miffy (and some other art)

Recently I was looking for an adorable, yet chic, lamp for Scout's bedside table. It should come as no surprise that I fell in love with a $220 lamp: Miffy. If you aren't familiar, the character was created by a Dutch artist to entertain his son, and Miffy has taken on a life of its own. Of course I want the Miffy lamp. The Miffy lamp is awesome (and Scout would love the Miffy lamp, too).

It was last week that I was obsessing over this lamp, and then we happened to visit Laguna Gloria on Saturday afternoon. I didn't read about any of the current exhibits prior to our visit, but guess what greeted us as we strolled through the parking lot--a giant Miffy (by artist Tom Sachs)! I couldn't believe it. First I took it as a sign that I definitely need to buy the Miffy lamp (don't worry...I haven't), but then I just wanted to get the girls as jazzed up about Miffy as I was (don't worry...they weren't).

The little guys were more interested in running around the grounds attempting to touch the art they weren't supposed to touch and confused by the art--like the one involving a cassette tape recorder!--that they were supposed to touch. Two of my other favorite pieces were this crazy gold net thing made of tiny people shapes (look closely, below) and a giant reflective mobile hanging in the trees. Once again, the wee ones didn't think the art was as amazing as I did. But on the other hand, I didn't think hiking through the woods was amazing as they did.

welcome to the art show

Here's the good thing about going to a real exhibition in a real gallery where some of your daughter's work is on display: a feeling of pride and joy that can only come from seeing your offspring in the limelight (albeit a small, dim limelight).  But here's the bad thing: three young children as companions who decide--after pillaging the snack table--to break into fisticuffs over who gets the next turn on the marble run (a marble run that was the class project of aforementioned daughter, by the way). That's what happened to us at the Dougherty Arts Center today. 

The whole family attended the closing reception for the "In My Neighborhood" exhibit where two of Scout's Explore Arts class projects were on display along with other work from Dougherty Arts School students. Everything was strawberries and donut holes until the tide turned and our three little angels couldn't compromise on who got the next turn on the marble run. (The photos below, incidentally, were taken before the big brawl). So instead of leaving the exhibit with smiles and praises and a grand sense of accomplishment, we left with three--that's right, all three--crying children. Ah, parenting...at least I was able to snap a few shots of the other work on display before we dragged them out kicking and screaming.

gallery crawl

Look closely: these are the faces of three children who couldn't be more excited that today was the first day of spring break and our big adventure for the day was visiting an art gallery!

Can you taste the sarcasm? Truth be told at 55 degrees with a steady rain, today felt more like the first day of winter break in Austin, but I was determined to start this thing off right with some good old fashioned family fun. There was much resistance in the car with declarations of "this is going to be boring," and questions like "what is a gallery anyway?" and "is there a playground there?" But the troops were singing a different tune when they marched into Mondo gallery and were greeted not only by the "Nothing's Impossible" exhibit featuring posters from some of Disney's greatest films but also free donuts, juice and popcorn! [Hey guys, I've been doing this a while. Trust me every now and again.]

The bonus--if that's what you want to call it--treat of the morning was a clown show in the courtyard out back. If you would like an adult's review, the "show" was odd and made no sense. I would expand upon that review, but there's nothing more to say (besides clowns are freaky). However, we did get to see a heavily-tattooed woman rip the latest edition of Austin's phone book in half. And that was amazing...I didn't know phone books still existed!

  

journey to africa

February's theme at Scout's arts preschool was Africa. They created birds from the Congo, Ndebele dolls from Southern Africa and then took us on a drum-thumping, bead-shaking wild safari ride.

pretty paper

I haven't started composting yet, but there are some things about Austin that have inspired me over the past two years. Number one, Alex and I still share a car, and I'm starting to sort of brag about it when I tell people "We're a one car family." Number two, in the spirit of the season and renewing and recycling, I decided to do something different with our Christmas wrapping paper this year. Scout is always bringing home these bright, colorful paintings from school that I hate to just toss in the garbage, but you can't save everything. Last night as I was starting down a stack of her creations and bringing out the gifts for wrapping, I came up with this brilliant idea. Paper is paper...and how cool to tell the grandmas that their gifts are wrapped in paper by Scout. Right?

alex as banksy

He may not be the world's best, or best known, graffiti artist, but Alex corners the market on sidewalk chalk art in our household. Yesterday he enlisted Scout's help as his assistant to create a remarkably lifelike chalk portrait of her (sarcasm implied). It was cute, though. And my favorite part was Scout examining his work and then deciding she needed to add gloves to her hands and "fix the shoes."

it's a bug

I know what you might be thinking. The sculpture above looks like a moss-colored brain with googly eyes and an orange tongue. But you would be wrong. That, my friends, is a bug. Scout has been working on it for the past few weeks at Explore Arts preschool, and she was finally able to take it home this afternoon after the school's first open house. I had heard all about the bug, and I must say that the final product superseded my wildest expectations. It's made of clay, and it is totally legit--kiln-fired, glazed and all!

Scout also brought home a glitter fish (below) and a hand print. I'm totally impressed with the work and kind of jealous that I'm not aged 3-5. The best part of today, however, was watching her group perform Where the Wild Things Are on their tiny stage in costumes ranging from ladybug to tiger (Scout) to dinosaur.

mini picassos

One of my ideas for the new house was to do a kids' art wall in the kitchen behind their table and chairs. The great thing about the pieces they bring home from school is that they turn into modern art instantly--add mat + frame.

On the left is a picture that Catcher painted one cold and rainy day when we were trapped inside the apartment. I stashed it inside one of my coffee table books and miraculously remembered where it was after the insane move. The paintings on the right are older works that he did during his orange period when we were still in Charlotte. Check out the detail below--I think it has a certain Rothko quality to it.

Scout just started school in late August, so she hasn't brought home any masterpieces yet. To get her started, I slapped the New York Times down on the table in front of her and handed her a brush and six tiny paint jars. Pictured above is her work.

Thus our art wall has begun. We'll be able to add and subtract as the kids grow and their styles change. It's also fun for them to see their work displayed while sitting at the table chatting over Cheerios and orange juice.