Whew!

What a crazy couple of days (and weeks)!

I've mentioned before about the elementary school volunteer art program that I am involved in. Tomorrow is the culmination of a year's work, our annual Art Show. The last couple of days have been a mad whirlwind of non-stop activity, with some major crises narrowly averted and lots of running around. As of now, our school's cafeteria is filled with kiosks (which kind of look like old cube walls covered in crushed velvet), running in zig-zag rows down the cafeteria. The kiosks are about 95% covered with art by now, with a little more to go up tomorrow morning.

I got to work in my daughter's 1st grade class this year. We learned about the elements of art - line, shape, texture, color and value - and we made special art projects that emphasized each of these elements. We also studied our featured artist Vincent van Gogh, and drew "Expressive Line Portraits" in the style of van Gogh. Tonight I hung the artwork (including some of the styrofoam block-prints that I talked about before) that was the result of this years efforts, and it is amazing to see what these 1st graders have done.

Tomorrow should be fun. It's our school's annual Dance-Fest in the evening (along with the Art Show), where each grade performs a dance that they have been working on all year. It's wonderful how community-building dance can be - to see all these kids out dancing together is an amazing experience. Dance has become a part of the culture of this school, and it's an inherently cooperative experience. So far I've only actually seen some of the practices and rainy-day dancing, as it's our first year at this school - so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night's celebration.

So what does this all mean to me? I am exhausted from all the running around and stress of getting everything together. I've come close to really hurting my lower back, though thankfully it's doing better today. I wonder again, as I do every year, how much is the right amount to be involved? Am I over doing it?

Thankfully, I don't have to answer those questions today or tomorrow. Tomorrow I get to walk through the Art Show and see little kids pulling their parents along to see their art hanging in the show, mounted and labeled and honored. Kids who have no idea about the work that so many adults went through to make this happen, and many parents who don't really see that effort either. And that's OK, 'cause it's about the kids. Their art. Their dance. Their lives. To honor them. And it's a beautiful thing.