120 in 7

my first kids - 


the only ones i got pictures of! 


i spent last thursday and friday at our county's teen arts festival - about 2000 kids come over the course of the two days to have their work critiqued... they are in competition to go to the state level in visual arts, theater, voice, film making, music, etc... i had been there before as a parent when my kids had pieces entered... 


but this time i was asked to teach a workshop and jumped at the opportunity... first i hemmed and hawed over what i could teach them in 45 minutes... what didn't involve metal or fire (don't laugh, that's hard for me!)


weaving - as a teen, i loved macrame, weaving, knotting... it was the first way i used beads... 


so, ok - let's do that! 


3 workshops per day... 


let's be sensible and limit the classes to 15 students each... 


sounds good... 


i even posted sign-up sheets so that everyone would know if there was availability or not... 

but then, what do you do when a kid comes in and says, 'your lists were full by 10:30 and i was with the judges'? well, you let them in, right? and they always travel with a friend... 


do the math above and you get 90 students in 6 workshops -


i had 120... 


120 kids in 7 hours... 


and i can honestly tell you that i looked into each child's eye, touched each piece they worked on, gave each one attention... 


because i didn't just want them to finish a bracelet... i wanted to teach them a technique... i wanted them to go into a store or look in a catalog and think 'i can do that.' and then do it... to make more, to teach friends, to give gifts, to (hopefully) keep experimenting... to not just think of it as a bracelet - but as an anklet, a belt, a necklace, etc... to see a button as a clasp or closure in a different way... 

can i tell you i was so worried no one would want to sign up for it that i brought a book just in case?

can i tell you it was one of the most rewarding things i have done since i started this path?


one aspect i appreciated so much was just being in a room with different kinds of creatives - there were the ones that were happy to make randomly colored bracelets, ones that had to have the pattern lined up ahead of time, one that had to center 2 beads in the middle (and i taught her how to do that)... 


that part made me think of my own kids... and em was there - but she was helping our photographer friend with his workshop... 


huge thanks to the monmouth county arts council for the opportunity and for hosting an incredible event year after year...