The Arts
We visited The Des Moines Arts Festival today. This is a major national art festival attracting dozens of top-notch artists eager to show their wares to a culture-hungry public.
As an adult, I love art; I love seeing new methods of melding color, shape, and texture. Younger ones who might still be mastering identification of the triangle can't appreciate art on the same level since all displays of color, shape, and texture are new to them. This art festival realizes this, and provides an array of interactive art projects for the kids, as well as numerous vendors of fried foods for when the kids get cranky.
We took Abbie to the arts festival, but left the boys with a friend. Abbie can complete simple art projects. The boys could complete simple art projects as well, but I don't think they could wait patiently in line while several kids ahead of them complete their project.
We arrived at a row of two dozen children's art booths, each operated by a different local organization and presenting a unique project. I was thrilled that we could keep Abbie busy for hours with art projects at the festival, but quickly realized that half of the booths offered little more than crayons and a coloring page.
We found a few worthwhile booths, though. The local horse racetrack and casino gave kids cardboard horseshoes to decorate with glitter. That gives kids a pleasant connection of spending time at the racetrack instead of the one involving daddy crying. A rustic resort offered "fish painting," which involved pressing a paper against a large fish-shaped sponge soaked with paint. It sounds disgusting, but at least Abbie enjoyed squeezing paint out of it. Several booths had temporary tattoos, which provided Abbie with several minutes of entertainment while she peeled them off.
When Abbie's patience ran out, we bought her a hot dog and fries from a food vendor. Half the fries disappeared within 45 seconds. When I took them away and told her to eat her hot dog, she protested. The hot dog stayed on her plate until I informed her she would get no more fries until she finished it. 30 seconds later, the hot dog was gone in a maneuver that bordered on performance art. So maybe the art festival sank into her a little.
As an adult, I love art; I love seeing new methods of melding color, shape, and texture. Younger ones who might still be mastering identification of the triangle can't appreciate art on the same level since all displays of color, shape, and texture are new to them. This art festival realizes this, and provides an array of interactive art projects for the kids, as well as numerous vendors of fried foods for when the kids get cranky.
We took Abbie to the arts festival, but left the boys with a friend. Abbie can complete simple art projects. The boys could complete simple art projects as well, but I don't think they could wait patiently in line while several kids ahead of them complete their project.
We arrived at a row of two dozen children's art booths, each operated by a different local organization and presenting a unique project. I was thrilled that we could keep Abbie busy for hours with art projects at the festival, but quickly realized that half of the booths offered little more than crayons and a coloring page.
We found a few worthwhile booths, though. The local horse racetrack and casino gave kids cardboard horseshoes to decorate with glitter. That gives kids a pleasant connection of spending time at the racetrack instead of the one involving daddy crying. A rustic resort offered "fish painting," which involved pressing a paper against a large fish-shaped sponge soaked with paint. It sounds disgusting, but at least Abbie enjoyed squeezing paint out of it. Several booths had temporary tattoos, which provided Abbie with several minutes of entertainment while she peeled them off.
When Abbie's patience ran out, we bought her a hot dog and fries from a food vendor. Half the fries disappeared within 45 seconds. When I took them away and told her to eat her hot dog, she protested. The hot dog stayed on her plate until I informed her she would get no more fries until she finished it. 30 seconds later, the hot dog was gone in a maneuver that bordered on performance art. So maybe the art festival sank into her a little.
posted by Matt at
10:59 PM
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