Fort Worth Arts Festival

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

So ever since I had the amazing opportunity to work at the Bellagio's Gallery of Fine Art I have had a deep love for art. Levi's affection for the arts has grown to because of it. About two weekends ago Levi surprised me and took me to the Fort Worth Arts Festival. I was super excited to go and see what events and artists were up and coming. I have to say that I love downtown Fort Worth it has such an air about it that reminds you of old cowboy country. I also have an affection towards it because it is where my Grandma Scott served part of her mission. On our walk to the festival we walked past the very first fire station in Fort Worth. I had to snap a picture of it because it was the first building that I knew was there when my grandma was there. She's not as old as it of course... but it was something that reminded me of her. My mom said that she loved her mission in Texas especially Fort Worth and San Antonio. I am hoping to go there for a weekend trip soon. The area of downtown Fort Worth is such an amazing place. In comparison to Dallas, I have to say that I LOVE the feeling of the old town. Dallas is wonderful because of the modern class and modern arts appeal. One totally awesome place to visit when in downtown Fort Worth is the Stockyards. This is the place that the long horn cattle are brought through and held at. The famous Texas barbeque is from here, and it still looks the same today as it did way back in it's hay day. I will have to snap some pictures of it the next time I am down there. It is totally cow town down there! Country music, cowboys everything!

Our first place we stopped at were the steel cattlesculptures. They were soo awesome! The heads were placed in a certain way that they would move back and forth all by them selves using kinectic motion and no electrical parts. I loved this one! There were so many... I think that there were about 15 total. They were awesome!

This is the one that Levi really liked... it's a true Texas longhorn. The artist put a chemical on it to make it rust which is why it's that orangy brown color. It's also a great color because it's pretty close to the true University of Texas @ Austin Longhorn orange.



We had so much fun there! It's amazing all the different things that people like to call "art". There were so many different vendors and food choices and music stages. The people that were there were just as diverse as the artwork itself. I do have to say that it was so very nice to be able to spend time with Levi doing something different and enjoying the culture around us! The culture here is so much different than the cultures in Utah, Nevada, or California. I wish sometimes that I could spend more time out in it enjoying it than earning money to put Levi through school and pay our bills! But... that day will come and he will be the bread winner!

The next cool piece of art that we saw was this sculpture... it was really cool. Levi told me that I did a great shot with this photo because if I would have moved any other way it would have had to be censored! I totally didn't even realize it when I shot it! This was a sculpture of a guy doing what I am not sure, I think it's some sort of karate move or hand stant... don't know... but I had to take a picture because of how cool it looked! There were some more sculptures by this artist but they were a little to risque to post on my blog! They were all made out of bronze, and they were as you can imagine quiet pricey to boot.

In this same area were these cool garden sculptures that reminded me of the movie "Twister" and the Aunts house with all her wind chimes/ sculptures that forewarned her of on coming tornadoes. I really enjoyed looking at these because of the colors and the movement of each piece. Yes... if I had a backyard where I knew my kids wouldn't touch them I would have considered purchasing one... BUT knowing how rambunctious I was and Levi's baseball history I figured it would be a losing battle. I can just see our future son thinking that it was fun to throw a rock or a baseball at them as target practice. They were so cool to look at in person... Here is a photo of the rest... So Fun!!!!

Our other favorite piece of artwork was done by the same person we think did the cows.... Levi has a fond affection towards Roosters since this is the national bird of Portugal. I didn't know this and I almost put away a Picasso Rooster poster into storage because I didn't know what I wanted to do with it but I knew I liked it for some reason! When he told me why he liked it I decided that it would make great dining room art! So that is where it is at today! We really liked the art techiques that were used when designing this rooster... this one too would have been fun to have in a back yard garden! I doubt any bird would dare enter and nest!!!!
I also LOVE how it's on wheels!!! You can also see that the artist had other animals that they designed there on display. We loved the giraffe... his spots had textured matierials that he used to decorate it!

Levi and I finally gave into the smells and had to induldge in a little..... no wait..... BIG treat while we were down there. I wish that I would have thought to take a photo of it but oh well... I can try to describe it to you. Here in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area they have their "Golden Local" awards it's kind of like the "Best of Las Vegas" awards. I've seen the ad's on TV and the names of the restaraunts up for nomination, so while we were there we came across a place called "JAKES" it's kind of like a brewery/ pub/ grill. It had a cool atmosphere to it and since it was up for nomination I thought it might just be a good place to sit, rest our feet, and enjoy the scene. Not being in Vegas for so long you start to really, really, REALLY miss some of your favorite places... *In-n-Out*.... so as we were reading the menu the #1's description was exactly like the Double Double at In-n-Out. So I said DANG YEAH! I'm doin it! Well..... it didn't taste at all like the Double- Double... or look like the Double-Double. I was quite bummed. But I was not hungry! I still can not believe that I downed the whole thing.... It was twice as big as the Double- Double... and I devoured it with the execption of the last 3 bites. The fries were nothing like In-n-Out, but the onion rings were mighty tasty! The only other thing that I don't like about certain places like these is that you have to order everything separately... burger... fries... drink. It was quite a bummer when we got our bill. I honestly can say that I have been there.... and would I ever go back? Probably not. The only thing that would get me in there is if I was stuck in a rain storm!