Fresh Paint is a festival where you can watch artists at work, but it’s also a place to watch children at play.
Especially this year, Fresh Paint has enhanced its family fun activities to include more hands-on entertainment where kids can create and even be a little challenged.
For the first time this year, the newest fun challenge is for families to search for their own sea float. The way it works is that one of the glass artists will be making the floats, which are basically colorful glass baubles stamped with an “F” and a “P.” These floats will then be hidden along a certain stretch of Jetty Island so families can take the ferry from 10th Street Park to the island and search, treasure hunt style, for the floats.
Maren Oates of the Arts Council of Snohomish County, which presents Fresh Paint, said the new sea float event ties in the beauty of Jetty Island with the beautiful pieces of art glass that blowers create at Fresh Paint’s hot shop.
“Different communities in the area have done this type of event before so we thought we’d try it too,” Oates said. “And it’s a great way to promote the jetty.”
Other kids’ activities include a booth where young artists can create masterpieces from recycled material. This recycled art event is presented by Imagine Children’s Museum and ParentMap magazine.
Also, kids can play in the wet clay at the Pottery Loft booth or be entertained by a kid-friendly program from the Interactive History Company.
Young drafters also can gather at the Dykeman Architects booth to try their skill at making colorful architectural-type renderings, Oates said.
The glass hot shop is back this year and is a bigger one from the Tacoma Glass Museum. Many of the same glass-blowing artists have returned, including Robert Mitchell, Merrilee Moore, Dehanna Jones and James Madison.
Fresh Paint’s 12th year includes more than 85 artists creating, selling and demonstrating drawing and painting, pottery and weaving. Announcers from radio station KSER-FM 90.7 will be on-site spinning tunes both days.
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