Sidewalk Art

Teen2 participated in a nice project over the weekend. It was a sidewalk art festival at a local shopping center. Her high school art department has been doing this for several years. This year's theme was Old Masters with a New Twist.
Teen2 chose The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Hokusai, painted in 1832. In the original Mt. Fuji is placid and the men on the boat are bowing before the wave, but in her version Godzilla is riding the wave, Mt. Fuji is erupting, and the boatmen are firing weapons at Godzilla. And the sun is the giant red dot of Japan's flag.

This one is Degas' The Dance Class painted in 1874. The students and teacher are all fish! Very nice.

And everyone recognized Van Gogh's The Starry Night, but in this one Batman is on the scene.

This is an adaptation of Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp painted in 1632. Their teacher did this one. I guess he just couldn't resist - he had to be here all day checking kids in and out and passing out chalk, so why not? The faces are his students and that's him on the table. Isn't that a riot? I don't know if he's trying to say they've sucked the life out of him, or just saying a teacher gives and gives of himself, but it's awfully funny.

There were also paintings set up like a gallery in an empty shop. This is Van Gogh's Oleanders painted in 1888 - well actually it was painted by Teen2 in 2009. Anyway, I really like how the instructor makes the kids study and paint the old masters. Maybe we've got a modern day Van Gogh living with us here Amongst The Oaks.