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I had a very good activity last night for
YW's. At least that was the feedback I got! Anyways, I was focusing on
the value Faith (I am the PP leader & want to focus on 1 value a month.
I will be doing a value activity the first Wednesday of each month). For a starting point to my lesson, I got the
original idea
here. But with the help of my dad,
I was able to expand on it quite a bit.
LESSON:
Who was Michelangelo?
An artist
Famous for the Sistine Chapel
Marble statue
of “David”
He spent a lot of time in the quarries
choosing the stone that he would carve. He said that he could SEE “David” or the
“Piata” or whatever it was he was carving IN the stone & he NEEDED to
release it from the stone.
(I took my piata statue & froze it in a block
of ice. this way you can "see" the statue inside the hard "stone" just
as Michelangelo did. this served both as an object lesson & as a center
piece for the lesson. this was a huge hit. everyone was in awe of
this!)
Marble carving is HARD work. Marble chips fly in all directions; the dust
lies thick. Modern stone workers wear goggles;
Michelangelo did NOT. He needed to see the stone, to see each mark,
to make tiny adjustments to the angle of his chisel & to the force of
his blow. He could not afford one slip. One wrong stroke could break a finger, an arm,
or worse.
A figure comes alive only after thousands,
thousands- tens of thousands- of perfectly directed hard & soft blows. Marble carving is difficult & unforgiving. The marble for David was a huge block that had
been abandoned 40 years earlier. Several other sculptors wanted the commission
but Michelangelo was the only one to achieve a design of such enormous
dimensions that used only this marble block, requiring no additional
parts.
When we sculpt, what do we do?
We must take away part of the
stone.
We must take away the parts that
aren’t needed, so that the vision of the artist can escape the stone.
Obviously we aren’t here for an art history
lesson. So what does this have to do with us? With Personal Progress? With Faith, more specifically? Often there are things we must “take away” in
our lives in order for us to become the masterpiece that Heavenly Father
intended us to become
What are some of these things?
R Rated movies
Profanity
Immodesty
Bad websites
Bad Choices…
Just as in carving stone, is it always easy to
remove these pieces from our lives? If Michelangelo made a wrong stroke what could
happen? Break a finger, or an arm or
worse.
If we make a wrong move what could happen? Harder to get back onto the right
path. What tools do WE have to help us carve our
stone away?
Scriptures
Prophet
Parents
Just as Michelangelo had faith to see his work
in the stone & faith that he could release that art…we have to have
faith that God can release us from sin (stone or ice) and can sculpt us
into a perfect person.
The person we are intended to become. One worthy of the Celestial Kingdom.
The David is considered one of the most
perfect pieces of art. The David reflects Michelangelo's vision of
the perfect man. Just as we, the Children of God, reflect God’s
vision.
I found this quote by President Hinckley &
thought it was fitting to end with…
HANDOUT:
“My message to you today is to live
the gospel. Cultivate in your hearts a testimony and a love for God,
your Eternal Father. We sing, ‘I am a child of God.’ That isn’t just a
figment, a poetic figment—that is the living truth. There is something
of divinity within each of us, my brothers and sisters, that needs
cultivation, that needs to come to the surface, that needs to find
expression.”
Suggested goals the girls can use from this lesson in personal
progress.
Faith- think about the lesson. What
carving do we still need to do on ourselves? What tools are we using?
What tools should we use more…Journal
Knowledge- research artists. What
styles do we like? Why?...Journal. Do an “art project”
Choice & Accountability- What are we doing that needs to be carved
away? What can happen in our lives if we do? What if we don’t?
Journal.
After the lesson, each girl was
given a pair of medical gloves (make sure they are powder free)
They were divided into groups. Each group was given a carton of
(generic brand) vanilla ice cream. As a team they were to come up
with what they wanted to carve.
They were given an assortment of
candy (skittles, starburst, M&M's, licorice, sprinkles, coconut, choco
syrup, fun dip, life savers) to help with their creation.
They had about 10 minutes to work
on this. The idea was, we learned how to
sculpt our lives to bring out the person that Heavenly Father intended
us to be. The girls were to sculpt their ice cream to bring out the
creation that they (the artist) had envisioned.
The ice cream melts FAST! Give the directions to the girls
BEFORE they go into the kitchen to start working. Once they get in
the kitchen they are too excited to listen. What they create is what they eat
as a snack. So remind them to keep their
gloves ON. Try not to touch it too much. I
had them all bring spoons & knives with them. When they do start eating, have
them break sections off to eat so they aren't "double dipping" with
their spoons.
Activities
Personal Progress
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