Reports from the Field - Jumbo Edition: Art & Science from St. Louis to Santa Fe

Jubilee field reporters have been busy gathering news, but their “publisher” got a bit behind. Here’s a triple edition of what they’ve seen and learned on our journey West, as well as a photo album of the kids exploring the Santa Fe art scene.

Let’s go to the Kansas Capitol Dome, by Emily, your tour guide
Welcome to the Capitol Dome. It was built in 1885. On top of the Dome there is a statue of a warrior named Ad Astra. Ok ready to walk the 296 steps to the top of the Dome?

There are two domes in the capitol. In-side is a glass dome. Out-side is a coper dome and on the outside there is a little deck. You can see the hole city from up there!

St. Louis Zoo, by Jake
Hi, its Jake. I went to the St. Louis Zoo and did you know that the zoo has 800 speices of animals and 8,000 animals? I saw: 10 kangaroos, 6 giraffe, 20 warty pigs, 2 Okapiz, 20 wild ass, 2 tigers, 2 red pandas, 2 tigers, and a lot more which equals more than 64 animals.

Oh wait, before I go I still have more to tell. When they were feeding the giraffes they put pills in the leaves so they would be healthy.

P.S. I also saw 6 orangatans.
P.S.S. You can see the hippos under water.
P.S.S.S. Go there!

The St. Louis Arch, by Drew
The St. Louis Arch is 630 feet high and 630 feet acrossed. It is located in St. Louis, Missouri and is right on the Mississippi. They put the Arch in St. Louis because it is where Lewis and Clark started on their journey and it was the gate way to the West.

The Arch was designed by Eero Saarinen and he won his design over 154 different designs by other people. You can take an elevator up to the top of the Arch, and there are also little windows you can look out of. When you go back down there are movies about the Arch and Lewis and Clark. Also there is a museum that tells you the history of the Arch and the Oregon Trail.

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While in Santa Fe, we had the opportunity to visit several art galleries, as well as the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. We were very pleasantly surprised by how interested the kids were in what they saw...

Georgia O’Keefe, by Emily
Georgia was born in Wisconsin. She moved to Virginia with her family and moved to N.Y. with her husband, but her real home in her hart was New Mexico.

Georgia was a painter. She painted nature, like flowers, trees landscapes, but instead of the hole thing she did a little part of it. My personal favorite piece of hers is The Black Iris painted in 1926.

Hiroshi Yamano, Glass Blower, by Jake
H.Y. is from Japan and he’s traveled to the US and Europe and he gets his ideas from all the places he goes. He loves to make fish in bowls out of glass, and he says he is like a fish.

What he makes is heavy, but small and they might weigh 80 pounds. It’s very, very, very dangerous work and you get so hot you can die. Also he has a big group of people who help him.

Lane Timothy, by Drew
Lane T. is from Salt Lake City Utah. He is a young and unique artist that paints old but make it look new. The people in the gallery explained his art as “modern nostalgia”.

The girl in all of his paintings is his own wife. Every time he gets an idea for a painting they go to a vintige clothes store and buy the clothes that will look good and match the painting. Lane then takes photos and then paints from them. His art is very big and very expensive. Each piece tells a story and he gives them interesting titles.

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In addition to bringing you news from their travels, the kids are continuing some lessons related to the natural sciences and scientists important to the field. (Sshhh... don’t remind them that it’s summer break in some places!)

Jane Goodall and her Chimp Friends, by Emily
Hi. I am here to talk to you about Jane Goodall. When she was little she read storys about Dr. Doolittle. Then when Jane grew up she whent to Africa and studied chimps for 40 years! She learnd that chimps were a lot like humens. Chimps had feleans, love and care. Chimps use tools, sticks, grass, that tipe of stuff. I think Jane let humens know a lot about chimps.

Elijah McCoy, by Drew
Elijah McCoy was an engineer. His parents were slaves that escaped to Canada on the underground railroad. He was always amazed by motors so when he was 15 he went to Scotland to study them and when he came back he worked on trains. He’d oil the engine every few hours so he came up with the idea to make a cup which dripped slowly on the moving parts. This invention made him famous and is why people even today sometimes say “It’s the real McCoy.”

John Muir, by Jake
Hi it’s Jake. A man named John Muir loved trees and nature and he studied them a lot. He told President Teddy Roosevelt he should make national parks and forests to protect them and he did it. This is why Yellowstone was the first national park. There is a place in California named “Muir Woods”. It was one of John’s favorite places so they named it after him to say thank you for protecting it. The End.