By KJ Burkley | Reporter
Baylor students and citizens of Waco got the chance to experience three color printing and other crafts courtesy of the Martin Museum of Art at the Waco Cultural Arts Fest at Indian Springs Park this weekend.
The Martin Museum, which was first dedicated to Baylor in 1967, carried on its legacy of being an outlet to the expression and innovation of art with fun interactions.
Elisa Crowder, Gallery Attendant of the museum, highlighted that the art community in Waco really enjoyed the Martin Museum venue.
“There was a steady stream of people coming, and they are really enticed to engage in the art station we had,” Crowder said. “I think this year was great, especially with the fact that people were being patient and interested with learning what is going on with each section.”
The art displays, warm atmosphere and beautiful weather blended together for a three day stretch of learning, practicing and creating different forms of art. Parents witnessed moments that their children made connecting with a more creative and delicate form of entertainment.
This year’s Arts Fest also brought back memories for many annual attendees and to make new ones with younger generations, a nostalgia that Crowder felt close to her heart.
“Seeing parents here with their kids reminded of my own kids that used to attend years ago when it began,” Crowder said. “It’s encouraging for them to do arts, and it’s a good outreach to families that don’t know that we exist.”
The featured exhibition — three color printing — offered a unique experience of mixing primary colors yellow, red and blue to make other colors like green and orange.
Allison Chew, the Director of the Martin Museum of Art, explained that the process of color bleeding helped with the understanding more about color properties and the system itself.
“The mechanics of making screen print allows people to see the process of combining colors together,” Chew said. “Our technique helps demystify how you get new colors from other colors, and when kids go to school and see curriculum surrounding how different color is made, they have already seen and understand how that process is done.”
Chew, who is a graduate of the University of Texas Tyler with Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art loved that children and adults love the process because its something that they don’t experience every day.
“I just enjoy seeing kids and parents get so much joy from making something that is unique,” Chew said. “It’s very rewarding and makes our involvement worth so much more being here.”
Based off Chew’s expectations that many people would participate in three-color printmaking and from recent attendance in past years, the Museum had over 1,600 print sheets cut and prepped in advance.
“We wanted to walk away with nothing left,” Chew said. “We wanted to have the feeling that we helped people understand more about color and art culture.”
