Edible Art

Each year at our homeschool coop they have an art contest. Well, for those of you who know me, I am crafty but "art" is not really my area of expertise and although I would love for my children to gain a love and appreciation for it, I have never really encouraged them to enter the contest. However, after they presented the awards for last year's art contest, Catherine asked me why she didn't get to enter. So, I promised her that this year she could enter.

Of course, this year's theme had to be something more difficult- Edible Art. The artwork was supposed to be made of food, about food, used with food or a pic or something related to food. Harbin decided on his own to make his Monkey/Bear Pancake (there is discrepency over what it looks like. Catherine's project was my idea, but she completely executed it on her own. She madea a Butterfly Mosaic with dyed egg shells. We also got to try our hand at painting with celery. Lydia made a very pretty celery flower (you cut the bundle of celery and use it like a stamp to make what looks like a rose). I don't have a pic of it because she then decided to just paint and the whole page kind of ended up covered in mixed paint (mostly brown).

They entered the contest and competed against some really creative projects. In addition to Best in Show, Best in Edible Art, and Children's Choice (this was voted on by other coop kids), they had 4 categories: Photography (this was Harbin's category), Sculpture, Art Format (this was Catherine's category) and Best Artist to Be (this was for 1st graders and below which included both Harbin and Catherine).

I am so proud of both of them for trying so hard on this project. Harbin followed his heart and stood fast to his ideas. He created his design, made it and had a great time entering the contest. Catherine worked diligently for 3 hours carefully gluing each broken eggshell mosaic down. Even after I tried to convince her to just leave part of the butterfly white, she insisted on finishing it up. Catherine ended up getting 1st place in the Best Artist to Be and her category- Art Format. She beat out ALL age groups for her category which is pretty impressive for a 5 year old!!! She was so excited and I was so happy for her. She is definitely a detailed and talented artist who earned her awards that night.

The mom.