Okay…Why?

By Hope Wallace

Culture. I’m going to get some culture. People, myself included, sometimes joke about getting culture when they are about to head to an art museum, ballet or the symphony.

Why did we start saying this anyway?

The other night I was watching a documentary on the atomic bomb blast on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sitting comfortably nestled on the couch, I stared cotton-mouthed at the disturbing images of death and catastrophic destruction that flickered across the screen. How can something of such unspeakable and indescribable horror trigger thoughts of art?

When generations of a community exist in an area over many years they develop their own identity, their own culture. This identity surfaces in almost everything, architecture, visual arts, music, food, theater, dance and so on. Second only to food and shelter, this becomes the core reason why we do what we do and becomes an absolute component of a complete individual and therefore healthy community.

If a conquering country wants to quickly take over another country, they eliminate that country’s arts along with the prosperity of the people. It physically weakens them so assimilation into the stronger society’s ways will swiftly prevail. Native American youths forced into boarding schools were forbidden to wear their native dress, forbidden to speak their native dialect, and had their hair cut. The slave trade often removed Africans not only from their own continent but from their own individual tribes. Even if they were housed with other Africans, often times they spoke entirely different languages and had different customs.

A lack of identity and belonging lowers morale and makes for easier subjugation.

Culture is simply a word for “this is who I am”. It doesn’t mean snooty opera glasses, white gloves, and being lofty. Culture exists for and makes up everyone in a community.

The Wassenberg Art Center is one of Van Wert’s stewards of cultural preservation.

In 1954, did Charles Wassenberg have an idea of the importance of the legacy he left to this community? If the attitude exists that centers for the arts are only frivolous extras for an area, think again. Art centers are as essential to a good community as shelter and food.

Do-it-yourself playdough for busy and creative kids

By Kay Sluterbeck

Here at the Wassenberg Art Center we often get calls inquiring about making or doing art-related things.  Recently we had a request for the recipe for good old homemade “playdough,” sometimes known as “salt dough.”  This is fun to make and fun to play with, so we’re sharing it – along with some other recipes for playdough fun.

HOMEMADE PLAYDOUGH — Mix 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour, and ½ cup water.  If necessary, add more flour to make it a doughy consistency.  If you’d like to color it, add some dry tempera paint and mix it in well.

Once the playdough is mixed, it’s nice to just let the kids play with it as they want to.  If they’d like to make a project, one of the easiest ones is to make ornaments using cookie cutters.  You can make ornaments for holidays (there are even Halloween cookie cutters!) or just make ornaments that the kids can hang in their rooms.

Have the children use their hands to roll and flatten the dough until it is about ½ inch thick.  (You may need to help with this.)  Then let them use cookie cutters to cut ornaments out of the playdough.  Put the ornaments on newspaper and poke holes in the tops with the eraser end of a pencil.  Let them dry for 24 hours, turn them over and let them dry for another 24 hours.  (Allow more drying time if needed.)  Children can jazz up the ornaments by applying white glue, sprinkling on a little glitter, and shaking off the excess sparkles.  Tie yarn through the holes to make hangers.  (These make nice holiday gifts for parents or grandparents.)

If you have very small children who are still exploring things by putting them in their mouths, you can make an edible playdough that they can enjoy on many levels – through touch, smell, and taste. (This is not for children who are allergic to nuts.)  Here’s how.

PEANUT BUTTER PLAYDOUGH – Mix equal amounts of peanut butter and nonfat DRY milk to the consistency of playdough, adding more peanut butter or dry milk as needed.  Invite the kids to feel, smell, taste, and create with this different kind of mixture.  Be sure the table surface and playing utensils are clean, because kids can eat this stuff!

Another playdough project – NOT edible – is made with shredded wheat, white glue, and small margarine lids.

SHREDDED WHEAT PLAYDOUGH — For each child, crumble one large shredded wheat biscuit into a bowl.  Mix 5 drops of green food coloring with ¼ cup white glue (Elmer’s school glue or similar) and add to the cereal.  Have the child mix the glue and shredded wheat together until the cereal is completely coated.  Help the child pile the mixture on a small margarine lid and shape it into a wreath.  They can decorate the wreath by pushing red hots or small beads into the green mixture.  Leave the wreath on the lid to dry.  While it’s still slightly wet, make a hole in the top with a pencil point and use a needle to insert ribbon or yarn for hanging.  The wreath will dry in about 24 hours.  They can use the wreath to decorate their room, or save it for hanging on the Christmas tree!

If you don’t have little kids, there’s no reason you can’t try these recipes yourself.  There is no age limit on having fun and being creative with household items.