Milk & Cookies Art Exhibit & Reception
What I Want to Be When I Grow Up
by Terry Allen
April 21, 2018
Seventy-one first graders from Pinedale Elementary School in Pinedale are the featured artists on the Sublette County Library's beautiful rammed earth exhibit wall this month.
The title of the exhibit is: "What do I want to be when I grow up?" It was designed by Adult Program Coordinator, Judi Boyce to compliment the Smithsonian exhibit in the Lovatt Room, "The Way We Worked."
The students were asked to both draw and write what they wanted to be when they grow up. In the spirit of art appreciation, I decided to share what I saw in their colorful drawings, and then let them tell us what they had in mind as they created it. Luckily, I escaped the risky exercise without offending any of them.
David Covert:
What I saw was a cowboy roping a bear.
What it really was: "I want to be a crew chief on a cowboy racing team," said David. "The race car will be made out of a log. A friend and I were playing a game where we were making up our own super-heros that weren't on TV and we came up with "Cowboy Ritchie."
Slater Bell:
What I saw was a Transformer guy getting ready to reach his arms into a building and rescue some people.
What it really was: "Engineer," he said. "I'm already good at it as you can tell by the mechanical arms on the guy in my drawing." As he munched a cookie he said, "I'd redesign this cookie with a red filling instead of the green mint."
Izzy Bixler:
What I saw was a bird pooping on a judge’s head.
"No," said Izzy. "That's an eagle on the wall behind the judge and he isn't pooping. I want to be a judge like my Dad."
Frankie Gransden:
What I saw was a cat on a flying table.
"It's just a normal examination table with a cat on it," said Frankie. "I'm a Vet and just doing a normal check up on him. He has fur-balls."
Landy Biffle:
What I saw was a musical note coming out of a chimney and a pond full of singing frogs.
"It's a school tower with a bell and I'm teaching kids math on an easel and the pond of frogs is a rug."
Kinslee:
What I saw was a lady who when she talked, had colorful balloons come out of her mouth.
"I'm a teacher teaching about numbers and all those balloons are my students," she said.
Levi:
What I saw was bats flying around a teepee.
"It's a bottle I filled with colored soap," he said. I shook it up and it exploded all over. I'm just a pretty smart kid." I looked at his friend Lauryn who was standing next to him and she nodded in agreement.
Lauryn Holman:
It looked like a Dr. Seuss character, to me.
"She is an artist and she's having fun." I thought Lauryn looked a lot like an artist with her curly pony tail and she said it was okay to take a picture sideways and show everyone what I meant.
Hadlee:
It looked like a wind-up musical doll on a table, to me.
"It's me singing," she said. "The spotlights are on me as I sing on a stage. I'm holding a microphone and I'm singing, Gethsemane. It is a Bible song."
You might notice the long-legged work of art. There were a few of those on the wall and I wondered why. Then the Gransden kids ran over when they saw me and hugged my legs. Okay, now I think I get it. We adults mostly look like legs to shorter people.
The exhibit runs thru May 5th, so make sure you don't miss it. You will be smiling and I bet some of your own first grade memories will come flooding back.
Thank you Dawn Ballou for sponsoring this story.
Terry Allen: txpartisan@gmail.com
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