HEY, FRIDA!

CASA AZUL
FRIDA’S CHILDHOOD HOME

The first place we started on our Frida Journey was the Casa Azul (Blue House in Spanish). It’s where Frida spent most of her life. She grew up there and later lived there with her husband Diego Rivera, another outstanding and famous artist. It’s hard to imagine growing up with so much color. How joyful!

Casa Azul is in Mexico, and was converted to become the Frida Kahlo Museum in 1958 after her death. Both Frida and Diego wanted the house to be preserved as a museum for all Mexicans to enjoy.

Personal objects of both artists and their books, collections, furnishings, personal objects, and, of course, their artwork, have been displayed throughout the Casa Azul and its gardens. I think focusing on her home first turned out to be a wonderful way to acquaint children with someone they don’t know.

Seeing the things someone loves, the way they live, the art they make — it paints a picture of the kind of people they were before you even know what they look like. Just imagine if someone could visit all the intimate spaces of your life. They would have a pretty accurate gestalt impression of you, I think. This photo makes me want to paint quotes on my walls. Should we?

Seeing the vivid world of Casa Azul helped us understand why her work is so vivid. It is the way she learned to see life itself. Despite the fantastical quality of her work, one of Frida’s most famous quotes is: “I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.” This photo above is a studio space in Casa Azul filled with Diego and Frida’s art supplies. It feels holy to me. A space of reverence.

Diego and Frida were world-renowned artists. Think Beyonce and Jay-Z. They hosted an enthralling assortment of guests to their Casa Azul ranging from Georgia O’Keefe to Leon Trotzke. Despite the appearance of this room, I doubt they cooked.

You can visit the Museo Frida Kahlo by clicking HERE. You will note the lower left corner has a little tag that says English. Click it to convert the site from Spanish. Another tip: at the bottom in the center, you will see a set of arrows that allow you to go forward or backward. These are often muted due to the grand colors, so just take extra care to find them so you can easily navigate through the countless treasures stored here.

The museum site also offers a tremendous treat: a 3-D self-guided tour through the house and grounds of Casa Azul. Kids love this kind of stuff. It has a video game feel as you turn corners, tiptoe through doorways, etc. Check it out HERE.

FRIDA KAHLO’S
BIOGRAPHY

We started our deep dive into Frida’s life with another little side project I have going this year called History Letters, where, once a month, I send all the granddaughters a letter from an interesting and admirable woman, living or dead. It was Frida’s turn. Below is a copy of my oldest granddaughter Ada’s copy. In her mid-twenties she is still a kid at heart and loves History Letters. Lesson: Don’t forget the older kids. You never really know what might still resonate with their precious souls. Ada particularly loves Frida and has her own little collection of memorabilia started, just like me. I wonder if this little Mexican girl from another era would have ever thought strangers in a distant place and time would be ce;lebrating her life and art.

If children don’t have a lot of exposure to people with disabilities, they can sometimes feel awkward and fearful. This part of Frida’s story left a lot of space to talk about disabled people we knew and what life would be like if we had a disability like Frida’s. We also talked about how hard it is to be nice when your body hurts and how being isolated from Covid gave us a little taste of the loneliness Frida must have felt. Here’s the second page.

I love the Challenges part of History Letters. As you will see, some of our projects over the subsequent weeks were based on Frida’s challenges. We also talked a lot about being tough and not giving up. I often tell my grandchildren it’s easier for us to be strong and persevere because we are part Viking. It’s akin to having magical powers, and revs up a little extra confidence and bravery, I think.

If you decide you want to do a Frida Kahlo Art Camp with the kids you love and would like to use the History Letter, I’d be happy to address them with their names and email them to you. I also recommend this YouTube video by the people who bring you Ted Talks. It is animated, under 5 minutes, and a nice short bio for a little older kids. You can preview it HERE. My youngest granddaughter gave it two thumbs up!

P.S. The above image is just a photo. No amount of clicking will play the video. Sorry.

THE ART OF
FRIDA KAHLO

If you google Frida Kahlo Self-portrait, something like the above will appear on your pagee, but you will be scrolling for a very long time. Frida started painting herself when she was bed-ridden after her bus accident. Her family put a mirror above her bed so she could see herself. She was required to lay still for months, and she was the only interesting thing she could see. Consequently, she was her most prolific subjectmatter. Recently one of these self-portraits , Diego y Yo, sold for $34.9 million at Sotheby’s. You can read about it HERE

There are also some great videos on Frida’s art that we savored. As you can see by this painting, there are some images that could be troubling to a child depending on their disposition. You should screen the paintings you share accordingly. The one pictured above is called The Top 30 Frida Kahlo Paintings and runs about 3 minutes, which is perfect for short attention spans. Be prepared to hit the pause button a lot because there will be a lot of fun questions. Questions about the mustache and unibrow are guaranteed! You can preview the video HERE

Another good Frida Kahlo biopic is found on Comic Kids called Let’s Learn About Frida Kahlo. I include it with overviews of her art here because they have a great selection and devote most of the video to her work. It is under 4 minutes and is also suitable for small kids. You can view it HERE Between the tour of Casa Azul, the History Letter from Frida herself, Frida’s biographical information, and now exposure to her paintings, Frida is finally a 3-dimensional person to children rather than merely a character in a story. At last they are ready to experience her style of artistic expression through their own hands.

If nothing else from this newsletter, I encourage you to check out Eight of Frida Kahlow’s Most Iconic Paintings HERE

ART PROJECT #1
SELF-PORTRAIT

My granddaughter was itching to try her hand at a self-portrait ala Frida. She posed for this starter photo, channeling the pain, passion, and resolve that we now knew made Frida and her work so wonderful. I then printed the photo.

Lilly went to work with markers, pens, stickers, jewels, glue, and patterned papers to decorate her Frida-Self. Of, course, she wore one of her grandfather’s old t-shirts for a smock as always. I love how deeply focused Lilly was. I imagine Frida displayed similar focus when she did her work.

Here is her finished product. I love the headdress and flower flourishes. I also was impressed by the nice highlight she drew on her lips. My favorite part, which you can see if you compare the before and after photos, is the large red, rectangular earring on her right ear. Great way to solve a problem with the photo. So here she is … Lilly Kahlo!

ART PROJECT #2
ART BOOTS

As mentioned in the History Letter above, Frida was infected with polio when she was six. This left her right leg shorter and more atrophied than her left. Later, when she was 18, she was in a terrible accident when a bus she was riding was hit by a train. A metal tube pierced  through her abdomen and her pelvis was crushed, resulting in numerous painful surgeries and long periods of bed rest throughout her life.

To hide the unevenness of her legs, she wore boots with a lift on the left sole. She also wore long, colorfu, Mexican tehuna skirts. To complement the skirts, and to further expresss her creativity, she used her boots to help normalize her gait. She also used them as an art canvas, Above you can see some of her boots, and boots other artists designeed in tribute to her. In the upper left corner is the boot with the prosthetic she used after her leg was partially amputated due to infection. We used this story to inspire our own Frida Tribute Boots.

Here’s our little artist with her new pair of boots and a box of craft paints sketching what she wants to do with this strange canvas.

It’s a little emotional to think of our new friend Frida and all she went through in her short life. Especially the part about her amputation. But that is not why Lilly looks so concerned. She just found out there is no red glitter paint. Art first!

Here’s the first boot starting to dry before details and embellishments are done. I just noticed she even painted the shoe laces and a nice Mondrian looking graphic on the other side of the boot. Both the boots and the self-portrait were EXCELLENT art projects. We had loads of fun and learned a lot.

THE GIFT

My dear friend Bonnie gave me this Frida book some years back and I thought it fitting after our month of Frida that I entrust it to Lilly in hopes that someday she will teach her children and grandchildren about this interesting and provocative artist. It is a delightful book and I loved reading it with her. She is my youngest grandchild with no great grandchildren imminent, so I am milking this Granny gig for as long as I can. I hope the fun and the gifts keep her coming forever — but, alas, I know better. As Frida said, “Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away.”

THE PLAN

I try to sketch out a cursory plan for every Art Camp and use it as a very flexible outline. In looking over this plan, you will see I covered everything I hoped to except the Frida Kahlo Dress-Up Party with salsa dancing, taco bar, tres leches cake, and a costume contest. There are seven girls in my little family and the ones that heard about the party idea wanted to be invited. I decided to invite them all and perhaps make it an annual event on Frida’s birthday in July, or an adjunct to Cinco de Mayo week. We’ll see what works best when the time comes. I firmly believe there are never too many holidays!

THE PARTY

There is lots of inspiration online for a Frida costume, but they pale in comparison to the photos of Frida herself and to her real clothes exhibited in the museum at Casa Azul (see a sample above). If you decide to dress up like Frida, don’t forget the uni-brow!

Well, that’s our little Frida Art Camp. My attention is turning to making some memorable Thanksgiving and Christmas fun. I love repeating our family traditions, but am always on the look out for some new and interesting activities. As I am sure I’ve said before, I so love sharing some of my granny fun with you through these letters. It forces me to write them down, to savor them, and to preserve them for the children I love most. I hope it makes you smile and encourages you to make some fun for the kids in your life. If you do, I’d love to hear about it. In the meantime, I’m sending my LOVE ! As Frida says, “I paint flowers so they will never die.” That is how I feel about my family memories. I write them so they never die. — Mary