Around the Bases

It's about
the ball,
the bat,
the mitt,
the bases
and the fans.
It's done
on a diamond,
and for fun.
It's about
home, and it's
about run.
~May Swenson

Baseball Bugs
By Friz Freleng

new moon
By Larry Welo

Kneeds to Play from Cincinnati's Bats Incredible project
Artist unknown, photo by Todd Ely

Tracking Flies
from the Ringor Softball Art Gallery

Mockingbird Sings to the Relief Pitcher
By Dave Baldwin

I love the story that goes with this one:
Once a teammate (from Alabama) told the artist that it was bad luck for a ballplayer to hear a mockingbird sing - the inconsistency of the bird's songs was contagious and the player would soon begin to play in the same manner. Later, two other players, one from Louisiana and one from North Carolina, told of similar superstitions. The pitcher in the picture isn't happy to test the validity of this theory.

A photo description of the creation of a baseball-themed public art sculpture in Frederick, MD. Another Frederick, MD baseball arts project has been written up here.

You might also want to check out "Unforgettaballs."

Lift Ev'ry Voice

Music is our theme this week!

From Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing
By James Weldon Johnson

Lift ev'ry voice and sing,
'Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on 'til victory is won.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From On Music
By Thomas Moore

Music, oh, how faint, how weak,
Language fades before thy spell!
Why should Feeling ever speak,
When thou canst breathe her soul so well?
Friendship's balmy words may feign,
Love's are even more false than they;
Oh! 'tis only music's strain
Can sweetly soothe, and not betray.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Written for a Musician
By Vachel Lindsay

Hungry for music with a desperate hunger
I prowled abroad, I threaded through the town;
The evening crowd was clamoring and drinking,
Vulgar and pitiful--my heart bowed down--
Till I remembered duller hours made noble
By strangers clad in some suprising grace.
Wait, wait my soul, your music comes ere midnight
Appearing in some unexpected place
With quivering lips, and gleaming, moonlit face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Siren Song
By Margaret Atwood

This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:

the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls...

Read the rest here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gregory K. shared an acrostic by Avis Harley called Perfect Pitch. Here's the first verse:

When you
Ache to make some music
Though you’re feeling all forlorn; you don’t
Even own a piano or
Recorder or a horn…why not

Read the rest of it (and find out what the poem spells with the first letters of each line) here.

Corot

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was a French artist who lived from 1796-1875. (French Impressionism began in 1860, so Corot was something of a trendsetter.)

Souvenir de Mortefontaine

L'atelier de Corot

Les Rochers

Woman with a Pearl

Erinnerung an Marissel

We are so lucky to have the resources we do at our fingertips. For instance, the National Gallery of Art offers "Picturing France: 1830-1900," a study guide "organized by region, it provides a quick glance at the setting, history, and cultural life of Paris, the Île-de-France, the mountain areas of Franche-Comté and Auvergne, Normandy, Brittany, and Provence, in addition to a more in-depth examination of more than 50 works of art" for middle and upper grade students of art, history, social studies, and French language. Magnifique!

Philly Murals

The public mural program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is AMAZING. There are over 2000 murals!





Links:
~Explore Mural Farm to see more of the Philly murals.
~This Time Magazine article shows 21 photos of the murals and their artists.
~National Geographic also featured the murals.
~There's a book about the Philadelphia Murals.

Happy National Poetry Month!

So many wonderful daily wellsprings of poetry have bubbled up for this occasion. Gregory K is offering 30 Poets/30 Days at GottaBook. Anastacia Suen is posting a poem by a child every day during April on her blog, Pencil Talk.

The Academy of American Poets has many activities, like the FreeVerse project I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. This project challenges you to incorporate a bit of poetry into a photograph.

Here are my FreeVerse experiments:

This is from "You Can't Have It All" by Barbara Ras, which I talked about a while ago.

And these lines are from "Ode to a Skylark" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Both photos were fun to make.

The Academy of American Poets is also running an interesting NaPoWriMo event --


How It Works

Write & Post - Challenge yourself to write at least one poem each day, publishing them on your blog or in the NaPoWriMo area of our discussion forum.

Secure Pledges - Ask friends and relatives to sponsor you, pledging to donate a set amount each day you participate. (Minimum total donation per sponsor: $5)

Compete for Prizes - At the end of April, the individuals who raise the most pledged donations in their name will receive poetry prizes and merchandise.

Art Cars

Is there anything that people don't sometimes turn into art? If you can think of something, let me know.

Art cars this week:

BMW Art Car
By Sandro Chia

BMW Art Car
By A.R. Penck

Not sure who created this art car Lamborghini...

Not sure about this one either, but the photo is by "Dr. Brian."

Two Sides to Every Story
By Harrod Blank, who has a book called Art Cars.

~The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD has a great guide to making an Art Car.
~You can see movies about ArtCar Fest here.