By KAYLIN PICKETT
BG Independent News
The Black Swamp Arts Festival’s Youth Arts tents give kids the opportunity to express themselves and get involved in creating art.
The tents were located in front of the library and provided different craft options for the kids. They could create paper from pulp, decorate their own hats made out of butcher paper and tape, or tie-dye a T-shirt.
To make the hats, the paper was placed over a can and taped into a hat shape, then the kids were able to take it to the next tent and decorate with markers, stickers, flowers and feathers. The kids were given total creative freedom to make their hats exactly how they wanted.
Riley Grzecki chose to decorate her hat with lots of heart stickers along the rim, but her favorite decoration was the pink flower that stuck up above the hat. Her mom, Amanda Grzecki, was helping Riley with her decorations and said that this was their second year attending the Black Swamp Arts Festival.
“She really enjoys decorating the hats and wearing them around the festival,” Amanda said.
Walking around the festival, people were able to see all of the creations that kids made at the tents. Some hats had flowers and feathers sticking out of them every which way, while others were covered in the kids’ drawings.
At the tie-dye tents, the kids had the full rainbow of colors to decorate their shirts in a variety of patterns like a spiral, crumple, bullseye or sunburst. After decorating the shirts, they were able to take the shirts home to wash and wear.
Though the tents were called the Youth Arts tents, people of all ages took part in the crafts. Jean Olbrding, who works with kids, decided to make a hat to learn how to do it with the kids that she works with.
Throughout the weekend, the tents were full of families and kids making art to take home to remember their time at the Black Swamp Arts Festival.
