Art at Grandma's

Yesterday was gorgeous, so I took the opportunity to go see my downtown clients and check out the AISD Student Art Show at 111 Congress. Looking at student artwork is so much fun. Some pieces are inspiring, some are hilarious, and many make you tilt your head and just go "hmmmm." I walked away from the show in the best mood, smile planted firmly on my face.

I am tempted to return with a camera to snap photos of my favorite pieces. One was a self portrait - done in Frida Kahlo style - of a boy and two panda bears. The expressions on the pandas' faces were priceless. Another was a cosmic scene with a silver abominable snowman type meteor thing. It had me in stitches. Yet another was a barnyard scene, where everything was labeled, including the pig and the "mud for pig." I'm thinking you have to see it to get it, but this piece just warmed my heart. Oh, and then there was the self portrait with what looked like a dead Homer Simpson in the background. That one was, um, interesting.

AISD definitely has some talented kids. It was so cool to see the pieces done in the styles of Kandinsky, Miro, Mondrian, Escher, Kahlo, Seurat, Monet, Cezanne, etc... Sure, I can name drop famous artists all day - but that's probably more of an ego thing to make up for the fact that I have no artistic ability. However, I do think it would be so cool to be an art teacher.

So, speaking of student art... I created this drawing/painting/something when I was in elementary school. It was a self portrait of me standing in a field of flowers. My grandmother framed it and hung it in her bathroom, where she would see it all the time. When she died, my family was cleaning her place and I remember standing and looking at my piece, hanging on the wall. Bless her heart, it was hung upside down! I'm not sure I had ever realized it! I guess that goes to show how fabulous of an artist I am. :) But my grandma, she loved me so much that she hung something so hideous you couldn't tell which way was "up" in one of the most prominent places in her apartment.

My Grandma was one of my best friends. She was my greatest advocate, supporter and my biggest fan. I miss her something fierce, but I feel lucky to have memories like this to cherish forever. Even if they are of my student artwork hanging upside down on her walls. For some reason, that makes it all the more special for me.

I hope the artwork hanging at 111 Congress will soon hang on the walls of relatives who love the artists as much as my Grandma loved me.