Tomorrow is Earthday! And our beavers third anniversary of being at the John Muir celebration. The first time we were a whimsical write-in at the very last moment, and it was the very first ‘display’ we had ever done. I was actually shocked to see how many materials we had at our disposal! We stopped at longs on the way and got some pens and scratch paper for first ever children’s art project asking kids to enter a beaver drawing contest. We expected little, Fro was planning to stop by and work on her painting ‘plein air style’. We raffled off the very first beaver t-shirt offered by a supporter, and the most recent, neither from Worth A Dam, because we didn’t have t-shirts then. We had only met twice. Our thinking at the time was to use our presence to pressure the city into actually VOTING on the future of the beavers. 3 years later I can safely say I’m fairly certain that will never, ever, ever happen.
In doing that first event we learned that children’s artwork can be a powerful tool in shaping adult minds. We understood that being visible and teaching about beavers was a great way to motivate support and educate the public. We got 79 drawings that day and scanned every delightful one of them to add to the website. Two of them were from a certain anti-beaver city council member’s children. Very interesting indeed.
Things change. Now I’m on the board for JMA and in charge of entertainment this year. Our goals using the art of children are much more ambitious. Last year we did a diorama and had children make clay beavers to add to it. This year we are doing the other half of our fabric banner that we started at the flyway festival. this is going to be one adorable project. Fro has already sewn ribbon between the first squares to mark each contribution. I’m thinking it will be displayed in a bagpipe ceremony at the festival. And each artist who contributes his/her vision will receive a lovely beaver tattoo. Stop by and say hi. You really don’t want to miss this.
