Land and Sea at Moody Gardens

One of my favorite activities at VSA Texas is our annual Art in the Gardens co-sponsored by Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX. This is an outdoor hands-on festival for kids of all ages with disabilities, K-12. This year’s theme is “Land and Sea.” This year’s event will be September 20th, 2018 and only once in the last seven years has it rained, so I just know it will be a bright and sunny day overlooking the water inlet behind the big white tent where we hold our festival. On that day my co-worker April and I will roll out of our slumber, get coffee and confection, and head down to the waterfront tent where all the workers and volunteers will already be setting up. The artists providing art activities usually start checking in around 9:00 AM, and then performers start arriving and setting up on stage.

The Moody Gardens complex from the water: a white tent pavilion and 3 large glass pyramids with hotel behind
(Courtesy of Moody Gardens)

In case you didn't know, Moody Gardens began in the mid-1980s with a horse barn, a riding arena with a hippotherapy program for people with head injuries, and an extraordinary vision to create an island tourist destination. Today Moody Gardens is one of the premier educational and leisure facilities in the Southwest. It also provides horticultural therapy, education, and employment for persons with a wide range of physical and emotional disabilities.

Arts and community organizations, museums, and civic groups like the Junior League of Galveston County, UTM School of Nursing, Galveston Arts Center, and many others participate in providing art activities for over 250 kids with disabilities from Galveston County and neighboring communities including Houston.

AND who knows what kind of sea creature mascot will show up this year? Last year we had a giant shark:

The shark man complete with a green button-up shirt in a crowd of kids

Why do I love this event so much? The people and volunteers are great. The setting is perfect – outdoors with live entertainment and art activities set with a gorgeous backdrop of the bay and big paddleboat. The families and kids that come just love running around and enjoying all the activities.

So if you or your organization wants to provide an art activity or perform at this fun event, send me an email at lynn@vsatx.org. We would love to have you participate!

Another Day of Art at Moody Gardens

I know you have missed me and my blog entries. This is Lynn here at VSA Texas. My most favorite activity is a spectacular event called Art in the Gardens, which is our annual outdoor hands-on festival for kids of all ages with disabilities, held at the famous Moody Gardens® in Galveston. A week ago today was our sixth annual Art in the Gardens festival, and this year’s theme was “Stars of the Sea” in celebration of Moody Gardens' newly refurbished Aquarium. It was a bright sunny day with high humidity, but the water was beautiful and the breeze was blowing. Perfect day. April and I got there early and set up our art activities. Then volunteers started rolling in, and the first performers arrived and began drumming to get us all in the mood for a good time.

The Moody Gardens complex from the water: a white tent pavilion and 3 large glass pyramids with hotel behind
(Courtesy of Moody Gardens)

In case you didn't know, Moody Gardens began in the mid-1980s with a horse barn, a riding arena with a hippotherapy riding program for people with head injuries, and an extraordinary vision to create an island tourist destination. Today Moody Gardens is one of the premier educational and leisure facilities in the Southwest. It also provides horticultural therapy, education and employment for persons with a wide range of physical and emotional disabilities.

Even though Hurricane Harvey battered southeastern Texas just a month earlier, arts organizations in the area rallied and came out to provide art activities for more than 400 attendees. Among the activities were great jellyfish cutouts with the Junior League of Galveston County, paper plate fishbowl making with The Kids Club of UTM School of Nursing, decorating king and queen crowns with Galveston Arts Center, and making “Stars of the Sea” headbands with Moody Gardens. A man in a shark suit could also be spotted visiting with all the kids and bringing friendly shark smiles everywhere.

The shark man complete with a green button-up shirt in a crowd of kids

Chalk drawing (below) was also a big hit for everyone. In most cases, we connected big plastic apparatuses with chalk to kids' wheelchairs to facilitate making their own chalk art. Other kids would run around excitedly pushing the chalk apparatuses like old lawn mowers. All the kids seemed to head straight for that activity as they entered the tented pavilion.

Kids traverse the colorful, chalk-covered concrete floor of the pavilion. Note the chalk drawing apparatus.

Lots of great performers were also present to entertain our folks. Joy of Djembe Drumming started off the morning with lots of drumming, and a conga line slowly formed. Later, the wonderful Down Syndrome Association of Houston rocked the floor with “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” (seen in the video below).

Texas A&M University at Galveston Two Steps followed that up with their country western thang, which was fabulous. Afterwards we ate lunch with all the volunteers provided by Moody Gardens, then cleared away all our sea gear, shook hands, hugged, and said “yeah! another great year” and the kids danced and sang and swayed and enjoyed going to the Aquarium Pyramid compliments of Moody Gardens. Thank you Galveston and Moody Gardens for participating and providing another great day for all the kids, parents, and teachers. Looking forward to next year’s theme!

Celebrating 100 Blogs in 100 Words and Pictures

As OMOD project coordinator and self-appointed blog manager, I cannot be happier to compose our 100th blog entry! When I first took the reins of our VSA Texas blog in July 2015, we hadn’t published a blog entry in five months and our monthly page views had plummeted; now, just shy of two years later, we publish entries on a weekly basis – barring the weeks when my own perfectionism gets the best of me – and our page views regularly extend into the thousands. Of course, this has little to do with me and everything to do with our dedicated team of bloggers made up of our amazing staff and guest contributors!

In managing our blog, I am constantly reminded that our blog has never been about the statistics or the number of readers we gain. It has always been about telling the story of our organization and hearing from the everyday people behind the incredible work we do. And the 100 photos I culled from these first 100 entries (and spent an embarrassing number of hours editing into ten tiny collages) will illustrate that far more effectively than my words:

The wonderful world of Body Shift, featuring stunning photos by Camille Wheeler and others!

Adventures in OMOD

Remembering the tremendous work of Actual Lives Austin!

Launching youth into the world of media through our Side-by-Side internships and New Media Arts classes

Bringing art and entertainment to children with disabilities through our annual Art in the Park and Art in the Gardens festivals

Expanding our services to Texas Veterans with creative writing classes, public readings, and art exhibits around the state

Providing opportunities for Texas artists with disabilities to share and sell their art. Not only visual art, but CDs, books, greeting cards, even handmade apparel, too!

Our blog has also offered a forum to engage in critical discussions about disability representation in media.

Our Unsung Hero of the Week series has allowed us to acknowledge our dear friends and collaborators who make our work possible and honor those who are no longer with us.

Last but most important, our blog gave the dedicated staff who work in our offices the opportunity to tell their own stories and articulate how their own lives have been impacted by this work. They are the heart of VSA Texas.

Okay, so I know that was more than 100 words, but I just couldn't cut it down any further! I hope you will forgive me, and more importantly, I hope you will continue to read our blog as we add new voices and new stories to the mix!

Wings of Color: Magic Happens at Moody Gardens

It’s a beautiful day at Moody Gardens here in Galveston, Texas, the site of our 5th Annual Art in the Gardens festival sponsored by VSA Texas and Moody Gardens. This free event for schools gives students with disabilities an opportunity to show off their creative side through interactive art stations. This year’s theme is "Wings of Color" and we have over 15 local art groups and 4 performance groups providing activities and entertainment for these kids.

Well we better start getting busy setting up. The schools, performers, and art groups will be arriving soon, and we got a big fun-filled event to put on!

We have an adhesive foam butterflies activity provided by The Galveston Art League:

The Galveston Art League table covered in clipboards and butterfly outlines 

A bin of brightly colored foam stars and other shapes

Making animal face masks with Tide Way. Got those creative juices flowing!

Coloring and cutting out various animal face masks

Hey, I see some dancing going on by the Down Syndrome Association Pantomime Dancers.  Fabulous costumes! The kids are loving this.

Pantomime dancers donning circus costumes

Another pantomime dancer in a colorful tutu carefully walking an imaginary tightrope

More pantomime dancers, this time dressed as cars

Oh my gosh, it’s a Penguin Mascot from Ryan's RazzMaTazz! Maybe I can get his autograph, see what kind of fish he likes and if he has a girlfriend.

The penguin mascot greeting one of the kids

Where are all these bubbles coming from? Why it’s from VSA Texas' own bubble making machine attached to this wheelchair. Bubbles everywhere!!

The wheelchair bubble maker attachment blowing bubbles in all directions

More bubbles!

A big shout out to all the volunteers provided by Moody Gardens that are working hard to make this such a special day for all the kids!

Someone dressed up as a bright blue and yellow bird. A penguin admirer? 

Ah, I think it’s lunchtime now for us as well as the kids, but I don’t know, they are loving this live music provided by School of Rock. Look at some of these kids' moves. They know how to rock!

A student grooving to School of Rock with the help of a teacher

Well, it seems like we just got started and now it’s pack up time and thank you's to do for all our great participants. We saw many creative expressions on this year’s theme “Wings of Color.” The kids are off now to see the Rainforest Pyramid compliments of Moody Gardens. This event has been a delight every year and the art community always pulls together to donate their time and creativity in making this event so special for the kids and their families and teachers. Galveston is such a welcoming and beautiful city here on the waters behind Moody Gardens, so magical.

The VSA team behind the magic: Janelle, April, and Lynn

See ya next year!