Village Venture Re-cap

The night before The Claremont Village Venture , I suffered from insomnia...so

needless to say, no pics were taken of my booth or work.

Being that this show has over 20,000 people who attend,

people watching was very fun.

Kids in costumes, dogs in costumes, a marching band and the occasional 

fun loving adult in costume as well.
Sales were great and some wonderful new friends were met.

What I did take pictures of where of a couple people who

inspired me, and I will tell you why...

This particular Garden Baby got a little damaged in the back of it's head.

He was placed under my covered Gazebo close to my fountain. Water

splash made the back of his head peel, needless to say...Composition dolls don't like the water...

so don't bathe yours!!!

So, I decided to place this baby right outside the front of my booth, expecting him to attract attention and be touched by "little People".

People pointed, chuckled and commented, "How Cute, How Clever." 

But the best part for me was watching the dozens of children, 

particularly Toddlers who were in awe of this tiny humanoid structure.

Asking his father's permission to take photos of him, I snapped away.

This little boy is 21 months old and loved the "Baby". 

He squatted and looked into the dolls eyes,

talking to it.  Touched it's face, his hand...

This happened all day long with many children.

It was captivating...I ADORE children.

They are so free to express themselves, curious and open to what so

many adults are closed off to.

When he walked into my booth and saw a table full of "Babies" his face lit up,

he pointed and said...."Babies"

My camera wasn't fast enough to capture that face.

Now, I wish I had asked permission to take pics of every child that did this that day.

So wonderful!

By the end of the day, Garden Baby's metal topper to his Funnel

hat had come loose and I didn't care...a little glue will re-affix it.
Happy that was all that broke, he was picked up, plopped down, poked and prodded.

The next wonderful person Emily and I met was Ashley.

Up walked this Adoreable young lady in 6 inch platform stilletos.

Dang, I remember the days I could wear shoes like that!

Her ensemble was FABULOUS!

I LOVE FEARLESS PEOPLE!

Ashley is an Artist with a particularly interesting medium...

She is studying Taxidermy and uses animal bones in her wearable art.

She is quick to point out that she is not a proponent of animal harvesting or cruelty.
(and if you think she is weird and you are a meat eater...
who supports animal harvesting???)

She obtains her pieces from museums, schools and guess what else???

ROADKILL!

Carrying big trashbags, she stops, picks up the dead animal and buries it in her back yard.

No harsh chemicals are used and in 4 months, she digs them up and they are clean.

WOW!

She is the ULTIMATE recylcer.

Her necklace is composed of a quail wing and the tiny skull and jawbones

are of a Bumble Bee bat.

Her hat had empty bullet casings and another tiny skull with Ostrich feathers.

I found her equally as captivating as the small children 

and swear we stood and spoke for nearly an hour.

We spoke of her work, her clothing, how long it took her Family to accept her.

How mainstream people respond to her and her work.

How PETA people chased her down.

10% of her proceeds are donated to the SPCA.

She is an animal lover.

None of her pieces involve animal cruelty.

I witnessed people starring at her as they walked by, making comments and

judging her with their glances.

We spoke of that too.

Why is it that so many in society judge people so much?

It is a free world, we are all individuals.

Thank GOD we are individuals, after all, didn't HE make us so?

I relish that when I look at the horizon I don't see JUST palm trees

or JUST oak trees.  Instead the horizon has thousands upon thousands

 of varieties of trees.

Not a flowers all of one color,

or People the same color, shape, creed, sexual orientation, 

all art the same,

etc, etc...

How boring it would be to eat the same food, every meal for the rest of your life?

You have ONE life to live,
LIVE it on YOUR terms.  

Hugs and Happy Rainy Monday!

Lisa