"Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not easily broken." Ecclesiastes 4:12
The Bible study for this meeting was from Genesis 37:1-36 and Genesis 39:1-41:57. We learned about Joseph, Jacob's favorite of his 12 sons, and his coat of many colors.
Joseph had two dreams that were messages from God. He told his Dad and brothers the dreams which indicated that everyone in his family would bow down to him.
His brothers didn’t like the coat or the dreams and planned evil against him. They put him in a pit in the ground. Then he was sold to traders on their way to Egypt. God was with Joseph. Joseph trusted God and did good work in difficult situations as Potiphar's servant and later when he was in prison. God raised him up into positions of power in each situation in Egypt. He used Joseph to help the people that he had made the promise to survive. Centuries later he sent His Son, Jesus, into the world as part of that family. We learned that God is in control of our lives and sometimes uses suffering and unfairness to accomplish his goals in and through us. God’s will prevails for his glory and our good.
After the June 19th meeting, Core Clubroom volunteers began decorating our new club room bulletin boards using materials from the Gospel Project that were generously donated to our club by West St. Charles Baptist Church. After our August 14th meeting, we will have completed the lessons from The Story Begins. We are using visuals from these lessons to decorate some of the bulletin boards in the room. This collage represents God's creation of people and the account of the tower of Babel.
Our guess was that Joseph's coat of many colors was beautiful, so we invited an artist to help the children learn the principles of creating art. We used the remainder of the club meeting to allow them to experience working in various art mediums.
Our June 19, 2020 Tricord Club meeting was an art immersion. Elsie Saunders, a New Orleans professional fine artist, was our speaker. She talked with club members about her career and led them in a discussion on the reasons that people create art and also view art created by others.
She noted that all artists have a toolbox of materials to choose from. Each artwork that exists may be made of just one medium, or many. She pointed out various materials used in the sculpture of a polo horse and its rider that she made.
To show that a subject show subject can be created using different mediums and styles Elsie brought another model of a polo horse and its rider.
The circular art to the left is a collage made with variety of materials. Elsie told us that art that is made with the same material, such as paint, can still be very different in style or quality.
She shared examples of groupings of paintings from various famous classical artists and explained the contrasts in qualities like light/dark, abstract/realistic, etc. Then she showed us two of her favorite artists alongside some of her art and asked if we could see that she borrowed some of their techniques.
This meeting was the day before Father's day and the service project was for each child to make a painting for a Father's Day gift. Elsie said that the first thing that artists need to understand is color.
She generously brought canvas boards, paints, brushes, palettes, paper towels, and cups for the club members to use to make their own color wheels.
While she helped them mix their own secondary colors from primary colors they chatted about the emotions and thoughts evoked by various colors. When the color wheels were complete, each club member chose a color that they thought was their dad's favorite color and mixed paints to paint the background of a new canvas. Then these canvases were set aside to dry while she talked about drawing with pencil and charcoal.
Elsie shared charcoal sticks, pencils, and charcoal paper with our participants as they explored form or shape. They experimented by drawing squiggly lines using heavy and light pressure to make lines look thick or thin. They practiced shading. Next they learned about proportion and a technique for drawing a realistic face.
This fun exercise got a bit messy. These gals wanted a before and after photo!
Elsie donated this art related book to the club.
Next club members learned about proportion and used intersecting lines as a guide for drawing a realistic face.
At the completion of this exercise the canvases were dry. Elsie asked each child to draw an object on their canvas, such as their Dad's favorite animal or activity. After much discussion the children chose subjects to draw and then filled in the drawings with paint.
We try to choose speakers who reflect the interests of our club members. Three of the four children at today's meeting listed art as a special interest when they joined the club. All of the children who attended the meeting were enthralled with the opportunity to get such excellent art lesson and hands on experience. They seemed pleased with their projects and I am betting that this was a great Father's Day for our Tricord Club Dads. The art was as distinct as each of the personalities of our members.
