ARTICLE-A-DAY Artists 7 Articles Check articles you have read: Art and Artists - What Is an Artist? 225 words Art and Artists - Goya, Oh Boya! 153 words Famous African Americans - Maya Angelou 240 words Portrait of an Artist 759 words Forms of Art - Ansel Adams 171 words Classical Music - Ludwig Van Beethoven 670 words Classical Music - Johann Sebastian Bach 297 words Page 1 of 20 ReadWorks.org All rights reserved.
Art and Artists - What Is an Artist? Art and Artists - What Is an Artist? By ReadWorks Art is anything that has been made using human creative skill and imagination. Some forms of art are drawings, paintings, pottery, sculptures, and designs of clothes and buildings. People who make art are called artists. Art may be created for any number of reasons. For example, an artist may want to capture a beautiful image, stir up a certain emotion, or challenge an idea or belief. Artists may use a variety of materials to make art. For drawings, artists might use pencils, pens, or crayons. Many painters use paint and brushes to make paintings. There are different types of paint, such as watercolor and oil-based paints. Potters create things like bowls, mugs, and vases. Sculptors make things like statues and threedimensional figures. Potters and sculptors might use clay. Some sculptors also use metal and wood. Clothing designers use fabric. Architects, people who design buildings, plan their designs on paper or with the help of Page 2 of 20
Art and Artists - What Is an Artist? computers. Then the buildings are made based on the designs. Some buildings are made with metal and wood. Art can be found in many places around the world. People visit museums to look at paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other works of art. But art is not just found in museums. For example, an artist designed the clothes you re wearing. Look around you. Can you spot other pieces of art? Page 3 of 20
Art and Artists - Goya, Oh Boya! Art and Artists - Goya, Oh Boya! By ReadWorks Francisco de Goya was born in 1746 in Northern Spain. He is one of Spain s most famous painters. A lot of his work can be seen in the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. Goya began painting portraits. A portrait is a picture of a person. He was very talented. He got a job being the King s painter. Goya liked to paint scenes of everyday life. Mostly, his paintings were charming and pleasing. As his life got harder, however, Goya s paintings became darker. The war in Spain depressed Goya. The mood of his pieces reflected his sadness about the war. Page 4 of 20
Art and Artists - Goya, Oh Boya! The Black Paintings of Goya are very intense. They have violent themes and dark colors. In some of his works, there were scenes of witchcraft and people acting in violence toward each other. Even though these paintings are sometimes hard to look at, many consider them to be his most important works of art. Page 5 of 20
Famous African Americans - Maya Angelou Famous African Americans - Maya Angelou By ReadWorks Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1931, her parents got divorced. Angelou and her brother, Bailey, were sent to live with their grandmother in Arkansas. Four years later she and Bailey went to live with their mother again. Angelou had a difficult childhood. She endured some terrible experiences. Her reaction to these experiences was to become mute. She did not speak for almost five years. Angelou was African American, and she grew up at a time when African Americans were discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Page 6 of 20
Famous African Americans - Maya Angelou As a teen, Angelou began to talk again. After high school, she worked many different jobs. Eventually, she became a singer, dancer, and actor. Later, she began to write. She wrote poems and stories. In 1969, she published her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It was a huge success. The book is still very popular today. In January 1993, Angelou received a great honor. She was asked by President-elect Bill Clinton to recite a poem at his inauguration. She was only the second poet in U.S. history to have had that honor. Maya Angelou died in 2014. She was a celebrated poet, writer, and educator. She wrote more than a dozen bestselling books. Angelou was also an actress, playwright, historian, producer, and director. In addition, she was known as a person who fought for equality and civil rights. Page 7 of 20
Portrait of an Artist Portrait of an Artist By ReadWorks PhongChung* has been a painter since age five. He was born in Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia. He moved to New York in his teens and went to college at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. He now works as the publisher of a magazine in Brooklyn, New York. In all this time, he has done one thing every day: paint. I ve always loved to paint, Chung says. It relaxes me. It gives my life a sense of meaning. I don t know why, but I enjoy putting colors and shapes onto large pieces of canvas. To some people, it seems strange, he adds. To me, it seems perfectly natural. Page 8 of 20 2013 ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Portrait of an Artist Chung s parents worked regular jobs. His uncle, however, took an interest in the arts. When Chung was little, his uncle read him books out loud. He encouraged Chung to live a creative life and to build his imagination. He gave Chung comic books to read and took him to museums. It was because of his uncle, Chung says, that he became a painter. But painting for a living is hard. Chung realized this when he moved back to New York after graduating from college. He rented a cheap studio and painted all day. But no one wanted to buy his paintings. To make money, he found a job as a construction worker. He built walls in people s apartments. He installed wood floors in clothing stores. At times, he even painted houses. It was not the same as painting pictures. But he liked working with paint all the same. The more time I could spend with paint, the better, he says with a laugh. When he finished work for the day at 5 p.m., Chung Page 9 of 20 2013 ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Portrait of an Artist returned to his studio in Brooklyn. After eating dinner, he often painted until 2 or 3 in the morning. He often got only a few hours of sleep a night. Yet he was never tired during the day. Most people need between seven and eight hours of sleep each night. I asked how he managed to stay awake after getting only three or four hours of sleep. For me, painting was sort of like sleeping, he says. After I paint, I feel rested. I feel relaxed. It s as if I just took a long nap. Even though I move around a lot when I paint, I don t feel tired. Because I enjoy painting so much, it doesn t feel like work. He compared himself to the famous poet named William Carlos Williams, who also worked as a doctor in New Jersey. Williams considered himself a poet first, a doctor second. But he claimed that treating patients left him feeling relaxed and rested. He liked it so much that it never felt like work. William Carlos Williams would deliver a baby in the Page 10 of 20 2013 ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Portrait of an Artist middle of the night, and come back home and write poems, Chung says. He said that being a doctor calmed him, and he did not need much sleep because of it. Still, working as a construction worker was not easy. After a few years, Chung began to look for another job, one that required less physical activity. He loved spending time with other artists and talking with them about their work. By the time he was 30, he knew hundreds of other artists in New York. One day, a group of his artist friends told him they were starting an art magazine. The magazine would feature interviews with other artists and articles about art shows happening in the city. They asked if he would like to help them put it out every month. Chung was overjoyed. By working for an art magazine, he could spend all day learning about art. He could talk to artists about their paintings, sculptures, films and performances. It seemed like the perfect job. Today, Chung is the publisher of the magazine. That Page 11 of 20 2013 ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Portrait of an Artist means he makes sure the magazine comes out every month. He checks in with the editors, the writers and the people who deliver the magazine to locations across the city. He also makes sure the magazine makes enough money to keep making new issues. Every issue of the magazine includes a long interview with Chung and another artist. Chung asks the artist all about their lives. Who are your heroes? he asks. How do you find the time to paint? Being an artist myself, I m curious to hear what other artists say about the job, Chung says. Talking with other artists can be as much fun as making art. *Mr. Chung s real name has been changed in this story. Page 12 of 20 2013 ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Forms of Art - Ansel Adams Forms of Art - Ansel Adams By ReadWorks Ansel Adams is one of the most famous American photographers in history. He is known for his dramatic photographs of the American West. He took large black-and-white pictures of landscapes, mostly at Yosemite National Park in California. His photographs of mountains, rivers, and forests are shown all over. Many people have posters of his work hanging up in their homes. Adams work was popular because it was easily understood. Adams is what is known as a straight photographer. His style was simple and direct. His subjects were detailed and straightforward. In 1932, Adams and six other photographers formed a group. The group promoted this style of photography. In 1940, Adams helped establish the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The department was the first of its kind in the nation. Six years later he also founded a photography Page 13 of 20
Forms of Art - Ansel Adams department at the San Francisco Art Institute. Ansel Adams was born on February 20, 1902 in San Francisco. He passed away on April 22, 1984. Page 14 of 20
Classical Music - Ludwig Van Beethoven Classical Music - Ludwig Van Beethoven By ReadWorks When Beethoven met Mozart in Vienna in 1787, Mozart said, You will make a big noise in the world. Mozart was right. Today Beethoven is known as one of the best composers of all time. Some of his most famous pieces are his Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, Für Elise, and the Moonlight Sonata. Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany on December 16, 1770. Beethoven had a big temper. He wasn t mad all of the time; he was just moody. He would explode at someone, and then he would ask forgiveness and be very generous. He was also very impulsive. Sometimes the famous composer would not finish writing the piece of music he was working on until the day of the performance. This gave his players almost no time to practice. Beethoven had a lot of friends, but he never married. His greatest passion in life was music. He poured his love into the notes he wrote. Some of his Page 15 of 20
Classical Music - Ludwig Van Beethoven music falls into the category of Romanticism. This type of music, like Beethoven, is impulsive. It is based more on emotion than on structure and patterns. Have you ever heard of Napoleon, the emperor of France? At first, Beethoven was very impressed by Napoleon s revolutionary ways. The end of the French monarchy excited him. He decided to dedicate one of his symphonies to Napoleon. But then, in 1804, Napoleon declared himself emperor. An absolute ruler ruled France. It was like a monarchy all over again! Beethoven was furious. He felt that Napoleon had betrayed the French people. He was so mad that he tore up the title page of his symphony. Later in his life, Beethoven was giving a concert. He heard a nobleman start whispering during his performance. Beethoven looked up and stopped playing. He said, For such pigs I do not play! and refused to start again. Back then, wealthy people listened to music for entertainment. Concerts were like a hobby to them. There were no recordings. But Beethoven insisted that they take his music seriously. Page 16 of 20
Classical Music - Ludwig Van Beethoven Around 1801, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. For a while he kept writing music. He wrote his first and only opera. He wrote one of his most famous symphonies, Number 5 in C minor during this time. He described the symphony as fate knocking at the door. He felt that his loss of hearing was a sign that death was coming for him. Even though he knew what was happening to him, Beethoven was horrified. He did not want to admit to his rival musicians that he was losing his hearing. He thought that they might question his ability to write music. In the last decade of his life, Beethoven lost his hearing completely. Even though he could not hear, Beethoven could probably feel the vibrations of music. Shut off from the world of sound, Beethoven entered more and more into the world of notes in his head. All he wanted to do was play music. He began to be careless about taking care of himself. Sometimes he wouldn t bathe. Sometimes he wouldn t even dress. If friends came to visit him while he was writing music, he would not acknowledge them. Page 17 of 20
Classical Music - Ludwig Van Beethoven Beethoven s last symphony took six years to compose. He wrote it to go with the words to a poem called Ode to Joy by a German poet. When the symphony was finished, Beethoven was almost completely deaf. Still, he insisted on conducting the piece himself. When all the instruments had stopped, he kept conducting because he could not hear that the piece had ended. Finally, one of the singers let him know that the piece was over. He turned around slowly to see an audience applauding crazily with appreciation of his piece. On March 26, 1827, Beethoven died. Three days later, 20,000 people lined the streets for his funeral. He was very well known during his lifetime. He said once, Composers do not cry. Composers are made of fire. His songs still give this fire to his listeners today. Page 18 of 20
Classical Music - Johann Sebastian Bach Classical Music - Johann Sebastian Bach By ReadWorks During his life, J.S. Bach was known as a gifted instrumental performer, especially on the organ and viola. Although Bach wrote more than 1,000 pieces of music, very few of them were appreciated while he was alive. His music was considered hard to understand and even harder to play. In the 1710s, Bach composed what has become one of his most famous collection of works, the Brandenburg Concertos. He sent the pieces to an employer named Christian Ludwig as part of a job application. He never got a response, let alone the job he wanted. It is believed that Christian Ludwig never even had the concertos performed. Today, however, you can hear orchestras all over the world playing Bach s Brandenburg Concertos. The Concertos offer just one example of how public opinion of Bach has changed. Now some of Bach s works are considered among the greatest in the history of music. Page 19 of 20
Classical Music - Johann Sebastian Bach Bach's music is very complex. Instead of writing just one melody into his music, he often used two. The two melody lines are kept separate throughout the music, like two voices having a conversation. To the skilled listener, Bach s complexity adds depth. His music has its own texture. Bach studied hard and expected his students to study with the same rigor. He once said, "I was obliged to be industrious; whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well." Bach did not worry that others did not like his music. He just said, "If you cannot please all by your art or your work, satisfy the few. To please many is bad." Bach had a great influence on many of the composers who came after him. Although Bach s compositions weren t popular during his lifetime, Bach would later become regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. Page 20 of 20