Introducing Abby Jayne Lowry - Kindergarten Jart WINNER!!! Way to go ABS!!!Explanation: We have an AMAZING librarian at our school who comes up with the greatest ideas of how to get the kids involved in good causes. She admits that one of her greatest ideas of all time is the Bountiful Elementary Jart (Junk - Art) Contest. She hosts it every year and the rules are simple:
1. All artwork must be original - no parent help, ideas and creation all done by children
2. The only materials you can use are junk - things you would be throwing out and filling our landfills.
3. Each year she has a theme, and your artwork has to somehow tie into the theme.
Abby was super excited to participate in this contest. She spent weeks gathering piles and piles of junk - digging through our garbage cans to find treasures and stockpile them in the corner of her bedroom. Each time I went to recycle a container she'd yell - don't recycle that mom! It's perfect for Jart! When it came down to actual creation time, she used approximately 1% of the materials she gathered, but her piece came together quite nicely. She started by tearing up old magazines to paper mache a balloon. Once that was dry, she cut a hole out of the middle so you could see inside. Her plan kept evolvoing. First, it was to make a fairy village, then a dollhouse, then a playground. Her work evolved slowly over the course of a week, but eventually she came up with an egg-shaped ball containing a hammock with a baby in it and an angel on the top.
When I asked her to explain it to me and tell me how it tied into the theme "Celebrate!", she said, "Well, this ball kind of looks like your belly, and that's Baby Soren inside hanging out in a hammock waiting to come out. The angel is his guardian angel who's watching to make sure he comes out okay." She titled it simply: "Celebrating the New Baby".
The judges came this week, and the vote was in. Abby felt like a rock star when they announced her name over the loudspeaker for the whole school to hear and her class burst out into cheers and applause. She received a certificate and two nice, crisp $5 bills. She proudly showed them to me when she came to the hospital tonight and then said, "Mommy, I want to save one $5 and give the other one to IZ". What a sweet kid.
But it doesn't stop there. In a few weeks, the Jart winners will be on display at the Davis Art Center. They're having a big opening night and the newspaper will be there to photograph and interview each little Jartist.
Way to go Abby Jayne!
Looking back, I think Abby was quite inspired in this piece. At the time, I thought it was cute, and even a bit funny that she thought my tummy looked like a giant balloon - but now I think our little Abby might have somehow known that Soren would need a guardian angel or two to help him come out.
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