Now, I'm not exactly an art aficionado but I live in a house with two people who love it to pieces. One could have been quite good at it had he applied himself and not taken the punk route. The other has been expressing herself through drawing and painting daily since she was 2 years old. Me? I just wanted to feel high-falootin' and tell my friends I spent the afternoon at The Frist Center. So, when Handiman's company gave free tickets to all employees for the July 4th weekend we were ready to get our art on.
Of course, Ocho's vomiting put us on indefinite delay but finally she awoke Sunday morning vomit free so after church and lunch we headed into the big city.
It' funny that The Ocho really hasn't spent much time in Nashville. She knows she was born there and that's where we went to see the Hannah Montana concert. And she's aware that it's famous. But really, she has no concept of it at all. The first thing she noticed when we parked were the taxis on the streets. "Wow! They have taxis here? This is a big city!" So funny.
On our way in, she started complaining that her stomach hurt and I couldn't help but fear the worst. It's one thing to vomit at Robyn's house. It's quite another to vomit inside The Frist Center. Fortunately, once we got inside and she saw the gallery she forgot all about the stomach ache.
It really was fun to see her light up and show a real interest in the paintings. To be honest I wasn't sure how it would go. I figured she'd look at a few, say they were pretty and then ask where the snack bar was. But she didn't. She took it all in. She stood and studied them. She'd get really close then step far back just to take in the different perspectives. Handiman was into it too and since he understands it more than I do, he was able to talk to her about textures and shading and.....blah, blah, blah.
Of course, the real fun came on the 3rd floor. That's where ArtQuest is located, an interactive activity center with all sorts of stations. You can sketch, draw, paint, sculpt and do computer design. We all had a blast playing in there.
The Ocho made a reverse print using an ink press and a very colorful watercolor painting.
Handiman and I faced off in a sketching contest at a station where you weren't supposed to look at your paper as you drew the still-life object. He dared to doubt my abilities.....
After a couple of hours being artsy, we walked over to the famous Union Station Hotel so The Ocho could see the beautiful, historic lobby. Then we drove her around and showed her the Riverfront, The Ryman and Titan's stadium. We also pointed out the condo complex where Steve McNair was shot and killed on Saturday. (Ok. Not really. But we did see it and it was both creepy and sad.)
We concluded our day of art appreciation, history lessons and crime scene investigation with dinner at Logan's. Because if there's one thing we call all appreciate, it's steak.
2 comments:
I cannot believe they let you take pictures. They threatened to take my camera when I took one pic in the kids art room.
We took my kids to the Art Gallery in Mobile and, surprisingly, they loved it! Especially the blown glass exhibit. Who would have known?!
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