We slept in Sunday morning so we inadvertently missed our weekly ritual of attending the free Family Art Studio Sunday sessions at Barnsdall Art Park today.  I decided after 2 p.m. that playing referee to both kids about who plays with what toy, who should apologize to whom, etc. was getting old, and that we all needed to get out of the house to reset our now half-day-over Sunday.

Enter Make Your Own Mark in the Park, the annual (and free) Big Draw LA event generously hosted by Ryman Arts that takes place right in Downtown Los Angeles’ Grand Park event lawn. This event celebrates the act of drawing by welcoming all Los Angeles locals to draw together. Ryman Arts students and faculty lead many fun-filled and interactive creative activities, providing visitors of Grand Park the opportunity to transform the public space into a giant experimental drawing studio.

All art supplies and art instruction were provided for free, so this Mama was elated to have offered her family a chance to bond towards spending quality time together, rather than bicker against each other back at home. While the event started at 11:00, we were lucky enough to catch the tail end of this community gathering before it ended at 4:00. What a fun and creative afternoon for us all!

Check out a sampling of the Washi Tape-inspired public artwork, all created by Grand Park visitors with the use of colored masking tapes.

But wait, there’s more creative opportunities to explore at Grand Park!

Note to Self: next time, bring pool attire so that the kiddie can partake in Downtown LA’s splash pad fun!

Here’s an interesting take on the art of printmaking with the use of barbeque skewers, styrofoam and poster paints.

 

Here’s an engaging interactive booth on thaumatrope art.

 

Below Grand Park’s recently erected “Paper Airplane” stylized canopy by Elenita Torres and Dean Sherriff  stood the colored paper airplane art booth.

A temporary outdoor art studio dedicated to the use of repurposed and recycled materials to create ornamental art, alongside the open air caricature studio wherein Ryman Art students hand drew portraits of people, were also present.

It was surprising that no one was admiring the live D.J. performance on the Park premises; maybe everyone was too enthralled with creating their own artwork while the D.J. was playing the wonderful music. No worries, his music travelled throughout the park.

Finally, we began to notice that the art kiosks were being disassembled. It was, indeed, 4:00 p.m. By the time we made it back up to the starting point of our Make Your Mark in the Park visit, we noticed that all the artwork was gone.

The public space was left just as it was before the creative energies came together to build this community gathering. The memories will live on with us, thankfully. 🙂

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Grand Park
200 North Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-972-8080
grandparkla.org/event/makeyourmarkinthepark/?instance_id=93339

Ryman Arts
1933 South Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90007
213-629-2787
rymanarts.org
thebigdrawla.org

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