This is for you: Children, art and gifting.

I had originally intended to share this work along with some thoughtful musing about the natural way children give art as gifts, the specialness that soaks into mundane objects when labored over or given with love and the ways in which working with children and experiencing this gifting first-hand have me thinking differently about art, exchange, gifts, gift-economies, value and the gallery gig-

But I’m having one of those weeks where a rare lull in studio work AND work-work have allowed me to get excited about new ideas, and now there are too many thoughts about too many things happening all at once in my head for me to do anything other than mull. Also it’s Friday. And warm. And now a cat is laying on my arm, greatly reducing my capacity to type.

 

:A collection of spontaneous art-gifts from children, generously given and joyfully received over the past year (an incomplete list)

a boat caring loved ones on an adventure (L) attached to an illustration of said adventure (R)

A double gift: both a creature and a new interesting way to think about puff balls as a starting point.

Another gift that’s many gifts: A custom-made wand that came with a) a tutorial on how to make more wands for other friends b) the power to transform the classroom into rainbow colors and c) an invitation to make magic and play together.

A first edition hand-made book by a new friend…

…withn explanation of Easter rituals (bunny, kids and EGG)…

…And interesting and inexplicably hilarious juxtapositions (as seen here with ‘Ice’ and “ice cream’.)