Thursday, March 16, 2006
Culture vulture: Show me yours!
I've shown you some of my favorite artsy fartsy treats, and I have a couple of ideas for the next few columns, but I could sure use some input from you readers.
Those who can
You know the old adage, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." Well, maybe that has some truth to it, but this column will highlight the work of those stalwart artisans of our local schools: art teachers. Now, I don't want to hear about how your art teacher affected your life (that would be another column entirely). I want to know the names of art teachers (or professors) in the Roanoke Valley who have put out some bangin' art lately. This means that you don't necessarily nominate your favorite teacher but the one whose recent work you have seen and is really terrific. Teachers, feel free to nominate yourselves if you have something great you've been working on. But, because I would have to travel to photograph your work, it needs to be near Roanoke.
Children's art
Child art is a favorite realm of mine. Yes, I have my favorites that my children created through the years (nice art, kids!). But I'm gonna go out on a limb and ask for people to send in ONE digital image of their favorite piece of art created by their child before the age of 9. I'm hoping that parents do not try to send in "masterpieces of maturity" that say, "See how talented my little Picasso is," but rather, the one that really charmed and made their hearts melt. Often, these pieces are made by kindergarten-age children (or younger). Be warned, the Culture Vulture will be choosing which will get ink, so charm can easily win out over technique. In your e-mail, please include the first name of your child, his or her current age and how old he or she was when the piece was created. If you don't want any last names used in print, just say so. The Vulture is very protective about issues of privacy, especially where children are concerned.
The play's the thing
They say necessity is the mother of invention, but I find that motherhood necessitates invention. Specifically, the making of playthings or a dress-up wardrobe from everyday stuff such as cardboard, duct tape and whatnot. If you or someone in your family makes creative playthings or costumes out of almost nothing, send me a picture in an e-mail. This is NOT a call for photos of Halloween costumes but things that show innovation and are played with throughout the year. In the e-mail, please include the first name of the child, his or her age in the picture (or age he or she played with the great homemade thing), what it is and the name of the person who created the item. The same offer of privacy mentioned above applies.
Please e-mail me at culturevultureVA@gmail.com, and show me what you have. All e-mail entries will be acknowledged with a reply. If you don't get a reply, I didn't get your e-mail. If you have a photograph that's not in electronic format, take it to a Kinko's, Alphagraphics or a photo reproduction store, and the employees can scan it for you and put it on a diskette. Then, you just attach the file to your e-mail to me. I'm eagerly awaiting, so together, let's get these three columns fired up.
Miriam Young is a creative director living in color in Roanoke.
