| Author | |
Cheryl
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005
Location: Massachusetts
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 978
|
| Posted: Feb 17 2007 at 9:36am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
that is the question.
Seriously, I wonder which COGS figures children would be more attracted to. I prefer the look of the solid wood faceless figures. Maybe they look more durable and I know my dc won't be taking any clothes off and leaving them lying around the atrium. 
When I talked to my dh (who was engrossed in a book about golf) about this last night, he said they should definitely have faces. What do you think? What the reasoning behind the faceless figures? Do the children know who they represent?
I only have 2 of Moira's albums and The Good Shepherd and the Child. These resources seem kind of vague about materials. I thought I read somewhere (maybe in Young Children and Worship) that the parables should be two dimensional with faces and the true stories should be 3 dimensional without. Maybe I'm remembering wrong. I took that book out of the library over a year ago.
And one more question. Do you keep figures for each work separate or do you mix them up? For example, would you take a Jesus figure out of the Last Supper to use in the Jesus in the Wilderness work, or would you buy a duplicate Jesus figure?
Right now my priority is setting up an area that my dc will be attracted to using often. I'm not concerned about saving money, but I imagine there is a big difference in the way a home atrium works and the way one works in a parish. So I don't want to overdo it with purchases, if you know what I mean.
__________________
Cheryl
Wife to Bob ('97)
Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
CatholicMommy
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2007
Location: Indiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1254
|
| Posted: Feb 17 2007 at 9:57am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I have an atrium at my parish (dedicated space for it) as well as an atrium of sorts in my home (it's sort of mixed in with everything else to emphasis that our Faith permeates our entire lives).
At the parish, I definitely have separate pieces for everything - so the infancy narratives have 5 different Marys (and I purposely have 5 different styles!). At home, we interchange as many pieces as possible - with a smaller group and wider array of ages, there is just not an issue with needing to have Jesus or Mary in 4 places at once. :)
When I first started at home, we had a low coffee table with boxes/trays/etc underneath it - the table was covered with a nice color (varied by the season) and tied onto the legs so it didn't slip around. Put a nice picture on the wall behind it and a crucifix hanging above and that was our "atrium" - we still have that, but it's spread into being more interspersed as well.
Why Wooden thread Gives more discussion this topic as well. I have seen the parable figures with faces and the historical figures without, but the opposite is more pre-dominant and seems to reflect the concept of historical reality (3D with faces) versus parable (secondary (or more) reality - 2D without faces) philosophy. For over a year, my Last Supper figures in the parish atrium had no faces and no clothes. They still have no clothes, but I did add a layer of sculpy to them in the sort of outline of clothes and drew simple faces on them.
I really like those wood figures that others have discussed on the forum - I think I might be getting some of these for some of the sets, but I will put faces on the historical people, and the leave the parable pieces alone, just as my own preference.
God Bless!
~Jessica
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Cheryl
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005
Location: Massachusetts
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 978
|
| Posted: Feb 17 2007 at 10:07am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Jessica,
Thanks for your reply. Have you noticed which type of Mary the children in your parish atrium want to use the most?
__________________
Cheryl
Wife to Bob ('97)
Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
CatholicMommy
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2007
Location: Indiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1254
|
| Posted: Feb 17 2007 at 11:21am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I have not really noticed any particular preference - we have two different Fontannini Marys (one kneeling, one carrying a basket), a Nativity set Mary from Wal-Mart (not sure what she's made out of, but it's small and heavy), a hand-made Sculpy-type version, and for the Presentation in the Temple a wood game-piece just painted on, with a round hook on the front to hold Baby Jesus who has a peg in the back that fits inside the hole of the hook.
The children have either not shown that they notice the difference (just taking each presentation on its own merits) or I have 2 children who line them up and ask each other "What did Mary really look like? We don't know, but she was so special." 5 year olds - They say this to each other!
And some people ask why I love CGS so much!
(these same two children line up the different Jesus figures (as many as are available) and put the pieces of Jesus' life together for themselves - making their own timeline of sorts.)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Cheryl
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005
Location: Massachusetts
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 978
|
| Posted: Feb 17 2007 at 12:14pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
CatholicMommy wrote:
I have 2 children who line them up and ask each other "What did Mary really look like? We don't know, but she was so special." 5 year olds - They say this to each other!
|
|
|
This is so adorable.
__________________
Cheryl
Wife to Bob ('97)
Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Faces or no faces...
