Yakity Yak-ima Canyon

Nothing beats some good art inspiration.  

In between shifts working for the ArtsVan I have been camping in Yakima Canyon.  

I love it.  

The area is gorgeous and I get some good time to myself.

I hope you enjoy the images.

Feel free to use them as inspiration : )

I Love My Job!

I have enjoyed getting to know and work with these guys.

This summer I have been able to work part time for the Arts Van in Yakima. We travel around to a variety of parks and give art lessons to kids.

One of the parks has a large Spanish speaking population and many adorable kids, unfortunately, my Spanish is not great. The first week I was pretty shy (with speaking Spanish). About the third week I saw this little girl run from her house.  As she ran toward the park I shouted “Como Estas?”  “Bien,” she replied.

The older brother was so excited that I “was learning Spanish.” Since then, I have been practicing (and making a fool of myself).  The kids seem to appreciate the effort and enjoy helping me.
 
This art lesson is Papel Picado. We cut simplified traditional Mexican flags from tissue paper. The kids (and parents and older siblings) all had a blast.

 There are more photos of Papel Picado, the kids, and the ArtsVan below.

Is Art Necessary for Society?

An older lady, that I met a couple weeks ago, believes that the government should not support art/the arts at all.  It came up because she was in favor of cutting the National Endowment for the Arts (an article from Psychology Today).  I was outraged but managed to stay calm.  I decided to research some reasons why this view is inaccurate and detrimental to our society. 

Innovation as a Nation

My watercolor based on the Weary Blues by
Langston Hughes.  The Harlem Renaissance is
a grand example of the arts playing a huge role
in society.

I began by research the benefits of art in American Society and found that Americans are always wishing we were as smart as those in China, but realized that we forget that the Chinese are always wondering where America’s creativity and innovation come from.  It is clear that our creativity and innovation do not come from getting rid of the arts (I am focusing on Fine art because that is what I am familiar with but I do think that many art forms fit in this broad category of having the ability to generate creative minds) in our society.  Art influences society though politics/political movements, religion, the sciences, and cultural awareness.  Art can have both positive and negative cultural effects on society, which is a reason individuals should be visually literate.