Hello friends and Hivians. Today I have some children's art I ran into at a park that is located right off the Missouri River. Initially my plans were to get the 411 from some local fisherman there. Though that did happen I came across this first and decided to take a closer look.
The name of this piece of art is The Children's Lewis & Clark Interpretive Art Wall. It was established in 2004 to mark the 200th anniversary of the 8000 mile 28 month discovery journey of Lewis & Clark. The travel starting in Illinois and ended in Oregon on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
The Art Wall is located on Haworth Park in Bellevue, Nebraska. I've been here numerous times since 2004 but just noticed this on Friday when I was there. Granted a lot of times were early in the morning before the sun came up. There is many pieces of individual artwork all from students in the grades three through six. The children artists are all from communities along the routes of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
Each piece of artwork I will show you was reproduced on weatherproof tiles for permanent display on both sides of the sculptural art wall. It's also arranged geographically into seven separate regions to better show where some of the children's creativity came from and to show the journey across the continent. It's really cool how the children's art are part of this historic commemoration.
There were three portraits that were enlarged on the sculpture stones. The first one I looked at for a minute trying to figure out what exactly was. Maybe it's suppose to be related to the Native American culture in the area. That's my best guess anyways. Regardless I think it holds value as an art piece.
The second one is my favorite but I can't pinpoint exactly why 🤔 I wonder if the young kid (from 20 years ago)now a grown adult is into fishing 🎣 Perhaps I have seen them on the river.
The third photo is interesting and very colorful. I imagine it being a raccoon 🦝 It appears it found some apples and perhaps some other things. Maybe it's ready for a picnic and will feast on them on what looks like a blanket it's on.
So all seven regions each had their own collection of artwork. You can see different things in each one. Most contain boats, animals, and people that represented something in their particular areas. It was fun checking all of them out. There was a lot to look at considering each contains 96 individual pieces.
Thinking of these kids back in 2004 how cool would it be to visit the sculpture wall 20 years later in 2024? I think that would be pretty cool and it's there to stay for a long time. Something that could be shared with their kids and perhaps years to come with their grand children.
I hope you enjoyed this artwork created by our youth. It was a neat exhibit not only for its art but for its historical stories. I'll have to share some more of the local Lewis & Clark sites that are nearby here.
Take care, stay safe and have a great start to your week. Until next time!