Brilliant Star/Volume 17/Issue 4/Text

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september-october 108 [Page 0]

volume 17 number 4

Brilliant Star

september-october 1985

‘Izzat Might e Mashiyyat Will e ‘lm Knowledge 142

Dear Children,

When you think of art, what comes to your minds? Do you see the polished floors of a museum, walls hung with paintings, and statues in the corners? Suppose you live in an African village along a river—would “art” be a different idea to you?

This issue of Brilliant Star is on the visual arts— arts that we enjoy with our eyes. It is paintings and statues, but so much more! It is hundreds of things in hundreds of different cultures: beautiful masks in Africa, hand-crafted furniture in Scandinavia, flower arranging in Japan, the pottery of our native Americans, computer art done by gifted programmers and fancy computers, TV, movies, handmade Persian rugs, and beautiful weaving done on a loom with love and care We are only giving you a taste of the world of visual art in this issue! We hope it makes you hungry to learn more about things done to please our eyes and our souls, born of the love of the artist, and his or her wish to tell us something about our world.

Write to us about your favorite arts!

About

the cover

“Water” by Rita Leydon of Lahaska, Pa. A tapestry woven at twenty ends per inch on a cotton warp with a very fine merino wool in the weft. Offthe-loom size was 8% by 11 inches, but about 15% was lost in the finishing (washing).

This small tapestry was woven as the focal point of a dress which Mrs. Leydon designed and wove. See the picture below. The bottom of the design suggests water below the ocean surface, the white band is the water surface with the droplets caused by the wind, the vertical stripes are rain and the topmost portion indicates storm clouds.

Brilliant Star is a publication of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahaiis of the United States. It is published six times each year, in January, March, May, July, September and November. Copyright © 1985 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States. World rights reserved.

Address manuscripts and other editorial contributions to Brilliant Star/Radpour, Suburban Office Park, 5010 Austin Rd., Hixson, Tn. 37343. Manuscripts should be typewritten and double-spaced throughout. Brilliant Star does not offer monetary compensation to its contributors. Return postage should be included if manuscript is to be returned. Single copy $2.50; 6 issues (one year) $12.00; 12 issues (two years) $23.00; foreign, surface mail, one year $15.00, two years $28.00: foreign, air mail, one year $25.00, two years $47.50. An index for the preceding year's issues is available for $2.00. For subscriptions, change of address and adjustments write to Brilliant Star Subscriber Service, Suburban Office Park, 5010 Austin Rd., Hixson, Tn. 37343. All other correspondence should be addressed to Brilliant Star/Richards, 4 Village Dr., Yardville, N.J. 08620. Printed in the U.S.A.

Brilliant Star is intended for children of all ages and

Strives to:

e develop the child's awareness of the oneness of humanity

° increase the child’s conscious awareness of his spiritual nature and the need for its development

¢ develop the child's reasoning power and stimulate his love for the order of the universe

e assist parents and teachers in developing all of the child’s hidden talents and virtues

Brilliant Star Editorial Board

Mary K. Radpour Managing Director Deborah Bley Editor-in-Chief Mimi McClellan Music Editor Rita Leydon Art Director

Rita Leydon Production

Janet Richards Secretary

Keith Boehme Consultant [Page 1]

whats inside

Letters From 2 Our Friends Mark Tobey 4 a portrait of the artist by Julie Badiee

Ariadne’s Dress a photo essay by Rita Leydon

By Heart

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Dance Partners a poem by Sue Lang

13

GraffitiGraphics 14 a T-shirt project by Mary K. and Laili Radpour

16

The Shawl and

the Book

a story by Susan Allen

Our House

of Worship a song by Marian Dessent

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22

Kim Loves TV

a cartoon story for young readers

Mary Cassatt 24 a portrait of the artist by

Kay Haugaard

The Great Bridge 28

a picture story by Daniel Norris

Book Nook 32

33

Parents’ Page [Page 2]

Letters from our friends

Dear Friends at Brilliant Star,

This Indian has missed the buffalo with his bow and arrows. He almost used them all up, but luckily he had five or ten left. This Indian tried again and finally hit it.

I learned in my Baha’i School that the Native Americans are part of God’s family of man.

My mom wrote this out for me! Nathan Staudt (age 6)

Susan Haake wrote us a long and interesting letter about pioneering with her family in Queensland, Australia. She is now 12 years old, and has been reading Brilliant Star since she was 5, when it was still Child’s Way! She has memorized three Baha'i talks and gives them at Holy Day celebrations, and even has had a chance to give her talk to the 11th grade classes at the Catholic High School. She and her family got to go to the dedication of the House of Worship in Western Samoa, and here is a photo of Susan, standing in front of the House of Worship with her parents:

White River Junction, Vermont

Nadiay Kouchekzadeh lives in Conakry, Guinea, Africa, and wrote to us:

“I have been a pioneer in Africa all my life. Last summer, I went on holiday with my family to California to visit my Aunt Lill. She lives in Santa Cruz, so

while we were there we went to see the Bosch summer school, and my mum bought four copies of Brilliant Star, She didn’t give them to me until we got back to Conakry. And now I am enjoying them very much and hope I can get some more.”

[Page 3]The fourth to sixth grade classes of Bahai School in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, completed a unit on progressive revelation and wanted to send us some haiku poetry that they wrote

together: () The Daystar has come.

Birthday of Baha’u’llah. The world rejoices.

0 The Sun shines on us. The Sun of Reality. It brightens our lives.

God is like parents. | They help us learn things to know g| About religions.

The plants grow outside.

The green plants grow inside too.

Plants grow everywhere.

( ) 2) Thanks to the students involved in this project: Ruth Noyes was five when she did this picture of herself Rachel Boyer, Arya and her friend, Adam, for us. Adam is holding lollipopsin Czerniejewski, Jian a sunshower. Ruth lives in Unionville, Indiana, andhasa Khodadad, Jorma Moore, little sister, Carrie. and Brian Reed.

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The Billings, Montana, Baha’i children’s class sent us some computer graphics that they created.

3 [Page 4]Photographs of Mark Tobey are from Mark Tobey/Art and Belief, George Ronald, Oxford. Used with permission.

New Day 1945? Tempera. 12% x 23% inches. Courtesy of the Archives of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahd’is of the United States.

MARK TOBEY

by Julie Badiee

hen young Mark Tobey

was growing up by the banks of the great Mississippi River in Trempealeau, Wisconsin, his mother felt

that he was the most restless young boy she had ever seen. He was always wandering through the fields near the great river looking at the flowers, and the long grasses by the riverbank. He was also fascinated by the hundreds of animals which were abundant near the Tobey’s family home which he shared with his parents and three older brothers and sisters. Mark loved especially the Egyptian yellow lotus which grew on Trempealeau Bay and often brought home wildflowers so he could plant them and watch them grow. For the boy Mark, nature [Page 5]

was a wondrous mystery filled with the sacredness of the presence of God.

His favorite place was a small cave hidden on the banks above the river. There he would sit for hours dreaming of the life of the Indians who still lived in wigwams near his home and of the great world outside of his small village of 600 souls.

When Mark was 16 years old, his family moved to Hammond, Indiana, where some of the family’s small income was set aside for his Saturday art lessons. Mark had already shown a talent for art, but was disappointed in what was expected of him in the class. Instead of being allowed to express some of the sensitivity he had developed about nature in his boyhood,.the teachers insisted that he spend hours copying other works and did much to discourage his natural creativity. Later, when the family moved to Chicago, there was little money for art lessons and Mark went to work for a firm that did fashion illustrations.

Anxious to develop his art further and to see more of the vast world he had dreamed about in his boyhood, Mark moved to New York City in 1911. There he met other artists who were also searching for a new freedom of expression in their work.

He became caught up in the exciting world of New York and began to meet the many kinds of interesting people who lived in the great city. One night in 1919, Mark

had been to a party in the studio of the famous artist Marcel Duchamp and was waiting for the train to take him home. Suddenly, there on that New York street, the thought came to him “Could there ever be anything greater than art?” This question would not leave his mind and he kept thinking it over for several days until an answer came to him suddenly: “The love of God is even greater than art.” Mark Tobey prayed with all of his heart that he, too, could be able to understand the wonderful experience of the love of God. Very soon after this experience, he went toa dinner party and was seated next to a beautiful woman named Juliet Thompson. She was a portrait painter and asked Mark to come to her studio to pose for her.

Upon his arrival in her studio, the first thing that Mark noticed was the photograph of a wonderful man with a white beard and a white turban. Mark did not ask Juliet about the photograph but the next night he had a strange and powerful dream about the remarkable man with the turban. When Mark told Juliet about the dream she said softly that the man in the picture was named ’Abdu’1-Baha and that he had visited New York, in fact, this very room, in 1912, just a few years earlier. She didn’t say anything more, but smiled at Mark with such complete happiness in her eyes that he wondered if she had found that “love of God” which he

had been seeking. please turn the page [Page 6]

1945

A few days later Juliet Thompson invited Mark Tobey to Green Acre, Maine. Here Mark found the object of his search. Surrounded by the love of the Baha’i friends and reading the Writings of this new Faith for the first time, Mark understood that a New Age had dawned, and that this wonderful group of people with their smiling faces and enthusiasm spoke with the “love of God”

His joyous declaration at Green Acre led Mark to a new life, one which was filled with a desire both to serve the Baha'i Faith and to express its teachings in his art.

His natural restlessness and growing understanding of his role as a world citizen led Mark to make his home in many different cities and countries during the rest of his life. He taught art in England and served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Great Britain. It was here that the famous potter Bernard Leach also became a Baha'i through his friendship with Mark. The two artists traveled together to China and Japan where Mark found a people

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1

The Red Tree of the Martyr 1940, Tempera. 94213. Collection Arthur Lyon and Martine Dahl.

whose art also reflected his boyhood love of nature. He also learned a special way to use a paintbrush from some of the Japanese artists which he met. This kind of brushstroke appeared again in some of his paintings after he returned from Japan. Mark Tobey also lived in Seattle, Washington, for many years and was very interested in the art of the native American peoples who lived there. He loved to collect

their wood carvings and beautiful painted masks. During his world travels, Mark made two pilgrimages to the Baha’i Holy Place in Haifa and “Akka. There he met with the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, who encouraged him in his art. His experiences in the Holy Land never left him and are the influences behind some of his most beautiful paintings. Mark also felt very strongly about the suffering of the [Page 7]Baha'i martyrs who had given their lives for the Faith. He painted works like the Red Tree of the Martyr to help others to remember their bravery. If you look closely, you can see two turbaned and robed figures who bow before the Tree of Life turned red now with the power of the martyr’s sacrifice.

In another painting, The New Day, Mark Tobey used some of the quick brush strokes which he had learned during his time in Japan.

Beneath the white lines you can see small rooms with both Christian and Moslem figures. In this work, perhaps, Mark wanted to show that the two older religions were unified and fulfilled through the light of the great World Teacher, Baha’u’llah.

In many of Mark Tobey’s works he doesn’t show any human figures at all. Sometimes he tried to express difficult subjects such as the emotions of happiness or sadness. Sometimes he even

tried to show the experience of prayer or meditation. In one painting, called World, Mark Tobey tried to show the unity of all life on the planet Earth. In his round circle of a world there are no boundaries and no separations, for everything is brought together in a unified whole. Perhaps he also wanted to show that humans are a part of nature, and when we hurt or destroy the living things around us, we can hurt or destroy ourselves, too.

Mark Tobey chose difficult subjects to paint, but he felt that the Baha’ Faith freed him and inspired him to express his ideas in the best way that he knew how. In the last years of his life people grew to love and respect Mark’s paintings and he became famous all over the world. He won many honors and awards and was able to retire to Basel, Switzerland, as one of the most important artists of our time. When he died in 1976 at the age of 85, Mark Tobey had found a way to combine his love of art and nature with his desire to experience the “love of God”.

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named after a character in Greek mythology. Her mother is from Greece

and her father is American.

[Page 9]

Ariadne’s aunt Rita is a weaver.She ‘This is the yarn that will become

is going to make a dress for Ariadne. Ariadne’s new dress. Ari can hardly Cousin Krispin helps with the believe it!

measuring.

Aunt Rita begins by preparing a warp. She stretches the yarn back and

forth, many, many times on this warping board, until she has a thick bundle of yarns. Then she takes the bundle off the warping board and...

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...dresses the loom. That means that she winds the warp (the bundle of yarns) onto the back beam of the loom, then threads each piece of yarn through heddles in the loom harnesses, then each thread goes through a

reed in the beater and finally all the yarns are tied to the front of the loom and weaving can begin.

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Aunt Rita loves to weave. She sits at the loom and throws the shuttle back 10 and forth until the fabric is long enough for Ariadne’s dress. [Page 11]Ly AL ASHANDS

Then she cuts the warp threads and takes the fabric off the loom. It is a little stiff and scratchy, and it has to be washed. Then it becomes soft and comfortable.

The last step is to sew the dress.

This is Ariadne’s new dress. What do you think? Doesn’t she look beautiful? She certainly looks happy.

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Calligraphy by Michael Hughey

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BY HEART

ince this months issue of Brilliant Star

is on the arts, we would like for all of you

to learn by heart something ‘Abdu'l-Baha

said about art. Learning to memorize something can be done in many different ways. You might find it easiest to just read this quotation over and over to yourself until you know it all by yourself. Some other things you might try are to sing it, or to say it on a tape and play the tape back so that you can hear it over and over again. Other people may find it easiest to memorize by writing the verse out, or copying it, cutting the lines into a puzzle, and putting it all back together. Each of these ways uses a little different part of the brain, and were sure that you'll find the best way for you to learn!

" By the power of the Holy Spint,

working through his soul,

man tsable to perceive the Divine reality of things

All great works of art & sciences

are witnesses to this power, of the Spine’. .

Abdul-Bahi_. *

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from Paris Talks, page 85

[Page 13]

A\ltnough I'm still quite little Ce I'M as graceful as a swan;

Like a grown-up princess | can waliz

With Daddy's feet fo sand Upon, HD rT re CYS

We square dance and we CNa-cna, 4. gr: Fox trot and tango, too, : And | pretend my two sock feet

Wear dancing slippers, soft and new.

sometimes we even polka;

The happy music Goes

Around and Tound, uo aNd down, And | hold tight with my toes.

Ohl If | could do just anything, Do you know what | would choose? I'd put on my best knee socks And dance atoe my Daddys shoes!

Illustrated by Cindy Pacileo [Page 14]

14

Groftit Sraphics

by Mary K. and Laili Radpour

Hs you ever written “WASH ME!” in the dust of a dirty car? Or traced your initials in the sand at the beach? Or drawn a heart in which you placed your name and the name of someone you like? If so, you have been a graffiti artist!

Graffiti is the name given to messages written on walls, bumper stickers, bulletin boards, and even T-shirts. Graffiti can be about almost anything. The most famous of graffiti messages was “Kilroy was here.’ During World War II, American soldiers wrote this message everywhere. It was a sign that they were everywhere and that they would be victorious in the war. Today, we even see graffiti used for advertising and as a sign of fashion. Surely you have seen a T-shirt marked “Nike” or “Adidas” or even with a message in Japanese.

The most interesting graffiti are those which say something that the writer feels strongly about. “Mary loves John” is familiar, but “Roosevelt loves Kim Tat Foo” tells us even

designs by Rita Leydon and J.F. Strain

more about the writer. Today, there are many graffiti messages which tell us what the writer is against, such as in “MADD: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.” Or they tell what the writer is for, as in “Buckle up for safety.” (You know what that one means, don’t you?) Or sometimes a graffiti message is a way of bragging or complaining: one shirt reads “Macho Man,’ another “Foxy Lady,’ and another “I don’t get no respect!” Frequently graffiti messages are very angry and threatening: “You breaka my car; I breaka your nose!” or they have a sexual message which is impolite. (No examples here! You’ve already seen enough!)

Bahai children and youth have a chance to turn these negative graffiti around by making up new graffiti which speak about hopeful Baha’ principles. Already you have perhaps seen or worn a “Brilliant Star” T-shirt. Or one which reads “One Planet, One People, Please!” Or the new “Youth Can Move the World” T-shirt from the Youth Movement?

Note: the friends should be aware that any copyrighted design may not be reproduced without prior consent of the person or institution holding

the copyright. [Page 15]Everywhere we turn, Baha’i children are beginning to teach through their T-shirts and the bumper stickers they put on Mom and Dad’s car.

Brilliant Star would like to encourage you to think up creative new messages for a kind of new-age graffiti. At the beach, or sometimes in shopping malls, you can ask a shop to make a special T-shirt with your very own message. Can you think of what you might wish to proclaim to the world?

Here are some ideas gathered by a Baha’i youth who collects lots of T-shirt messages:

“The Bahai Faith: Ask me about it!”

“Beach Teach!”

“Ebony, Ivory, Let’s live together in perfect harmony!”

“We are the world; we are the children!”

“Wage Peace through the Elimination of Prejudice”

“A New Race of Man”

‘It works! The Bahai Faith”

“YOUth can make a difference!”

“World Order! Its on my agenda!” “Love and Justice: Hand in Hand

in the New Age”

“Wanblee is the place to be!” (You may need to ask Mom or Dad about this one!)

“Deeds, not words!”

“Wage peace! More than just an end to war; it’s loving the family of man.”

“Peace on earth: Let it begin with me’

There are a few graffiti which are a wonderful tribute to the services of our Baha’i brothers and sisters in Iran, both now and in the past:

“A salute to the heroes of the Land of Ta!”

“Hurrah for the 313!”

"1844: the beginning of one age and the end of another”

“Shaykh Tabarsi: Now that was the place to be!”

One picture is worth a thousand words. Have you ever heard that? Do you see that the pictures which illustrate this article give the Baha’i message beautifully?

Happy graffiti-ing! Let us have a photo of you in your T-shirt or with your message! Or just write us with your new word for the day! We'll be watching!

B)

15 [Page 16]16

Illustrated by Suzette Ruys

HE SHALE AND VOL Boo

by Susan Allen

ee Are you coming?”

“Sure, but...”

“Well, come on then! We only have fifteen minutes.”

“Jean wants to play too,’ called Laura.

“She doesn’t know how to play. Come on!”

Laura slowly left her friend to join the others in their new game. Jean looked on bitterly. She was a new girl from India and it was true: she didn’t know how to play many of their games.

“We could teach her;’ mumbled Laura as she joined the group.

“We don’t have time,’ said Debby. “Here—you first.”

When recreation was over and they [Page 17]trooped back to class, Laura noticed that Jean had come in before the others. Jean sat down quickly and shoved something into her desk.

Laura, who sat near Jean, leaned - over to speak to her. But Jean hissed

back, “You’re just like all the others!”

Laura was hurt, but also a bit angry. Didn’t she see that I tried to help her? she said to herself.

The rest of the morning Jean was very unpleasant and Laura wondered why she had ever tried to be her friend. She's strange, she thought uncomfortably.

Laura was a Baha’i and she knew that there were different kinds of people in the world. She knew she should try to be friends with everyone, even if they were different. How many times had her mother explained that she should look at their good qualities? “When you meet people who are different from you, it makes the world more interesting. Try to love them,’ her mother would say.

Well, she had tried, hadn’t she? Or had she?

At lunch, Laura sat down beside Jean. Jean was very quiet and wasn’t eating. Finally she drew out what seemed to be some greasy bread and dipped it in a sauce in a small plastic container.

“What are you eating, Jean?” Laura asked.

Jean smiled slyly and offered her a piece. “Here, try some.”

Laura was very happy she finally got an answer so, to please Jean, she took a big bite. After a couple of seconds, she felt her mouth burning. She gasped and spit out the food.

Jean laughed, “Oh, is it too hot for you?”

“My new dress! Just look at it!”

There was a big yellow stain down the front of Laura’s dress. Jean did look sorry and stopped laughing, but Laura was still angry. “What a mean trick!”

Neither of the girls spoke to each other for the rest of the day. Jean seemed to grow quieter and Laura just thought, She's strange, she’s different. You can’t trust her. That’s all there is to it!

When the dismissal bell rang and the children were preparing to leave, Debby cried out, “My purse! Someone’s stolen my purse!”

Everyone looked around. Laura’s eyes rested on Jean. What had she hidden in her desk after recreation? She was hiding something.

Jean didn’t seem to have heard Debby’s cry; she was putting things into her school bag, but in such a way that no one could see exactly what she was doing.

“Could she be the one?”, thought Laura. Did she come in before the end of recreation, steal the purse and hide it in her desk, just as I came in?

Laura thought about this that evening and later, before bed, she told her mother about it.

“Well,” said her mother, “did you see her take it?”

“No, but she must be the one!”

“Laura, if you don’t know for sure, you mustn't say a word about this.”

“But I know, Mom!”

“You don’t know, Laura. She could have put something else in her desk that she didn’t want others to see.”

“T don’t know,” Laura sighed. “Well, OK. I won’t say anything.”

The next morning on the way to school Laura met Debby. “Did you find your purse?”

“No, it was stolen. I know it. Who please turn the page

17 [Page 18]18

do you think would take it?”

Laura, remembering her mother’s words, answered, “Maybe you lost it, Debby.”

“I didn’t lose it, I tell you! Who would have taken it? You didn’t see anyone hiding anything, did you?”

“Well,” mumbled Laura.

“Well what? Did you see anything suspicious?”

“Well nothing!” Laura answered.

Debby stopped and grabbed Laura’s shoulders. “You did see something! Now, tell me!”

“Well, you know that Jean was angry at us...”

“Jean!” exclaimed Debby. “That’s right—who else could it be? What did you see?”

Laura felt terrible, but the words tumbled out. “She was in the class after recreation, before the others came in, and I saw her shove something into her desk—like she was hiding something.”

“So!” cried Debby.

They had arrived at school and Debby went immediately to find the other girls in the class. Laura could see them whispering and glancing at Jean. She knew what they were saying and she knew that she was the cause of it.

But I didn’t lie, did I? she said to herself.

Throughout the morning, no one looked or spoke to Jean. Jean seemed to sénse that something was very wrong. She looked bewildered and became quieter than usual.

At recreation, she carried her school bag out into the schoolyard. She opened it several times to touch what was inside, but no one could see what she had. This made the girls whisper even more furiously to each other.

Laura couldn't join in the games, she could only watch Jean. Jean looked so alone. She thought, So what if she did steal the purse? Maybe she hasn't got one of her own. What have I done to her?

Laura felt tears stinging her eyes as they all walked back up to class. It was the longest day she had ever spent. By the end of the day, it was clear that everyone knew about Jean and the stolen purse.

Just before the bell rang, Debby stood up. “Miss Adams, may I say something?”

“Yes, Debby,’ the teacher answered. “What is it?”

“Yesterday I told you that my purse was missing. Laura saw Jean in the [Page 19]classroom alone during recreation, “And Debby?” asked the teacher. and she saw Jean hide something in “Tm sorry too.’

her desk. Again today Jean seems to When they had all left, Laura be hiding something in her bag. It’s — stayed behind as Jean rearranged

my purse, I know it, and I want to her school bag. Laura wanted to

take a look” speak but the words wou!dn’t come. There was silence in the classroom. Finally she managed, “What can I “Jean, is this true? Do youhave _ say, Jean?”

Debby’s purse?” asked the teacher. Jean turned and faced her. “Maybe Jean said nothing. you could say that were friends.”

The teacher got up and walked to Laura held out her hand with a Jean's desk. “Give me your bag, Jean.” smile, “It’s a deal!”

Jean gave Miss Adams the bag Laura never told her mother what without a word, and Miss Adams happened that day in class. All her emptied the bag on the desk. mother knew was that Laura had a

There was no stolen purse. There, new friend. She would smile to lying on the desk, was what looked herself when she saw the two girls, like a very old,beautifully colored one black head and one blond bent book and a delicate purple shawl. over a beautifully colored book

“Is this what you were hiding, from India.

Jean?” the teacher asked softly. “And in this story,’ Jean would

Jean looked up at Miss Adams explain, “Krishna tells the people through the tears in her eyes. that they should love Him...”

The bell rang loudly and at that cme moment an older boy walked in. “I wl al ly me. © have a message from the office. It i} IC a 4, at, ye seems that someone named Debby a kk e =

Draper left something in the school, °

yard during recreation yesterday and / C é

they want her to pick it up.”

No one moved or spoke except Debby, who slowly gathered her things and started to leave.

“Just a moment, Debby,” said the teacher. “I think we can all apologize to Jean now.”

Again, no one moved. “Please,” said Jean, “it’s no one’s fault”

“Yes it is,’ said Laura. “It’s my fault. I was the one who accused her and I want to say I’m sorry.”

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Oe Ne ae [Page 20]Architecture, the art and science of designing and constructing buildings, is also something which can capture our eyes, and make us catch our breaths. Our House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, was designed by an architect named Louis Bourgeois (say bor-jwah).It is such a beautiful and unique building that even our government wanted to make sure that everyone knew about it, and our House of Worship is now listed on the U.S. Registry of National Historic Places!

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Worship

words and music by Marian Dessent

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Illustrated by Keith Kresge [Page 22][Page 23]one we like

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mary cassatt

by Kay Haugaard « 1985

Illustrated by Winifred Barnum Newman

ary felt very excited that morning long ago as she

buttoned her velvet dress up to the lace collar. A painter was coming to do a portrait of her, her brothers Robbie and Gardner, and their father.

Although Mary was American, born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, her family had been traveling around Europe for quite a while and now they were in Germany. She liked it pretty well in the city of Heidelberg but she missed the little pony they had when they were in England. Even though she was only ten, she was already a good rider. [Page 25]

But Mary loved painting and drawing as much as she loved horses and now she squirmed eagerly while her long brown hair was being combed. First it was parted in the middle, then braided, doubled in loops and tied with ribbons. She wanted to look especially nice for the artist but she found it hard to sit still.

Just then her little brother Robbie came into the room wearing a plaid coat and hat like a little Scotsman. “He's here, he’s here,” he shouted and Mary jumped down from her chair to run out to meet the artist.

While the artist got his things ready Mary watched him closely. Then, while he did some little sketches of Robbie and Gardner and her father, she looked over his shoulder. When she saw the lines coming from his pencil as if by magic she wished that she could draw that well.

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born in 1844, the fifth child of the six children of Robert and Katherine Cassatt. From a very early age she loved to draw and paint and it wasn't long before her family realized how talented she was. By the time she was seventeen, she was allowed to go to the Pennsylvania Academy to study art.

During that time art teachers thought that the best way to learn to

“be an artist was to copy the paintings

of the best painters or “Great Masters,”

of the past and to make drawings of

copies of the best statues of ancient Greece and Rome.

Even when artists did paintings of living people they followed rules which usually made the person seem stiff and unnatural. The colors were mostly dark and sometimes made the picture seem heavy and gloomy.

Mary worked hard at the Academy and did well but she began to get tired of this way of learning. But one thing she did know was that she loved painting and wanted to be a professional painter.

Her family didn’t care for this idea. At that time girls activities were supposed to be confined to the home. It was all right to paint pictures for her own home or to give to her friends but it wasn’t considered proper behavior for a young woman to get so serious about painting that she wanted to exhibit her work in art shows along with men.

Mary was far from being rebellious. She had always followed the rules of good conduct for her time and class, but this was something she cared about very much so she insisted. She told her family she wanted to go to France to

continue her painting studies. please turn the page

29 [Page 26]26

Because her family wanted her to be happy they consented and she set out on the voyage across the Atlantic. Her decision turned out to be a good idea because in France she was able to work freely without worrying about embarrassing her family.

Feeling very concerned about her living so far from home, her parents arranged to have her live with friends so she could be looked after properly. And even in far away France Mary hardly had a chance to get lonesome for her family because different members of her large family came over to visit her frequently.

In 1874, Mary had her first big success with her painting. A small painting she had done of a woman with red hair was accepted for the most important art show of the year in Paris.

Now, while Mary was studying in France, there was a group of painters who also were getting tired of the stiff rules in the art schools. They wanted to paint real life that they saw around them just the way it was instead of taking it into their studio and posing it. Most of all they wanted to work out of doors and paint natural sunlight. Because these painters didn’t follow the regular rules, their paintings weren't allowed into exhibits. So they started their own group and gave their own shows. These painters, later named Impressionists, eventually became very famous.

Edgar Degas was one of this group and when he saw Mary’s picture in the exhibit he liked it very much. “That is real,” he said. “There is someone who feels as I do.” [Page 27]A friend of Degas’ had met Mary when she was copying paintings in a museum in Holland so he took Degas to meet her and they became good friends. They each commented on the other’s pictures. Sometimes what they said was not very kind but they were still friends. One time Degas said, in a rather grumpy tone, “I will not admit that a woman can draw so well.”

Two things in Mary’s life seemed to help her skill in painting grow. One of these was Degas, who helped her break out of the tight rules she had been used to so that she started using lighter and brighter colors and drawing people in more natural poses. The other thing was her study of “Madonna and Child,’ or mother and child paintings in Rome. She enjoyed painting children and their mothers and became famous for them. One of these paintings is called “The Bath,” and is of a woman washing a little, dark-haired girl from a bowl.

Mary never married or had any children of her own to paint but she had a number of nieces and nephews who came to visit her in France and whom she enjoyed painting. She must have been very fond of them because the paintings are noted for a warm, loving quality which seems to capture not only a realistic representation but the feeling of the mother and child relationship as well.

Mary Cassatt preferred painting people in relaxed poses carrying on everyday activities, usually in their homes. Through Degas’ influence Mary’s colors became lighter and airier and her drawing became firmer, with graceful lines. Like other Impressionists, Mary was very

influenced by Japanese Woodblock prints, which showed in her line quality.

Mary’s unceasing devotion to her work and her constant efforts to improve it eventually brought her much praise from the experts in the art world. Sometimes she got more attention than she wanted and she once said her success was like “too much pudding.”

In 1892, she did a mural for the Woman's Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The building was designed by a woman, Sophia B. Hayden, and the murals decorating it were all done by women.

Mary Cassatt never married but she was so deeply and happily involved in her painting it was almost as if she were married to her work. Her success enabled her to buy a beautiful home, the Chateau de Beaufresne. It was a three story, seventeenth century manor house with fruit trees, flowers, and stables with horses that she loved to ride. Her life was comfortable and set in a regular routine that included long hours of painting. She lived until 1926, when she died at the age of 83 years.

In following her desire to be a painter, Mary had to be a courageous woman because it was a time when women were not supposed to have serious pursuits outside of the home. But her love for painting gave her the strength to continue working and growing steadily in quality until she became the equal of the other Impressionists. Mary Cassatt is now considered, by many art critics, to be the greatest woman painter who has ever lived.

27 [Page 28]

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by Steven Bret Breneman, illustrated by Carol Joy, Bellwood Press

n this story, a spunky

ladybug named Lorne, and two brave and gentle sparrows seek to find the mysterious beautiful garden. They are haunted by the pure song of a nightingale, a song that sings of home and love, and makes them want to fly to that

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to a deep longing in them. Their quest for that

home is not an easy one.

There are dangerous cruel crows and raucous hawks, and a proud and vain parrot, who would do all he could to trick everyone into thinking he is as good as the nightingale. Only the determination and courage of Lorne and

garden home, in answer

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the sparrows can spur them on through many tests, to find the truth about the nightingale and the beautiful garden that is really home

In his beautiful language, the writer gives us a story of adventure and a lesson in spirit. It is like a mirror of our own faith, and you can figure out what each of the characters stands for! [Page 33]

Parents

The Growth of Our Children’s Perception and Expression Through Drawing.......... by Deborah Bley and Mary K. Radpour

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understand the spiritual world through

our greater understanding of this physical universe. When we see the beauty of nature, it somehow intimates the Beauty of the Beloved. And when we understand the biological processes by which we come to know and understand the physical universe, these truths bring us closer to knowing how we can cast off the veils to our spiritual understanding. One of the ways in which our children share their understanding of the world unfolding around them is through their art, and especially through their drawings. Recently there have been some new findings about how the brain interprets incoming information which sheds much light on how children develop, in stages, their artistic abilities. These findings teach us about how we learn to see and communicate our knowledge of the world; they also point out that there are other ways of seeing necessary if we are to depict the world as artists. Perhaps as we and our children learn about other ways of seeing we will gain some insights into how we can see with our own eyes and not with the eyes of others, an activity which Baha'u'llah says can only occur through the aid of the light of justice.

First let us take a look at the stages in the development of the children’s art. These are four: scribbling, basic shapes, “tadpoles”, and combining forms. The stages may vary in length, but each stage builds upon the others. By observing our children in these stages, we may be able to map their progress.

Anyone who has watched the energy with which a toddler attacks a paper with a crayon can see that the scribbling stage has both visual and motor components. The child enjoys the movement of his hand and arm, as well as making marks on paper. He may tackle a paper, a steamy window or a wall with a single drawing tool, in continuous motion, making loops and zig-zags. At this stage, he is probably unable to name his drawing. He begins to understand that his marks can have meaning as adults and older children ask him, “What is it?”

Out of the seeming chaos and energy of the scribbles, shapes begin to emerge, especially the oval. As he masters greater control over his crayon, the child can begin to make closed figures and to replicate

them. This marks a new level of hand-eye coordination and fine muscle control.

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At about age three, the “tadpole” stage begins. Lines are added, projecting from the oval as arms and legs: the drawing has become a symbol for something. Facial features and a navel might be included, and the child begins making up stories about his creations. Children at this age tend to draw what they know, rather than what they see.

Toward four years of age, the tadpole may no longer be satisfying as an expression of the human form. The child begins to combine forms. The body becomes separate from the head; perhaps another shape is used for the body. Another symbol frequently begins to appear at this time: the triangle set upon the square—his “house”. The child may draw people and houses together, making those people most important to him the largest in the drawing. He may even include features particular to the person he is drawing: a beard, glasses, freckles, long hair. Color becomes more important to the child, and a color preference may become apparent. These forms are refined until the child is about age six.

From six to about twelve, realism dominates. The child becomes intent on making the picture look “right”. Seeing and feeling tend to recede as the impetus for drawing, and it becomes more an intellectual activity. By age ten or eleven, the realism phase is in full flower. The child is becoming aware of the threedimensional nature of what he sees, and of perspective. Translating that to paper can sometimes become an exercise in frustration, and many children conclude at this stage that they simply “cannot draw.”

To know what conflicts are happening between knowing and seeing, think about the child trying to draw a cube. The child tries to draw the two or three plane view of a cube. He KNOWS logically that 1) cubes have square corners and 2) cubes rest on a flat surface. But if he tries to draw the cube based on this knowledge alone, and draws a flat bottom and right angles, his cube does not look like a cube:

In order to draw a cube, he must suppress what he KNOWS about a cube’s shape, and draw what he really SEES. He must draw unsquare shapes and odd angles to produce a cube! This is the area in which the recent findings on the right vs. the left side of the brain come into play.

The left side of the brain is concerned with describing, step-by-step and logical problem-solving, equating symbols with things (e.g. += plus), and basically thinking linearly. The right side of the brain is more concerned with putting things together to form a whole, seeing likenesses between things, drawing conclusions based on patterns and intuition, and basically thinking holistically. Henri Matisse was once asked a question by Gertrude Stein, and his reply illustrates these two functions of left-brain and right-brain clearly. When asked if, when eating a tomato, he looked at the tomato the way an artist would, Matisse replied, “No, when I eat a tomato, I look at it the way anyone would. But when I paint a tomato, then I see it differently."

Art in all of its forms can be a striving for an expression of truth. The greatest art conveys not only what the artist “sees”, but also how he feels and believes. As we assist our children to share their unique perceptions of the world through their art, they come to trust their own inborn capacity for knowing what is true. And as they come to appreciate the diversity of expressions of truth among the great artists, they can also find unity in that diversity. They will recognize their fellow artists and themselves as seekers after a Truth great enough to encompass all their strivings. Is there any greater need in the world today than for souls who can hear their own heart’s truth and at the same time affirm truth in the expression of others? This is the outcome of a true education.

33

[Page 34]

MA

Lars Leydon, 6% years old, from Lahaska, Pa., drew this whimsical picture He thinks it’s nice to be on the back cover, but wishes that other children would send more drawings so that his mom could put those on the back cover instead. Her address is Box 127, Lahaska, Pa. 18931. The draw ings should be clear and crisp, preferably with a black pen. It is ok to have some color added, but not too much. The format should be more vertical than horizontal.

Brilliant Star Non-profit org.

Suburban Office Park U.S. postage uburban Office Par

5010 Austin Rd. PAID Hixson, Tn. 37343 Ixson, In.

Permit 24 Return and forwarding postage guaranteed

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