July 1, 2001

• Art and Scotch Tape

  
  

  Have you ever stopped and thought about what exactly constitutes art?  I know what I like and what I have on the walls in my home.  Nothing that would fetch a million dollars at Sotheby's but stuff I like.  I have a little print of Monet's 'Waterlilies' in my guest room, and a pair of signed CJ Bradford prints in my bedroom.  Other than that the art in my home tends toward the crafty things that I make from patterns in magazines. 

  
  

  At least that was the artistic expression of my home until my children got involved.  Over the past year I've discovered that almost any piece of paper becomes art once it is scotch-taped to the wall.  Stick figures of dinosaurs and flowers predominate.  My personal favorite is a long figure in which the head is very small and far away, but the knees are huge.  This is Daddy from the perspective of a four year old.

  
  

  I've also discovered that sometimes the art is in the tape.  The kids LOVE the stuff.  They twist it and bend it back on itself.  Frequently people point out to me that I have tape stuck on the back of my clothes from the remnants they leave on my chair.

  
  

  Yesterday, they ran out of paper.  We are just like everyone else.  When we traded in our dot matrix printer for an inkjet, we had boxes of that paper you get at Sam's club.  It has been a magical endless supply for our kids for a couple years.  But yesterday they ran out.  There was a small whimper of disbelief and then they went on to something else. 

  
  

  I was relieved.  The days of buying a new roll of tape every week to refill the dispenser have come to an end.  I thought.  Then I walked through the family room.  There on the dark purple wall, a white plastic fork was taped at an angle next to the family portraits.  Art has risen to new heights in my home.

  • 7:27 pm
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