Art in the Afternoon

In what we fervently hope will become a Friday tradition, Lily came over yesterday afternoon with a big tub of art supplies. An ever-shifting group of kids & grownups sat around eating grapes and discussing projects we've started... while sorting through beads and buttons and other odds & ends, clipping pictures and phrases out of old textbooks and Japanese newspapers, and gluing everything together with Mog Pog. As the sun slowly sank in the sky, we enjoyed a round of margaritas (we concocted a virgin version for the kids, who kept referring to them as "vegan") with which we toasted the return of Aly (back from China) and the heart of summer.

In the end we filled up dozens of little round clear-topped aluminum boxes with our creations. You'll want to zoom in on this picture to get the full effect...


Some of us went the vehicular route instead:


Somehow these pictures made us think of the artist Slinkachu, who sets up tiny human scenes in urban environments and lets people discover them. I was also reminded of a recent visit to the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park with Amy -- a place we have come to refer to as "Don't Touch the Art," because of the four foot high neon green signs they posted everywhere when they first opened. Most of these have been removed, but the aura remains, along with the security guards. This installation said it all, really. (Note the incorrigible Art Toucher, risking chastisement and possible banishment.)


We don't mean to be snotty about the Olympic Sculpture Park, which has some great stuff in in it for sure, and in which we have spent many happy hours. But all in all we prefer art we can freely interact with, even when it means getting Mog Pog all over the patio furniture.

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