Fallingwater models

We should have actually called these houses "Fallingcracker" or "Fallingfrosting", but they are models of Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous house, Fallingwater. Can you see the resemblance? :)

I hate to be so predictable, but this is one of my favorite houses too. I know some people think it's overpraised or whatever, but it's just so beautiful. I would love to live there or even visit there.

This is an easy craft. I just made frosting (2 T. melted butter, a pound of powdered sugar, add milk until it's the right consistency), gave the children a stack of graham crackers and some pictures for reference, and let them have at it. They had lots of fun. And they saw firsthand how cantilevers need counterweights to hold them up!

We had fun.

Architects and One-Point Perspective Drawings

We learned about some of the things architects do, and talked about famous architects. We watched an artsy and beautifully-filmed documentary on Norman Foster (fascinating), and we watched the Ken Burns documentary about Frank Lloyd Wright. He had kind of a sad, but very interesting, life. It sparked some serious discussions with the older boys, and both movies, with their retrospective nature, made me do a lot of thinking about what patterns can be seen in my own life, and what they mean.

We talked about the difference between elevations, floor plans, and renderings, and then I asked Sam if he would teach a class on perspective drawing. (We drew floor plans on another day.) He showed us how to do one-point perspective. The boys got the idea pretty well, though getting all the lines right (even with a ruler) can be hard---especially when you're trying to do circles, etc.! Still, it was a useful art lesson and a good introduction to drafting and rendering.

I liked how Seb's looked with the added color. I love the leafy, Art-Nouveau-style stained-glass window by the door on that far wall!