There are so many things to love about Vero, and the Vero Beach Museum of Art is one of our most exquisite jewels in a town full of treasures. Last Saturday afternoon, nearly 3,000 people, most of them children, visited the museum for the 34th annual Children’s Art Festival.
Vero Beach Museum was totally kid-friendly thanks to museum employees and volunteers, area art and music teachers, and their extremely talented students.
Throughout the day, students from various schools in the county performed for proud parents and grandparents. Performers included the Glendale and Liberty Magnet Elementary Schools’ Chorus, Liberty’s Orff Ensemble and Drum Circle, Osceola Magnet School Singers, Drum Ensemble and Twirlers, Atlantic Children’s Preparatory Chorus & Chorale, Beachland Elementary School’s Rockin’ Recorders, along with dancers from Christie’s and Vero Classical Ballet.
Children worked through four rooms filled with various creative activities, including easel painting, face painting, jewelry design, and a collaborative project using small boxes and recycled materials. Parents signed up their children for summer art camps, and the fabulous gift shop was a popular spot for children and grownups alike.
By 2:30 p.m. a huge and very patient army of volunteer artists had painted more than 170 faces, with hours to go and a line of eager children snaking out the door. When you get your face painted at the museum, your face is being painted by a real artist! The results were pretty exciting – butterflies, batman, peacocks and kittens, all original works of art by some of Vero’s renowned artists.
Congressman Bill Posey presented awards to the winners of the 2015 Congressional Art Juried Student Exhibition in the Great Hall. Christie Bassett, Florida’s Teacher of the Year, gave awards to Indian River school students as winners of the Indian River County Juried Student Exhibition.
The museum café was open, and Adrienne Drew and her crew were serving tyke-friendly food to families that enjoyed relaxing in the cool marble of the atrium, surrounded by award-winning drawings and paintings.
Christopher Discepolo, new owner of Sebastian Gym and Fitness, brought his daughter, Gianna, a second grader at Treasure Coast Elementary School, who was sporting a colorful face-painted peacock over her right eye. Gianna pronounced the event “amazing” and showed off all of her creative treasures.
The family moved here from New Jersey a month ago, and Discepolo was amazed at all that Indian River had to offer for families with children.
“The timing was perfect,” said Discepolo. “Gianna said she wanted to go to a museum and I saw the ad for this. It is one of a kind.”
Sean Clinton, manager of the museum art staff, stood in one of the art rooms, where museum volunteers were busy cleaning up after a big rush of young artists.
“It is creative chaos,” said Clinton, in what may be the understatement of the year. “It is one of our largest events, and more people show up every year.”
When asked how many children had come through the rooms, one volunteer laughed, and said it felt like “thousands.”
