As an upcoming Senior at Penn State, this weekend was my first (real) time attending Arts Fest. When I started at Penn State in the summer of 2013, I remember artwork and different things hung up all down the side streets but I thought nothing of it. All I was doing was running down East College Avenue and through massive crowds of people in ungodly hot weather that would not get out of my way. There was also water being sprayed from a spout at the Corner Room because the heat was pretty much unbearable. That in a nutshell was my experience with Arts Fest until this weekend.

On Saturday, I could not wait to see my little and meet her boyfriend, as well as another great friend and we attended a pool party at The Retreat. To say that it was a blast would be an understatement. As someone who has never gone to Spring Break I imagine it was something like the scene at the pool and hot tub at The Retreat. We ate great hamburgers and had a great time enjoying each other’s company. I especially enjoyed laying on a rocketpop raft. We then spent Saturday night waiting in lines that we believed to be the shortest and went from there to get our food and drinks.

On Sunday, I was determined to see some art and actually buy some things to show my campers. How perfect is it that the theme this upcoming week at camp is- creative arts week. I saw some amazing works of art and the best part is I got to speak to the artists who were eager to help and tell you all about how the art was made. How often do you get to speak to artists themselves about their process?

What caught my eye almost immediately was the Coffee Art. As someone who carries a tote bag to work that claims “it’s a wonderful life after coffee…” this was right up my alley. The artist, Craig Peterson stains the background with coffee and the paints over in watercolor or does an image using sharpie. I would have never known that fact by just looking at the artworks. I think a misconception people have is that children do not like art, they can’t appreciate it, or they don’t understand it. While I believe that like adults, they know what they like.

A woman came back stating that she bought art for one of the her family members who was a little girl but she likes owls and wondered if the artist had prints of owls. He did in fact have two different colors that she debated between. I couldn’t help but smile at that image because prints and other forms of art are something that little girl can have for the rest of her life and pass down to the next generation.

As an educator, I love seeing children at different festivals and other events becoming educated learning about different processes, the production, materials, everything under the sun about how that work came to be. It’s educational and they get something they can have for the rest of their lives. Clothes they will grow out of and they will go out of style, but art never will.