praise for new art

Every fall, an art explosion happens around town - artists with a spectrum of talent come together to share priceless visions of work. The Annual Cottonwood Festival is one of them, and it's one of our favorites. Maybe it's the scenic backdrop of families with their children stretched across the lawn, dogs scurrying underneath trying not to get stomped on, and loud live music that magically makes your shoulder bounce while zig-zagging from booth to booth... or maybe its the funnel cake...

This is our second time attending Cottonwood - and like the first, we didn't find that one "priceless art piece" to take home...



Until we discovered the ArtStop for kids...

... where they worked together to embellish one butterfly (cut out from felt, stuffed with shredded document paper, and stapled shut).

And tried their hands at using a pottery wheel for the first time - which was an artful experience for all of us. The vendor coordinated 10 stations at once, spinning the wheel at the same time while the kids cupped their clay and watched it turn into a... bowl?

The gooyiness between their fingers struck immediate laughter. After all, this was taking the routine finger painting they do at home to a whole new level. By the time we were done, we all had a sizable amount of clay splattered all over us...

I'm pretty sure it wasn't the funnel cake that has me still talking about the festival. But the pieces of art I did get to take home... and add to my growing collection of handmade art from the kids - 2 clay bowls and 1 ornate butterfly... simply priceless!

try pottery!

2's will need help, but 3's can rock n' roll with the wheel. There are so many facets to pottery, and we're so glad we gave it a try. Some local resources include: Quiggly's Clayhouse and Paint Yer Pottery