Japanese History and Art Activities

Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop site has some interesting hands on activities that would be fun for homeschoolers. Check out the history section, which includes some Japanese activities, like a pop up Bunraku stage. Bunraku is Japanese puppet theatre like what is described in The Master Puppeteer.

Hat tip: Our Nest of 3

Online Art Resources

I've been putting together my plans for artist study this year and found a great resource from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. It has essays on various themes from artistic movements to artists to specific subjects to specific objects. For example:

Japanese Art (over 30 essays)
Greek and Roman Art (over 90 essays)
Horse Armor in Europe, with links to related essays and exhibitions, including Let's Look at Armor, which compares European, Japanese and Ottoman Turkish armor.

There was some discussion on the KPHS email list about Janson's History of Art. There is an extensive companion website for Janson's that includes study guides and activities like fill in the blank, true false questions, essay questions and maps. If you hover above the chapter numbers at the top you can see what the chapter topics are. I haven't checked yet, but I would expect the base library to have at least one copy of Janson's History of Art in the collection.

One more nice art resource is the National Gallery of Art's website. It has both an art education section with lesson plans and activities by artist and topic; and an NGAKids section that includes fun online activities using various artists and movements for inspiration. They have children's guides and longer Family Guides. These can be helpful when visiting exhibits at local Japanese art museums, which might not have printed or audio guides available in English.

Vivire a Pompeii

The art exhibit Vivire a Pompeii at the Yokohoma Museum of Art will close in a couple weeks (13 June). The exhibit is about life in Pompeii before its destruction by the volcanic explosion of Vesuvius in 49 AD.

The exhibit is in Japanese with little to no English explanations or audio guides. However educator resources and an audio guide to a similar exhibit, A Day in Pompeii are available at these links.

http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/pompeii/sites/wamuseum.com.pompeii/files/pompeii-junior-explorers-trail.pdf

http://www.smm.org/static/pompeii/teacherguide.pdf

http://www.sdnhm.org/pompeii/v_tour.php

Directions to the museum.

Train:
· Minatomirai station (Minatomirai Line) / From the "Museum" exit, 3 minutes walk on foot
· Sakuragicho station (JR, Yokohama subway) / 10 minutes walk using "moving walkway"

(Look for signs once you leave the station.)

Car:
· From Sakuragicho station, take the road leading towards the Nippon Maru, or turn right at the Sakuragicho station Momijizaka crossing, enter the MM21 area, and proceed towards the Museum.
· From Yokohama station, take the Takashimacho MM21 area entrance and proceed towards the Museum. Either takes approximately 3-5 minutes. (Use the Minatomirai ramp from the Expressway).