Art Talk.

Digging Up da Vinci

 Recently, I shared with my students a story about a group of scientists and art historians who want  exhume Leonardo da Vinci’s in order to answer some of the mysteries that have remained unanswered for centuries. Here is what one of my grade five students has to say about it.

After someone has passed on, they’d be allowed to rest. They’d rest for the rest of eternity, without worrying about someone disturbing them. It sounds peaceful doesn’t it? Although, for some reason, that doesn’t apply to everyone.

Someone’s bones are lying beneath the ground, resting, but some historians and scientists are going to lift it out of its tomb. Doesn’t sound very pleasant, does it? Those bones happen to be Leonardo Da Vinci’s, the famous artist. What caused this kind of bad luck? Simply because he created an innocent riddle.

Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa ages ago, but to this very day, historians and scientists are still puzzled over the identity of Lisa. Could Lisa have been a Florentine merchant’s wife? Or was Lisa Leonardo’s dear mother? Or maybe, just maybe, did Leonardo paint himself as a female?

Scientists and historians are determined to find out the truth. A little too determined.

Should they, the scientists and historians have the right to tear open Da Vinci’s tomb? I feel it’s wrong to open up a tomb that’s supposed to allow its occupant to rest in peace. It doesn’t matter what’s inside the tomb, the tomb was built to store something that needed rest, period.

Those scientists and historians should take some time to think whether they’re doing the right thing. That’s all I ask from them.

 Website used:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/7069335/Leonardo-Da-Vincis-remains-to-be-exhumed-amid-Mona-Lisa-self-portrait-mystery.html

Here is what two of my fourth graders have say about the matter.

The World Wide Genius to be Discovered

Everyone, at least once should’ve heard of Leonardo da Vinci. He was an architect, artist, inventor, scientist, and a musician. This genius was a true genius and everyone agrees on that. Leonardo was born in 1452, in the town of Vinci, and died in 1519, in the age of 67. It is believed that he is buried in the Amboise castle. However, his death is a mystery.

Lots of people wondered how he died. They began making possible theories. But they really didn’t make any action. Until now.

Giorgio Gruppioni, an Italian anthropologist, decided to dig up Leonardo’s body. He is going to take skull to see how he looked like in real life by putting clay on the skull and molding it. He also wants to see how Leonardo died by looking at his body. And the most important part is: They want to see if Mona Lisa, one of the best masterpieces that Leonardo drew, was actually a self-portrait of him as a woman. It is because some scientists believe that Leonardo liked to draw himself as a woman. This discovery might be a failure, or a historical moment. And guess what? Nobody knows.

Yebin

 I think this is a great way to find out more facts about Leonardo. I think it’s really cool that scientists are trying to find out things that about Leonardo.

Sarah R.

The Little Dancer Comes to Life!

By Wanling (Grade 5) 

I’m just about to tell you something unbelievable: I have seen The Little Dancer come to life. You must be wondering how and why I could do that. The puzzling and obscure answer is I went to the Tate Kids site, the site that Ms. Mac recommended.

Tate Kids recently designed a new interactive game called The Secret Dancer. A security guard named Chloe has to figure out how to get the sculpture called The Little Dancer back into its case when it escapes.

Chloe has to go on scavenger hunts and gather bits of paper left behind by The Little Dancer, to solve riddles. Chloe keeps getting clues sent by someone called Marie van Goethem. Chloe had never heard of someone called Marie van Goethem until then. Who is Marie I hear you ask? That’s why you should read on.

Marie was the 14 year old girl that Edgar Degas chose for his sculpture. She was a dancer, but after a few years, Marie started skipping her dance classes. Soon enough, she got expelled from her ballet school. When nobody heard from Marie, they realized that she had no record of getting married, having children, working or dying.

As for the sculptor Edgar Degas, he was a very famous artist. The Little Dancer was the only sculpture he was willing to share when he was alive. The Little Dancer was supposed to go onto exhibition in Paris, 1880, but everyone was shocked when they realized that The Little Dancer wasn’t there. There was just the empty case, and no Little Dancer inside. In 1881, The Little Dancer was finally shown in a Paris exhibition.

Chloe has no clue about why a sculpture would escape from its case, I didn’t understand at first either.  As Chloe gets closer to finding The Little Dancer, she doesn’t know that she’s falling into a planned trap. She also doesn’t know that The Little Dancer is waiting for her at the trap.

Have you ever heard of a sculpture helping a person? I can almost hear you say no in your head. Amazingly, The Little Dancer helped Chloe understand that anyone can break free of their strings and live a great life.

Don’t expect this paper to tell you everything about The Little Dancer. This paper doesn’t know everything about Edgar Degas and Marie. It’s your job to find out more if you’re curious. It’s also your job to play The Secret Dancer game on http://kids.tate.org.uk/ because it’s a great game and trust me, you’ll have fun clicking and exploring.