By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Young artists – many of them shorter than the bags of kettle corn being toted by their parents – went through about 10 gallons of paint, one gallon of glue, a field of fake flowers, and it’s anyone’s guess how many googly eyes Saturday in downtown Bowling Green.
And tomorrow, more budding artists will flock to the Black Swamp Arts Festival and do it all again, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The youth arts area of the festival draws an estimated 1,500 creative kids each year. They come for the always popular wide-brimmed paper hats and the colorful tie-dyed shirts. This year, the new art stations also allow children to recycle cardboard into artwork, and use their literary talents to create “monster books,” with burgundy felt covers.
Lenna Keipper, 4, of BG, had big plans for her book, which included reading stories to her sister about her imaginary monster going into space and swimming.
Avery Tansel, 4, of BG, showed the cover of her literary work – with her monster sporting three eyes. Yes, they were googly eyes, but they were intended to be scary, nonetheless.
Aarna Patel, 5, of BG, was busy creating a friendly monster on her book cover. While she worked, her father, Viral Patel was one of several parents good-naturedly stuck wearing a brown paper hat made by their children.
Patel, whose hat was adorned with a flower and pipecleaners, said his wearing the hat was better than the alternative.
“It’s so windy,” and the hats easily take flight, he said. “Then she’s going to cry.”
At the next table over, Kenna Butler, 6, of BG, was focused on her monster book, complete with accordion style pages spilling out from the cover. Her monster – obviously a girl, and obviously friendly – had two horns, puffy eyebrows and a button nose. The accordion tongue was necessary since her monster was fond of spaghetti, popcorn and popsicles, Kenna said.
The books were the brainchild of Amanda Speer, who co-chaired the youth arts area with Kelsey Mohrman. Speer, an elementary art teacher, and Mohrman, a graphic designer, bring new ideas to the kids area each year.
The monster books allow kids to exercise their storytelling and artistic skills – and most importantly “use their imagination,” Mohrman said.
The organizers stocked up on 700 pieces of felt for the covers, and at least 5,000 pages of donated paper for the monster stories.
In addition to the recycled cardboard, colorful beads, pompoms and foam stickers, the youth area would disappoint countless children if it wasn’t fully stocked with giant rolls of brown craft paper for hats.
“Some years we run out, some years we don’t,” Mohrman said, hoping this year was one of the latter.
As elsewhere at the festival, the youth area is also dependent on volunteers – 40 to 50 each day. Helping kids make the big floppy hats was BGSU student Emily Lirtzman, who quickly became practiced at the paper headwear.
“I’m as close as you’re going to get” to an expert, Lirtzman said as she pulled out the necessary building supplies for Adeline Napierata, 4, of Findlay.
Starting with an empty gallon can, brown paper and duct tape, Adeline was coached through the process.
“Can you hug this really tightly for me,” Lirtzman said of the paper encircling the can. As the hat took shape, Adeline selected green duct tape to hold its form. “Good choice,” Lirtzman said.
“Alrighty kiddo,” Lirtzman said, as she showed the young artist how to roll up the paper edges to make a wide brim. “You want to make sure it stays in place, so you can put all kinds of decorations on it. You’re making your hat fancy.”
At the next table over, Noah Kuebeck, 10, of Perrysburg, was a hat-making prodigy.
“So right now, I’m making a little face on the top,” Noah said, agreeing that it would look good to any drones flying overhead. He admitted to being an old pro, as he stuck an orange feather and a sprig of yellow flowers in the duct tape. “I do it every time we come.”
Younger brother, Ezra Kuebeck, 7, had one goal in mind – make a better hat than his brother.
A couple tents away, kids were spraying paint onto white T-shirts bound by rubber bands. In the center of the tent was paint-stained Mohrman, refilling squirt bottles with yellow paint.
“It’s a little busier today than we anticipated – which is a good thing,” Mohrman said. And as in year’s past, families tend to visit every artsy opportunity in the youth area.
“If they’ve got kids, they go through each tent,” she said.
