Thursday, July 25, 2013

Umlauf Sculpture Garden

Boogs picked out a book at the library this week called The Naked Lady by Ian Wallace. It tells the story of a sculptor who moves in next door to Tom and his parents. Tom takes a "welcome neighbor" raspberry pie next door and sees a statue in the middle of a field. He gasped, "She's naked." The owner of the property informs Tom that she is not naked, she is nude. She is a piece of art. The artist has many other sculptures on his property of fruits, vegetables, and animals. The artist becomes a close friend to the family. Tom is so inspired by the artist's work that he eventually grows up to be an artist, too. The author, Ian Wallace, stated that this is his own story. He expressed his art by becoming an illustrator for children's books.

This book inspired me to take Boogs to a sculpture garden in our community. I made Boogs a story themed lunch for our adventure.  In his Laptop lunchbox: cheese statue on almond butter & jelly sandwich, berries for the berry pie they shared, taffy for sculpting and a salad with dressing.

Charles Umlauf was an artist, sculptor and teacher. He taught at the University of Texas in Austin for 40 years. In 1985, he donated his home, studio and 168 of his art pieces to the city of Austin. This was later turned into the Umlauf Sculpture Garden.

Boogs really enjoyed our exploration of Umlauf's work. I created a 12 picture scavenger sheet to take with us. Boogs searched for each of the statues, located their name and what material they were made of. Umlauf used bronze, cast stone, aluminum, African mohogany, stoneware, plaster, redwood, terra cotta, hydrastone, alabaster, marble, and Texas limestone. He sculpted animals, families, religious figures, mythological figures, and nudes. Umlauf Sculpture Garden is a small but wonderful place to explore. Even on a hot Texas afternoon, there was plenty of shade.

 Icarus was Boogs' favorite sculpture in the garden.
 
Boogs was very intrigued by the size of The Diver because he was exactly the same size as Boogs and he appeared to like swimming! Boogs decided that The Diver must also be 7-years-old.
 
 Same size feet.
 Same arm length.
Boogs noticed that The Poetess had bigger hands and smaller feet than I do. He said, "I think if she stood up she would fall right over because she is top heavy."


After we explored the entire grounds, I asked Boogs to choose his favorite sculpture to sketch. He chose Icarus. It was so sweet to watch him find the perfect shady spot to make his own art.
I asked Boogs to write a few sentences about why he picked Icarus as his favorite sculpture.

We brought along some taffy to use to make our own sculptures inspired by Umlauf's work. Boogs thought is was fun to sculpt with taffy. Especially since he was able to eat his creation. Here is my taffy sculpture of The Poetess.
Boogs told me he didn't think I would like his choice for his taffy sculpture inspiration. He asked, "Can I try to do a sculpture of the Reclining Nude? It is not because she is naked, she is nude like the book said, not naked. I just find that sculpture really interesting."

We had a fun afternoon together.

I linked this post to:
Highhill Education
Crafts a la mode
After School Linky
Lunchbox Dad: Throwback Thursday link up 
Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

A Mom With a Lesson Plan

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

33 comments:

  1. I love the idea of making taffy sculptures. Your scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun. I will be sharing this post on Pinterest and Google+.

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    1. Boogs like the taffy sculptures, too. They were fun to make and fun to eat. Thanks for sharing this post.

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  2. I would love for you to share and link up at my weekly TGIF Link Party if you haven't already this week. Your favorite posts, most popular, recent or new! The party is open every Thursday night and closes Wednesday's at midnight. Followed by (Not SO) Wordless Wednesday! http://apeekintomyparadise.blogspot.com/.
    I would be honored if you join us and follow to stay connected Have a wonderful week!
    Hugs, Cathy

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  3. Love th images of him with the diver sculpture Thisdayilove

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    1. Thanks, Leyla. I think it will be fun to take Boogs back to the sculpture garden in a couple of years to see how much bigger he will become than the Diver statue.

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  4. What an enriching experience for Boogs, how can you fail to be inspired by the wonderful pieces of art. I love the pictures of Boogs with the diver - how uncanny that he was the same size. Thanks for sharing your creative outdoor fun with Country Kids.

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    1. The pictures with the diving statue are my favorite. Thanks for stopping by.

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  5. What a neat idea. We have some sculptures in our park, I think we'll do a little sketching lesson next week. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  6. What a great day out....Lovely pictures x

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  7. What a beautiful lunch. I need to take my kids to Umlauf garden now

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    1. Thanks, Sarah. Admission is free during the summer. Check out their website because they have special family activities on the first Sunday of each month. The next on is on Aug. 4th.

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  8. fab photos, I feel all inspired to go sketch! x

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  9. This is pretty cool. Thanks for sharing. I'd love to have you come and share this and any other of your posts at What to do Weekends Party. Perfect for the weekends...

    Linda

    Following on Pinterest.

    http://www.craftsalamode.com/2013/07/what-to-do-weekends-30.html

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    1. Thank you, Linda. I will go check out your weekend party.

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  10. Love this post! What a fun way to espose him to art!! The diver pictures are great!

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  11. This is one of my favorite blog posts ever! I absolutely love everything about this incredible experience you blessed your children with. Thank you for linking your beautiful lunch to 15 Minute Fridays Summer Edition!

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  12. I love how you tied the book to a sculpture walk and even added art and writing. It looks like a wonderful day.

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    1. Thanks. We love to use books to inspire our adventures.

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  13. What a wonderful day and adventure!! I love it!! I pinned it to my Art Lessons for Children board. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!

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  14. You REALLY made this experience of looking at art SO much more. What a wonderfully interactive experience sculpting with taffy and mirroring the poses! I love it! I'm featuring this tomorrow at the After School Linky Party. Stop by to check it out and keep sharing!!

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    1. Thank you! We learn so much from the After School Linky Party.

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  15. I love this post! It sounds like such a great experience and I love the connection with literature. Thank you for sharing at the After School Party, I'm featuring this post today.

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    1. Thank you for hosting the After School Party and for featuring this post.

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  16. This is a wonderful idea for exposing children to the arts. We have a sculpture garden near us, and I think my oldest would enjoy this. While not yet 4, I think we could still tie it into the book (or another book) and have him mimic the poses. Thanks. Pinning this now.

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  17. I remember this post and actually think about it when I see sculptures now.

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    1. That is nice to know. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

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