The life-size art way to say “I Love You”
After almost two weeks going to, staying in, and returning from Baltimore, Ray and I drove into our home county at mid-morning on Saturday. We did not pass Go. We did not collect $200. We did not go by our house. We went straight to Historic Granville for its Fall Celebration Festival. It’s even more fun than Monopoly®.
We met our daughter and her children there to continue our yearly tradition of going to the festival together. Ray and I had plenty of time to browse, after the children went home for nap time. While they were there, it was mainly bouncy houses; train rides; petting rabbits, goats, sheep, and a donkey; and having fun with the scarecrows.
Ray and I don’t celebrate Halloween, but we love fall with its apples, apple cider, pretty leaves, pumpkins, popcorn, and scarecrows. Granville’s 6th Annual Scarecrow Walk is going on all month. This year they have 300 lifesize scarecrows and historic characters! The grandchildren loved them.
When I saw the scarecrows local high school students created based on the Wizard of Oz, I thought of you. I took pictures of each character. You may have a child who would enjoy expressing his or her creativity this way. All of these, except the monkey, is standing up (with the necessary interior wooden or metal frames), but we saw lots of scarecrows sitting around town on benches and chairs. We even saw one sitting in a kayak. All you need are some old clothes and some found objects to have fun creating a lifesize . . . whatever!
Here are Dorothy and Toto . . .
. . . and Scarecrow . . .
. . . . and Tin Man. Look closely at those faces. I think those students have been watching the movie. They were really impressive.
Here is Cowardly Lion.
Here’s the festival’s one and only Winged Monkey.
I am grateful that these student artists have a great art teacher and that they get this opportunity each year to display their work for so many people to see. When we were homeschooling, our children and I took a drawing class. We met one afternoon each week with Miss Judy and several other students. That was almost twenty years ago. The last I knew she was still teaching. Her classes are not limited to homeschooled students but she has taught many over the years.
Our children had the opportunity to showcase their work, too. Miss Judy held periodic art shows at the local senior citizens building. I purchased many Dollar General Store® frames to get ready for those art shows. That is one reason I have so much of our children’s art hanging in our house. If you are looking for a place to showcase your children’s work, I suggest asking the local children’s librarian if she would be interested. I think some small town banks might be interested, too.
As we were leaving, I noticed a pretty scarecrow lady, dressed in pink and holding the hand of a little girl scarecrow. Here they are.
I was surprised when I read the tag hanging on the little girl scarecrow’s dress. It reads: “Created by Katie Argo Five Years Old.”
Here’s an idea that your child could do, if you don’t have time to gather materials for a whole scarecrow.
- Draw a scarecrow face on a brown paper lunch bag.
- Put the bag over the head of a rag doll.
- Tie twine or ribbon around the doll’s neck to hold the bag on.
- Dress the doll like a scarecrow.
I like to imagine Katie Argo’s mama or daddy or grandparent helping her create her little girl scarecrow. Someone loved her enough to give her that opportunity to make it and to see her name at what is billed as the largest scarecrow festival in Tennessee. As Mr. Rogers used to say, “There are many ways to say, ‘I love you.'” Katie Argo experienced the making-a-scarecrow way.
You don’t have to make a scarecrow today to say, “I love you,” because “there are many ways.” Paul told Titus that the older women should teach the younger women to love their children. You are good at that. Your children have a wonderful head start in life, simply by being loved.
Older women likewise are to be. . . teaching what is good,
so that they may encourage the young women
to love their husbands, to love their children . . . ,
so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
Titus 2:3-5