First First Friday

I get home from work Tuesday evening and hear the dreaded, "You need to read the note that the teacher sent home with our daughter today," from my Supermodel Wife.

Oh great. Something bad enough happened that it required a note home from school. We have a pretty good kid. But she is the assertive type, and sometimes that clashes with other assertive types in her kindergarten class.

Usually this results in nothing more than the kids "losing their trophies" for a few hours. It's all good, since it teaches kids how to get along with each other.

But now we've got the dreaded note from the teachers. The only thing worse would be the "phone call from the principal" which we hopefully will never get.

So anyway, I told my Supermodel Wife to just give me the gist of the note.

"Well, it turns out that our daughter and another girl in her class..."

(oh, boy... here it comes... What? Got in a fight? Set the school on fire? Have been selling leveraged credit default swaps in the lunchroom?...)

"... have been selected to have their projects from art class displayed in a gallery in The Crossroads this Friday."

What? Well... that's not bad at all! In fact, that's the opposite of bad!

Our kiddo's interest in fine arts has only become stronger over the years. Her skills and technique have developed nicely since first putting crayon to aluminum siding three years ago.

She has dabbled in cubist/surrealist fusion (see "Friendly Alien-2005"), and has produced some fascinating works of abstract expressionism.

The Kiddo's piece is one of only 12 chosen for display from her school.

While I'm proud to say I spotted this talent early, I'm even more proud that other luminaries in the world of fine art also recognize her potential.

If you're out and about in the Crossroads tonight, and if First Fridays is your thing, then don't miss your opportunity to see this up and coming artist.

The work is on display in the Shawnee Mission District Art Show at the OfficePort KC building -- 208 West 19th Street (between Wyandotte and Central).

Just be sure you get there before 8:30. That's her bedtime.

tagged: art, Kansas City, Crossroads, First Friday, family, parenting, kindergarten