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Lesson Plans


Re: guns and violence - painting fear

From: Rdunkelart
Date: Sun May 28 2000 - 06:02:27 PDT

  • Next message: Mark Alexander: "Re: laminator news"

    In a message dated 5/28/00 6:52:04 AM Central Daylight Time, Batmom44
    writes:

    << I don't want to wear a bullet proof vest to my job. I worked to hard to be
     allowed to wear shoes that didn't hurt my feet. :-)) fully understood here.
     
     Reatha >>

    Wow - what you have been through and still smiling and laughing. You are an
    inspiration.

    It is awful to be frightened of the kids in your classroom. There is one kid
    that is
    so low academically and so full of frustration - he will be a fifth grader
    next year.He needs to be in a special ed room all the time but will me
    mainstreamed I;m sure.
    He has no concience or care of what happens to him. He makes me afraid.
    Will take a discipline
    course in August in Kansas City presented by a school for disturbed kids -
    Oznam
    Hope I learn something useful.

    You could write a book on your life and how you have handled so much
    adversity.
    Seems that you have risen above it all. Do you ever express any of your life
    experiences in your art. I had a paranoid schizophrenic Mother and did a
    cathartic
    painting of her. My local art show hung it at the back - guess it struck some
    inner chords. I painted my Mother as a beautiful person but the background
    was and is disturbing - representing the voices and moods. I can;t have it
    in the
    house so it stays in the garage. Also did one about my "math anxiety". It
    was dark and ugly but full of humour. I am sread eagled on the ground
    Gulliver style and
    all these little mathmatical horrors are staking me down. Square roots in my
    hair,
    creatures skiing down incline planes etc. It was hanging in the
    tutoring rooms at my local University( where I had the algebra tutor banging
    her head
    on the table after one of my many dumb questions.) I also painted one of my
    son - (he has Native American Heritage) - as an Indian. My brother (died at
    27) is
    in the painting and another Indian person I think of as a "guide". The
    painting isn't
    finished and may never be. I have alot of hopeful Indian symbols running
    through
    it (white buffalos) etc. It is an awkward painting and needs to be redone.
    Another
    painting that was a really good exorcising exercise (:>)) is an abstract.
    My son
    took off with another "ner-do-well" for Florida on some rather suspicious
    business.
    I started the painting when he left. News came back that the car had broken
    down,
    the other boy had been arrested, Chris drove to Tennessee and broke down and
    then
    was arrested for some kind of car related stuff; etc. etc. Chris described
    the jail so
    dark that you couldn't see into it???? and very dirty and he never minded
    dirt.
    So the whole time he's gone I am
    throwing acrylic reds, yellows, billous greens, hot blues etc. onto this
    canvas and
    pulling it back off with newspaper so that I had ruts, bumps and a textured
    surface. A very active painting and it made me tired enough to sleep.
    Thank goodness it was a very large canvas or I might have been doing the
    walls also.
    Towards the end I included a peaceful trailing of pink hope and it runs
    through the
    painting. Last year my son wanted some of my art work to hang in his first
    apartment. I was flattered and dumbfounded that he wanted it. He chose all
    the abstracts and when I told him the story of that particular painting he
    was very
    interested. I told him I was anxious to paint another with alot more joy in
    it and
    not so much fear. He said he looked forward to that painting too.

    This has been all too long. thanks for bending your ear again. You;re a good
    listener. The best to you - Roberta 

    ---

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