Thursday, September 16, 2010

Downtown event will offer art, history, music and culture

 

Downtown event will offer art, history, music and culture

Merlene Davis - Herald-Leader columnist

My kids are grown now, but when they were younger, I remember scouring the newspaper for activities or events I could take them to that could enrich their lives and enlarge their worlds.

Fortunately for parents, members of the Lexington Learning Cooperative and organizers of Spotlight Lexington have made world-broadening an easy task.

During each weekend of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, the Learning Cooperative will host several events geared for children and families.

100914hands weaving

Children can learn to weave a bookmark at the Family Arts Paddock during the World Equestrian Games.

100914Rangoli sand art

Rangoli is an art form that evolved in India. Artists make designs with rice powder.

100914Hemp

Children will learn to make hemp-fiber bracelets and other accessories on Sept. 25 at the Family Arts Paddock.

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  • What's happening at the Family Arts Paddock

    Schedule of activities at the Family Arts Paddock during Spotlight Lexington, Sept. 25-Oct. 10.

    Sept. 25:

    10 a.m.-2 p.m. Hemp Rope Accessories. The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation. Make bracelets, key chains or necklaces from hemp.

    2-6 p.m. Kentucky Treasure Box. The Living Arts and Science Center. Decorate a keepsake box and fill it with mementos from mapped locations.

    Sept. 26:

    10 a.m.-2 p.m. Horse sculptures. The Art Museum at the University of Kentucky. Create a sculpture from a variety of materials.

    ■ Ribbon Trees. The Living Arts and Science Center. No experience required to create a work of art in the trees with artist Adam Craft.

    2-6 p.m. Mini journals. The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. Decorate and bind a journal. Young Women Writers will read their works at 5 p.m.

    Oct. 2:

    10 a.m.-2 p.m. Guys and Gals. Isaac Scott Hathaway Museum. Make 18th- and 19th-century dolls with clothes pins, corn shucks, paper, fabric and paint.

    ■ Banners. Headley-Whitney Museum. Create banners for a "drive-thru" art show displayed in downtown Lexington.

    2-6 p.m. Recycled Jewelry. Bluegrass PRIDE. Make jewelry from recyclable items.

    Oct. 3:

    10 a.m.-2 p.m. Jockey Silks: Design Your Own. Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate. Put together your own jockey silk design.

    2-4 p.m. Alebrijes. Bluegrass Youth Ballet. Presentation of excerpts of the ballet Alebrijes, celebrating a famous Mexican artist. Visitors may create their own Alebrijes art.

    2-6 p.m. Postcards from Kentucky. Sisohpromatem Art Foundation Inc. Create Kentucky trading cards to trade with locals and visitors.

    Oct. 9:

    10 a.m.-2 p.m. Native Americans in Kentucky. Lexington History Museum. Learn about Kentucky Native Americans, listen to traditional music and make a clay coil pot.

    ■ Kentucky Weaving. Living Arts and Science Center. Weave a bookmark on a simple loom.

    2-6 p.m. Painted Horseshoes. Explorium. Decorate a real horseshoe using paint, glitter and more.

    Oct. 10.

    10 a.m.-2 p.m. Art in the Garden. Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment. Create garden art while learning about native plants, beneficial bugs and composting.

    ■ Music-making Gymboree. Explore the power of rhythm and melody while moving to the beat of Latin sounds.

    Noon-2 p.m. Interactive Theatre. Lexington Children's Theatre. Each half hour, Lexington Children's Theatre will help participants create a short performance using art, music movement and drama.

    2-6 p.m. Folk Arts of India. Bluegrass Indo-American Civic Society. Participate with children from Lexington's Indian community in demonstrating rangoli folk art and enjoy performances by an Indian classical dancer and her students.

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The informal networking group, which is composed overwhelmingly of non-profit educational, historical, artistic, musical, environmental and cultural organizations, will produce the activities.

"We have a variety of activities scheduled," said Sonja Brooks of Sisohpromatem Art Foundation, "including individual art projects that you will have the opportunity to make something and take it away."

At least once during each of the three weekends during the Games, there will be a community project, she said, such as the use of materials to create a large-scale weaving between trees and poles in Triangle Park on Sept. 26.

"We are trying to get people to know that from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends, there are free family activities along with all the other things that are going on in Triangle Park for Spotlight Lexington," Brooks said.

Activities will be at the Family Arts Paddock, a tent near the split at West Main and West Vine streets on the west side of the park.

Historic presentations from the Isaac Scott Hathaway Museum, Native Americans, and the Bluegrass Indo- American Civic Society also will be featured.

The first activity will be making bracelets, necklaces, anklets or key chains from hemp as taught by members of the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation.

Alison Carter, historic preservation specialist, said participants will be taught a simple style and a more intricate style of braiding.

"The reason we are doing the hemp," Carter said, "is because John Wesley Hunt, one of the first millionaires west of the Allegheny Mountains, made most of his money with the production of hemp when it was legal. Hemp was a big part of Lexington and the Lexington economy."

With his money, Hunt built Hopemont, a home for his wife and 12 children, now known as the Hunt-Morgan House, at 201 North Mill Street.

You can take your hemp creation to the house for a free tour during the Games. Tour hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with tours on the hour.

Talk about expanding worlds.

With all of the activities scheduled for adults and for children, Spotlight Lexington seems to be the place to be during the Games, especially if you can't get to the Kentucky Horse Park.

Reach Merlene Davis at (859) 231-3218 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3218, or mdavis1@herald-leader.com.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/09/14/1433873/merlene-davis-downtown-event-will.html#ixzz0zjQZZRuR

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