Silk screens and Wolfy things

Goodness, I'm behind!  Let me take you back to 2 weeks ago...Every Wednesday we have a children's program in the afternoon, and a guest presentation in the evening for adults.  The past events we've had have had pretty good attendance.  But the last program day we had?  Woah, holy ton of people!

In the afternoon we had Tish B., a local artist, come into the V.C. to show the kids how to make silk screen prints.  What a great craft!  The basic idea is that you cut out a pattern of your choice (I made a snipe...a type of bird) and then use that pattern to create a unique painting.  The process is as follows:

1) Cut out a pattern
2) Place a sheet of white paper on the bottom of the apparatus
3) Place pattern on top of paper
4) Put screen down on top of both
5) Pick your ink color, and spread it across the top of the frame
6) Use a squeegee to pull ink towards you
7) Lift screen
8) Remove painting
9) Voila!  ART! 

It's super easy, but kind of hard to describe online.  I'll just have to do a demonstration when I get home.  Note to you all, I charge $10 an hour for my crafting services.

It was great to see the kids be creative though.  Usually we provide everything for them, but this day they had to make their own patterns.  I was merely there to supervise and make sure ink wasn't thrown all over.  And we had quite the turn-out!  40 people!  I thought the V.C. was going to burst!  I don't think we've had that many people in there at once, so I'd say it was quite the success.

That evening we had our wildlife biologist, Buck, come in and give a lecture on wolves in the park.  I was super excited to hear about them.  Wolves aren't really something you think about in Alaska, what with the bears, eagles, and moose being the biggest draws to attention.  I was particularly interested in the wolves this week because I had just finished a book on wolves (Winter Study by Nevada Barr if you're looking for a good read).  I learned a lot about wolves and their behavior, where they are in the park, how we monitor them, etc.  But the biggest thing I took away from this discussion was the presenter himself.  His role as biologist is to study all the animals in the park, and you could really tell that he loves his job.  He talked so passionately about the wolves.  And just seemed so interested in his work.  It really gives me a sense of hope that I'll end up doing something along the line that I'm really passionate about.  I don't care how long it takes, or how many jobs it takes to get there, that's the end goal.  To find something I'm passionate about, do it, and enjoy it.  That's what we're all looking for though isn't it?