Art Festival

I'm pretty sure that most cities have art festivals during the summer months. I love them. There's so much to see and so many beautiful and interesting things to look at. I love supporting artists, and keeping creativity alive in the world. There's a pretty big art festival that comes every summer here and lasts for about 2 months before closing. I didn't make it out to see it last summer so it was a definite must do this summer. Today was the day I took the kids to see it.

I was pretty amazed at the set-up. It was like other "art in the park" kind of set ups I've been to, with artisans varying from glass ware to painting, from leather to jewelry. The difference was instead of pitching camp under a quick shade for a weekend these stands were uniquely crafted permanent looking structures. They were laid out along a meandering path of wood chips under a beautifully landscaped canopy of trees. 

We had a nice surprise of finding a glass blower making some pieces on site. I love watching glass blowers work, it's very mesmerizing. But this was the first time my kids had seen the art in motion. My daughter was only interested for a second, and then something shiny far away caught her eye. My son, however, could have watched that guy all day! He thought that was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen and now it's topping the list of things he wants to learn how to do. I told him about a friend of ours in Michigan that owns a studio that I'm sure would show him some cool things. Now he can't wait to visit our friend and watch this art some more!

It was hard to get a good picture through the safety bars. It didn't feel like it while watching him, but this picture sure feels like one of the zoo pictures I just posted a few days ago.

We finished the day by stopping for ice cream on the way home. I think it's really special that my kids could see such wonderful things today. I think exposing them to all different kinds of art the world has to offer is so beneficial.

This was a really cool fountain in the back.