Riley at the Bedlam Farm Open House

The shells and bookmark Riley gave me
The shells and bookmark Riley gave me

Riley’s grandmother told me they follow the blog.  They love the pictures of the animals and the videos.  Riley’s an artist her grandmother said.

I asked Riley what she liked to do.  I would guess that Riley was about seven years old, she didn’t say much but showed me a bracelet she made and handed me a bag of shells.  She and her little sister make jewelry from them and thought I might find a creative use for them too.

It was the second day of the Bedlam Farm Open House and Carol Conklin was in the gallery talking to Carol Barrett and Debbie Glessner.    Riley followed me into my School House Gallery and I introduced her to the other artists.  This is Riley I told them, she’s an artist too.

I wasn’t sure if my introduction would  make Riley uncomfortable, but as the day went on she kept coming back into the Gallery.  She was still  quiet, but she hung around.  Looking at the art answering my questions.

While I was busy, my friend Mandy, who was helping me out for the day, asked Riley to sign the book mark, with a photo of her on the front, that she brought for me.  As an artist would.

I try hard not to be condescending to children, speak to them as I would an adult.  I know, as probably most of us do, what it feels like to be uncomfortable in a crowd of strangers.  That can come at any age.

I don’t know if Riley really is an artist, I suppose that will be revealed with time.   But I wanted her to know that there is a place for artists in this world.  And that there are people who take it  seriously.  Maybe she got a twinge of a feeling of belonging.  Something to hold onto and remember.

One thought on “Riley at the Bedlam Farm Open House

  1. Maria, my granddaughter at 7 1/2 yrs. announced that she was “an artist” (she’s 8 now). She was very firm about this and so, as she lives over an hour away from me, I arranged with her father to bring her up to my town and take classes in our wonderful art shop that seems to survive well in our small town. And she did a number of pieces of artwork but one in particular stood out, a painting which I now have on my website. She is right, she is an artist. It may also be a passing phase but somehow I don’t think so.

    I’m sure you made that little girl’s day. Most are shy at that age but to have been made something special of, is not something she will forget, I’m sure. Your Open House has a wonderful flavour to it from a distance of readership. That you and Jon are willing to expose yourselves as you do on your blogs and with the Open House is a testament to how open you are but being open, can be risky. I’ve never understand why, when someone is popular and attracts people to them, there are those who are determined somehow to find fault eventually with these people. Is it because some are more gifted than others in certain areas of their lives? Is it because those who hide behind a computer screen attacking people, make themselves feel better, more superior? I’m glad to have lived through an era of innocence, Doris Day movies, happy times…now the world is a more knowing place but also a more tense and angry place. I applaud you both for giving of yourselves, sharing your talents and those of others, inspiring those who wish to be inspired and I hope you both continue for as they say: God willing and the crick don’t rise.
    SandyP, in S.Ont.Can.

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