Folklife Festival 2007

What a weekend! Two weeks from now I'll be delivering my girls to Summer Camp but right now, I'm savoring every minute with them so this weekend was all about family time. Saturday we finished choosing the tile for our dual renovation projects. Then we went to see the Fantastic four movie. I thought it was just ok - not really my thing - but the rest of the family loved it.

Today we went to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. This year the areas of focus were the Roots of Virginia, the Mekong River and Northern Ireland. It was so much fun. This was our second time attending the festival and, as in pervious years, there was way too much to see in just one day. Sadly, DQ was a bit under the weather so hubbo took her home early but Stinkerbelle and I stayed nearly till the very end. Here is a sample of what we saw.

1. Weaving, 2. Paper cutting, 3. Masks, 4. Sugar Candy Art, 5. Porcelain Flowers, 6. Stages of Silk, 7. Fish Trap Baskets, 8. Silk Wheel, 9. Carved Log Canoe, 10. Indigo Dyeing, 11. Wood Carving, 12. Cool Quilting, 13. Addition Sculpting

There was just so much amazing stuff to see. We saw amazing wood carvings and a statue being created by a man using a very small spatula to add plaster little by little to a metal frame. I was in awe of the porcelain flowers I saw created in front of my eyes and there were incredibly fragile sugar candy designs. One of my favorite things were the fish traps. These beautiful baskets were gorgeous while also serving a practical purpose.

The Roots of Virginia area was especially fun for DQ because she got to show off some of what they've studied in school. They had exhibits showing the agricultural heritage and the contributions to our culture from the slaves. To illustrate the african influence they brought over many artisans from Senegal. They played music, made pottery and baskets, and so much more. The skill on display was amazing.

Not only did we see cool stuff - some of us got a chance to try a few new things too. Stinko got to try throwing a pot on the wheel. She got such a kick out of it and, better yet, she got to take the tiny pot she made home! She was so into the clay that also spent a little time hand building a clay bed. It all made it home in one piece - amazing!

She also got to try her hand briefly at stone carving which was being demonstrated as part of an exhibit about building preservation. She was less excited by this than by the pottery but it was great that she had a chance to experience it.

There were tons of other things that we saw and many of them were displayed in a very hands-on manner which kept Stinky thoroughly engaged. Many of the artists were kind enough to offer her little samples too so we came home with a few treasures.

This is one of the great, family friendly events offered in the Washington DC area and it's free. If you ever get the chance to attend - grab it!