Tuesday, August 08, 2006

the art show

...As some of you already know, we've made the county fair's art show a part of our family tradition. I want my children to be well versed in the mechanics of exhibiting in juried shows; maybe by the time they're grown they'll have lost their taste for it completely and then I'll finally be able to sleep, nights.

I got first place in Photography for this shot I snapped at a Civil War re-enactment this spring:



















The registrar just titled it "Battlefield" and put it in the Landscapes division. I would have put it in the Historical division with a different title.

(Not a big fan of the Confederate flag. Sorry.)

I also got second place for a drawing of a lady in profile, and third place for a tiny sculpture of a fairy.

The teenager, a.k.a. Robotdrone, won first place in the "Special Effects" division of Photography for his pixellated photograph of a toy robot.
























He says it's up for sale once the show is over.

The youngest child drew "Best of Show" -- again -- for another of his paintings. He's four. He paints; he uses beautiful colors. Maybe he keeps getting Best of Show because he's so little. I don't know. I do know the person in charge of writing out the admission tickets surveyed the painting critically and then asked for the title by saying to my youngest, very formally, "What do you call this?"

My very literal youngest child frowned at the man and answered, as if to say -- do I have to explain everything to you people? -- "Mine."



The man nodded soberly and wrote "MINE" in the title blank of the admission slip.


My art students from this past spring entered quite a few of our projects from my lessons, and I'm pleased to notice that they placed well, too. While I walked around the exhibit, a few kids from the middle child's kindergarten class -- recognizing me from when I used to come in and give them art lessons on Wednesdays -- ran up and showed me, eagerly, the projects they'd made over the summer, and submitted.

I felt so proud of all the kids.