Completely unrelated to the Randall Museum, Dragonflies or Crafts (but related to girls in grade school) - I joined an organization called Girls On The Run as a Running Buddy. GOTR has chapters around the US, and girls aged 8-12ish join for 2 meetings a week, during which they learn to be self confident, to enjoy exercise and eating well - basically an Empowerment program for girls. The grand finale of the program is to run a 5k, and each girl is accompanied by a Running Buddy, who cheers them on. So, today was practice 5k day, and the meeting of Girl and Buddy for the first time.
We mostly walked the 5k - three loops of Stowe Lake. At the start line, all girls sprinted for about 30 yards, and then alternated walking and jogging. I chatted with my running partner to help her forget about tiredness and hotness. I had to think back to what 4th graders cared about, so I asked her: what's your favorite school subject? And she said: "Art. Because even if you mess up, it's still Art."
I'm sure she didn't realize what a profound thing she'd just said, but it is so true. I have so often thought about how it's not a question of whether something is called Art or not, but rather, whether it is Good Art or Bad Art, because yes, everything and anything can be called art. It's not like being a professional Scientist - one can assume a Scientist has passed various stages of rigorous testing to be where they are. But "Artist" - anyone can label oneself an Artist.
Oh. I just remembered, while in Art school, mentoring Art Students, some art undergrads considered themselves "Scientists", for being interested in things to do with science (words like" Genetics, Nanotechnology, Mutation, Chimera" were alluring, apparently). They'd never taken a science class, nor designed an experiment, or put together a hypothesis, but liked the pop culture idea of Science and thus called themselves Scientists, not knowing any better.
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