A Masterful Paint Party

from HOME River Valley Issue 2

by RIVER VALLEY PUBLISHING

Anne Higgins of Willow and Pine Market

Put a creative twist on the standard kids' paint party by designing it around the work of Old World Art, and give your little guests the inspiration to create their own masterpieces!

Bobbi Hammonds, our talented marketing guru, designed this party for her daughter’s birthday with creative art gallery display ideas, artist mannequin inspired activities and an amazing cake by Piece of Cake Bakery modeled after the work of Monet & Van Gogh. The whole party is literally “a work of art,” so grab your sketchbooks and take notes on all the painterly details!

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Bobbi… Arwyn, the middle daughter of five, loves to draw and create fabulous art. When it came time to design her birthday party, an art party seemed the perfect theme, but not your everyday art themed party. Art with history, sophistication, and beauty seemed to be more suitable. A museum inspired artist party was born.

The stage would be set as a gallery. It would feature works by the greats alongside Arwyn’s own graphic art in ornate gold frames. With custom made artist plaques and quotes from artists, guests were enveloped into the theme.

An artist party would not be complete without allowing the guest to create their own classic, so three art stations were erected around the gallery. At one station a child could mold with master’s clay, playdough tubs were sprayed gold and adorned with oneof-a-kind labels. At another station, guests were encouraged to paint a masterpiece on handcrafted kid-sized easels with inexpensive paints and simple brushes found at Ikea. The gallery would later showcase the guests’ completed works. The last station seemed to be everyone’s favorite. The simple artist human mannequin that Arwyn, along with her sisters, lovingly named Geoffery, was poised to be dressed, posed and sketched. Geoffery had a box of clothing and accessories for everyone’s style and taste. These gold sprayed mannequins stole the show with their eclectic attire and imagination inspiration.

The team at Piece of Cake in Evansville, IN, showed off their amazing artistic abilities by creating a show-stopping piece of confectionary art. The cake featured Claude Monet’s Fields of Poppy and Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers with intricate details that would have impressed the artists themselves. Set aside a custom cut artist pallet for cupcakes topped in personalized toppers created by our graphic art team, the cake table was nothing short of its own work of art.

Arwyn’s favorite part of her party was her Lona Misa. Arwyn drew her own version of the Mona Lisa that we framed right alongside Leonardo’s famous masterpiece. We even created artist postcards as a unique thank you to guests for joining our Museum

inspired party. We took Lona Misa one step further and created a coloring sheet for guests of all ages to color and enjoy. These small personal touches, that were inspired by Arwyn’s love of art, made the party extra extraordinary.