first slumber party, and for her 9th birthday, I think it was just perfect. They did all the things B planned---baked potatoes for supper, cookie cake for dessert, foot whirlpool, sleeping in the living room---everything except painting toenails, which they just didn't get to. Lovely guests! A little loud sometimes, but lovely all around, though.

I should post pictures really soon!

Miss November

B drew a picture for the school lunch calendar last year in her Art class. We found out in May that her drawing got accepted for the calendar, and more excitingly, for one of the big pictures for the month. They have several smaller pictures around the sides of the calendar, and give all the kids credit.

So this is her drawing of a turkey beating a drum, the theme for November. (Or it could have been a Rock Star turkey, too.)

The artists were all kinds of ages from 16 different school districts. You can see her trademark sun and cloud with hands, smile and sunglasses. Being the Mom, I think it's just brilliant, of course, right down to the golden caps on the sun's teeth.

Today we got the calendar from her Art teacher, who got two. There should be more at school someplace we can pick up. For each month, the calendar lists each school day's breakfast and lunch choices (two choices of entree per day per meal). Every elementary school in our district is on the same schedule, so everyone in our district potentially has B's picture in their home! ;-)

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, June 2nd

Join the Photo Hunters!

Click on the blogroll to visit more photo hunters.

Today's Theme is Art.

This is a subject very near and dear to my heart. I took art classes for kids through Memphis State University (I think?) when I was in 3rd grade (I think again?). I took private oil painting lessons from a lady at our church when we moved to Texas. I took a year of Art in Junior high and then 3 years in high school. (I also took band so I ended up with 7 credits "Fine Arts" and I only needed 1 to graduate!) I've done pencil sketches, pastel drawings, charcoal, calligraphy, worked with clay and fired my work in a kiln, weavings, drawn with Prisma Pencils (one of my favorite mediums), pen and ink, not to mention crayons, glue, papers, ballpoint pens and markers. I love playing with this kind of thing! I even encourage art activities in my pre-school classroom. I just don't have a lot of pictures of me doing this!

This is a picture of me and my Art Club, circa 1987. I am the one in the red shirt in the middle. I had to scan in an album page I made! (Click on it to see a larger image.)

This is my daughter in the district Art Show this spring. She had two pieces of art in the show, a storyteller doll (colorful to our left) and a wax resist (the one with the yellow mat that looks like a sunburst).

J also had a piece in the Art show this spring---a bowl he had made. I love the colors he chose.

This was one interesting shot I took at the show of other students' art. Tiny Day of the Dead Masks (a Hispanic /Mexican tradition). Dia de la Muertos!

So Art is even important to my children. I have shared what I have learned about perspective and shading and colors, just in a natural way through the years, and I think they are very good at producing what they want to on paper or in clay or any medium they choose. It's creativity!

Next week's photo hunters theme is Shoes. Come back and see what I find!

ArtFest 2007

The school district's ArtFest was Saturday. We have gone for several years, even when the kids did not have anything in the show. I love to see all the different schools' artwork. Kids from Kindergarten to high school have their stuff displayed. All the Art teachers come and talk to the kids and parents about the things they've been making and learning about.

It's also fun because there are things you can make and take home. The kids supervising the "stations" I can only assume are Art Club members or something like that. I was in high school Art Club, so I always look at those kids with a sense of connection! This year, my kids really enjoyed making necklaces with round amulets to paint. The kids each made one for themselves and one for me. In this picture, the two tall kids in the middle are the high school kids, I'm assuming. My kids are on the outside edges of the picture. See them create?

This painting---a watercolor---was made by B's art teacher. She says she takes lessons in watercolor in the summer. Very nice!
I liked these Day of the Dead masks made by the high schoolers.

This is B's Storyteller Doll. Her art teacher said that they were learning about rhythm and form. The form of the grown-up doll, plus the repeating rhythm of the littler dolls on the big one. I saw a Storyteller Doll on Antiques Roadshow after B had been telling me about her project. B was really excited about her clay art, and talked about her progress week by week. (She gets art once a week.) Here is a link to some other student-made storyteller dolls. Here is a link to some authentic Pueblo Indian storyteller dolls. It's an interesting lesson, and B's teacher said they got a lot out of it. It was a 5th grade lesson, but she let those 2nd graders do it, and it paid off.

This next piece is J's bowl. He admits that he didn't intend for it to come out like this---it is low on one side--but sometimes unintentional happenings are what make things interesting and unique. I think it looks great. I especially love his colors and the choice of how he put his dots on.

The next one is B's crayon-resist painting. (I made that term up, but it's something like that!) She drew really hard with regular crayons, and then did a wash of black paint.

We saw several people we knew there and had a great time. I love Art!