Kids and Art
Structures #57
©2006 Lisa Call
33" x 66"
Textile Painting (hand dyed fabric, batting, thread)
Art For Dad
Today I took my son (a teenager – but really any age will work) to the Denver Art Student’s League annual Summer Art Fair. We had 2 purposes – first was to
enjoy the art and the second was to buy his dad a father’s day present. My daughter had previous pool party plans so was excused from the outing.
All around it was a successful event and we had a great time, saw a bunch of art and my son picked a nice abstract painting for his dad. At first he just wanted to go home but once he got into it he wanted to walk by all the booths to make sure he saw all his options first. Very cool he got into it eventually.
I bought a little ceramic house to add to my collection of houses. It’s now a collection because this is the second one I’ve bought.
Collectors in the Making
My goal, besides spending time with my son and seeing art, is to create a future art collector. As an artist I have a vested interest in there being a lot of these out there.
In addition to taking the kids to museums, art shows, galleries and other art events I also occasionally buy them art for their rooms. And of course we make art together.
I’ve now added in the element of having them buy art. Unless wildly inappropriate, I believe we will focus on purchasing art for all our future gift giving needs this year.
Support an artist – buy art for your friends and family!
Hm. That just might be a bumper sticker I need.
Progress
In addition to the art fair, I also had my second photo lesson today. The above image is another attempt at photographing Structures #57. This version is too dark because it’s now too dark in my house to process photos appropriately. But I’m on the right track as think it looks better than this version: Previous post with Structures #57.
Ironically that post is also about progress in my art career and it’s great advice based on a blog post by Seth Godin. I really recommend you click that link above and read my old post if you feel like you are never making forward progress. Seth is a smart guy.
Here’s one of his quotes from my article:
Add up enough urgencies and you don’t get a fire, you get a career. A career putting out fires never leads to the goal you had in mind all along.
It’s about making sure the things we are doing move us forward.
Today I put out a slow smoldering fire that has been blocking me for at least 6 months. I turned the website work I have done over to my builder and can now refocus on my career.
To that end look for the very first bit of content to come from makebigart.com later this week. I’m excited. Moving forward!
PS – If you are looking for some art to buy as a gift, I group together small pieces here: Affordable Art for Sale.
Posted by Lisa in: buying art
Tagged: art, art career, artist, Collecting Art, Focus, progress, Seth Godin, structures, success, textile painting
PS: I’m looking forward to the launch of http://www.makebigart.com !
Earlier this year, I sold two of my larger works. The purchaser, in consultation with the recipients, selected Grass and Hot Cross Blocks for her sons (both under 10). The purchaser and I used to work together as lawyers. I appreciate the support and encouragement that she has given me as I pursue a creative life and I love that she has introduced her children to the idea of observing and appreciating (and buying!) artistic works.
Lisa,
A great idea to direct the young to purchase art making new collectors is an important task.
Lisa, it’s so cool that your son really got into the art and made such a considered decision.
Over the years, I have done exactly the same things with our kids and grandkids. Some have grown up to be pretty good artists in their own right, and all are art collectors.
When the kids were really young, I would always frame their most interesting work in a real frame and hang it on the wall. I encourage everyone to do this with their kids!
We must have rubbed shoulders on Sunday – we went to SAM too. I ended up buying a small intaglio print – but I did check out all the ceramics and ran into many clay peeps I know. They all wanted to know why I wasn’t participating in SAM this year – just needed a break….
My daughter helped me pick out the print – which was pretty cool getting feedback from an 11 year old. It’s good for kids to develop an eye for art at an early age.