Anna Mary Robertson Moses (Grandma Moses)
1860 - 1961   Born: Easton, New York
What Is Art and Who Is an Artist?

Artwork of the Week - At the Well

Monday - What is art?

What is art?  Is it painting and drawing?

Is sculpture art?

Are these art?

Paintings and drawings can be art, but there are many more things that are art.  

One definition states that art is something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses ideas or feelings.  Some just say that art is a form of self-expression -- that it's a way of communicating.  Copying what someone else has done is not art. Art is creative and personal.

YouTube video - What is Art? (2:50 min.) for 3rd and up

Tuesday - Who is an artist?

Is this what an artist looks like?  Many of the most famous artists have been men and some of them had moustaches, but you don't have to look like this to be an artist.  You don't even have to be a man. 

Mary Cassatt

Georgia O'Keeffe

Frida Kahlo

 Many women are artists.  

Many children are even artists.  An artist is anyone who makes art.

Even little old ladies can make art.  This little old lady became a famous and important artist. Her name is Anna Mary Robertson Moses, but everyone calls her Grandma Moses. Because she began a new, successful career as a painter in her old age, Grandma Moses became an inspiration for housewives, widows, and older people.

Her paintings showed the world that even if you didn't have special training or education, you could still make art. You just had to paint what was in your heart.  Grandma Moses is our Artist of the Week.

Wednesday - Grandma Moses - Her Life

"All Is Quiet", United States), and "All Quiet". '"All Is Quiet", Oil By Grandma Moses (Anna Robertson) (1860-1961, United States)'. En.wahooart.com. N. p., 2015. Web. 9 Aug. 2015.

Anna Mary Robertson Moses, or Grandma Moses, was born to a farmer and his wife in New York state.  At the age of 12, she left home to work as a hired girl on a neighboring farm.  She later married a farm hand and they began farming themselves.  Anna helped by milking a cow and churning butter to sell.  She raised five children and worked hard all her life.  

Taking in the Laundry by Grandma Moses

She made pictures using needlecraft, but when she got older, arthritis made the handwork too difficult.   Her sister suggested she try painting the pictures instead.   So at the age of 76, Anna first began to paint.  

Benningtonmuseum.org,. 'Bennington Museum Store :: Grandma Moses :: Grandma Moses Prints :: At The Well Unframed Print'. N. p., 2015. Web. 9 Aug. 2015.

Even though she began painting at an old age, Grandma Moses painted over 1000 canvases, and she rarely missed a day painting.  Our painting of the week is At the Well by Grandma Moses.  

Video - Martha Stewart: The Art and Life of Grandma Moses (6:25 min.) good biography  CLICK THIS LINK

YouTube video - The Coming of Age of Grandma Moses (2:07 min.) short biography upper grades

Thursday - Grandma Moses - Her Paintings

County Fair by Grandma Moses

Halloween by Grandma Moses

Christmas at Home by Grandma Moses

Grandma Moses painted pictures because she always liked to be making something.  She also liked to make jams and preserves.  She often gave her paintings as gifts. The farm life was what she knew and loved, so she painted the scenes she had lived.  She captured winter snows, holiday celebrations, and the freshness of spring.  Her paintings included activities such as sugaring, soap-making, candle-making, haying, and making apple butter.

Moses, Grandma. 'Checkered House - Grandma Moses - Wikiart.Org'. Wikiart.org. N. p., 2015. Web. 9 Aug. 2015.

 A drugstore in her small hometown displayed some of her paintings in a window.  A New York art dealer happened to walk by and saw her paintings in the window.  He bought all she had and took them to New York.  

Sugaring Off by Grandma Moses

Grandma Moses and her paintings eventually became very popular, and she became famous.   The art dealer had bought her paintings for $3 and $5, depending on their size. In 2006, one of her paintings, Sugaring Off, was sold for $1.2 million.  

YouTube video - Women Artists: Grandma Moses (4:56 min.) a slide show of her paintings.

Friday - Grandma Moses - Her Success

Morning Day on the Farm by Grandma Moses

Grandma Moses spent nearly 80 years of her life as a hard-working farm wife, known only to her friends and family.  The happy, homey atmosphere and bright colors of her farm life paintings appealed to people and made her famous.  

President Truman presenting Grandma Moses an award

When she was 89 years old, she received a special award from President Truman.  She was featured on both a cover of Time Magazine and Life magazine.

July Fourth by Grandma Moses

Her painting, Fourth of July, hangs in the White House.

Christmas Homecoming by Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell was a friend of hers, and he painted her into the far left edge of his magazine cover painting, Christmas Homecoming. In 1969, a postage stamp was issued in her honor.  Her 100th birthday was declared “Grandma Moses Day” by the New York governor. When she died at the age of 101, her death was front page news all over America and throughout much of Europe.  

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Bringing in the Maple Syrup by Grandma Moses

The Storm by Grandma Moses

Grandma Moses is an inspiration and a perfect example that anyone can be an artist.

Grandma Moses art lesson site - cut paper, cross-curriculum
Grandma Moses art lesson website - painting a landscape
Grandma Moses art lesson website - using cut paper
Grandma Moses art lesson website - cut paper, crayons, watercolors

Visual Arts Frameworks
R.7.K.1 Describe, with guidance, the uses of art within one's own environment
CN.11.K.1 Discuss reasons people make art
CN.11.1.1 Identify a variety of  reasons that people from different cultures make art
CN.11.2.1 Compare and contrast artwork from different times and places in a cultural context
CN.11.3.1 Explore ways in which cultural context impacts the viewer's response to art
CN.11.4.1 Determine the time, place, and culture in which an artwork was created
CN.10.6.1 Investigate artwork that visually documents community life

Sources:
Gseart.com,. ' Anna Mary Robertson ("Grandma") Moses At Galerie St. Etienne '. N. p., 2015. Web. 8 Aug. 2015.

Nytimes.com,. 'Grandma Moses Is Dead At 101; Primitive Artist 'Just Wore Out''. N. p., 2015. Web. 9 Aug. 2015.