26Aug
10

Art is personal: Painting with drumsticks, and winning (or not winning) awards

Family at Yorkfest Fine Arts Festival in York, PA

Here’s Ashar’s summary of how we spent our day yesterday:

“My mom and dad and mommom and I went to Yorkfest to see my artwork that I have there on Saturday August 25th 2012. I got an honorable mention at Yorkfest.We saw this guy named Georgie Lehoop. Georgie Lehoop does drumstick art. To learn more about him visit: www.georgielehoop.com. He does some awesome artwork and I have one of his works. Mine is called Rainbow Rhythm. We had a great time at Yorkfest!”

She is nothing if not concise! As it turns out, her mother is more verbose.

At Foundry Park in York, PA, which has recycled metal flower sculptures

(This is a city park and garden called Foundry Park. We love the metal flowers – and Ashar’s lanky build made her fit right in!)

Yorkfest is our local fine-art festival, held every summer downtown. I’ve attended once or twice, but never done much more than wander through a few booths. Yesterday, we went especially because Ashar had entered a short story of hers in the literary competition, as well as two pieces of art in the youth art juried awards.

Framed homeschool collage art

Here’s the thing. She won an honorable mention for the short story – which she only entered because some family friends encouraged her to – but nothing for her artwork, which she was INCREDIBLY proud of!

Teenager's sculpture from found materials entered in art show

Overall, I think Ashar took the not-quite-a-win pretty well. It helped that she was most excited about having her art on display in a real gallery – so even before the awards announcement, she was feeling pretty good about herself. She did start crying when she realized she didn’t win, though – and that was OK. The thing that was hard was that she lashed out at me, for “making” her enter, which I in no way did, but you know, I was the closest target, as Mom often is, right?

The good news is, the emotional storm blew over pretty quickly and we had a great rest of our day. In fact, it even led to an interesting discussion on how personal art is – and how “judging” it, especially across media, such as her 3-D mixed-media sculpture compared with a charcoal drawing – is very subjective.

Yorkfest 2012 story that won honorable mention

I wish I had unlimited funds – I would LOVE to decorate much of my home with the one-of-a-kind art I saw yesterday. The only thing we bought was the “Rainbow Rhythm” masterpiece we’re holding in the photo above, that Ashar mentioned, but I could have spent thousands!

(I really do encourage you to take Ashar’s advice and check out Georgie Lehoop’s website, though. The videos of him painting while drumming are awesome, and Ashar was inspired enough to want to make her own drum artwork, so we’re off to find some cheaper drumsticks later this week! The only ones I have are a REALLY NICE pair of Pro-Marks, and she’s not getting those!)

22Aug
8

Our school pictures – now with 50% more livestock

It’s “back to school photo” week on the Not Back To School Blog Hop this week.

While we’ve been back to school since July 1, officially, today is the day that a lot of districts in our area return, so it seemed like a good time to share our own photos of what we’re doing.

These were all taken last night, Aug. 21, when Ashar attended her first meeting for the local 4-H alpaca club, which she is excited to be joining! (It will be her second club; she’s also in Wildlife Watchers, which has been a wonderful experience as well!)

Best part?

You don’t have to house an alpaca (which the township would not look kindly upon) to join! A wonderful alpaca farm owner, Beth, of Painted Spring Alpacas, runs the club, and she lets the kids use her animals to work with and show!

Ashar with Super Seven the alpaca at Painted Springs Farm

Best thing ever: The first alpaca Ashar worked with was named Super Seven!

Can you say “great fit for seventh-grade pictures”? Ha. (He’s so named because he was born on 7/7/11, it turns out.) He was the sweetest boy; completely willing to run through all the obstacles.

Alpaca going through obstacle course cones

Here, Ashar and Super Seven take on the cones, one of the simpler obstacles on the course.

Alpaca going through obstacle course teeter-totter

I have to take a minute here and say that as a whole, the kids we’ve met through 4-H have been some of THE nicest young people I’ve ever met, and the four young ladies at last night’s meeting were no exception.

One of the older girls, Meredith, was helping Ashar (I think Super Seven is normally “her” alpaca), and she was just so friendly and helpful. Ashar loved getting to know her!

Here, Meredith is showing Ashar how to help Super Seven not be so nervous on the teeter-totter, which was a good exercise for Ashar’s balance, too!

Alpaca going through obstacle course

Gratuitous Instagram photo of Ashar and the ‘paca.

Alpaca going through obstacle course

So sometimes, alpacas don’t quite want to do what YOU want them to do. (Kind of like seventh-graders.) But if you encourage them, they’ll usually cooperate. (The alpacas, at least…)

Alpaca going through obstacle course

Here, Ashar’s leading Super Seven across a platform that has a ramp on one side and steps on another. Apparently, alpacas aren’t great with steps – who knew? But he was a trouper!

4-H alpaca club members practice showmanship

Here, the girls are practicing showmanship – learning to always keep their eyes on the judge, a smile on their faces, and the animal between themselves and the judge. Here, Meredith has Super Seven and Ashar has his friend, who I think was named Arpeggio.

We’ll be having some “real” photos shot with Ashar soon – THREE of my best friends are photographers, so they are always willing to share their expertise with us! – but I liked having a chance to show one of the best things about homeschooling so far, which is that Ashar gets to live her passion, working with animals, in all sorts of ways!

(Oh, and in case you missed the first installment, our entry for “Curriculum Week,” the first week’s theme, was the unschooled version of a seventh-grade-ish curriculum plan, and “Schoolroom Week,” last week’s post, featured a family bookshelf tour!