A look at the Annenberg Space for Photography
Saturday June 23, the Annenberg Space for Photography kicked off the first weekend of Summer with Family Fun Day, an afternoon of sights, sounds and activities for parents and families. From music to bubble blowing, the event transformed the outdoor lawn of 2000 Avenue of the Stars with a bevy of stations for lounging, snacking and playing. As activities concluded many attendees migrated from outdoors to indoors for the current exhibit, “Not An Ostrich and other images from America’s Library.”
Until the very end, big bubbles soared across the lawn to the delight of giggling children, the oversized wands and large pools of bubble juice were a bit hit, as were face painting, and various arts and crafts. “Between five of us, we painted over 200 faces,” said face-paint artist Carmen Orozco. Unicorns, tigers and colorful masks were among some of the designs painted onto the faces. According to Orozcco, the team of face painters were brought together by Rainbow Painted Smiles, however she has been painting faces throughout the area for six years.
Best friends Madison (6) and Ava (5) were among the hundreds to have had their faces painted. Prior to their arrival at Family Fun Day, the duo and their families had a playdate at Aiden’s Place, a fully-accessible playground modeled after “Shane’s Inspiration” in Griffith Park.
“We played at Aiden’s playground for a little bit, then we came here and got popcorn and [a] snow cone and got face paint, and got cotton candy and blew bubbles” said Madison joyfully. Ava added that the she was wearing cat ears and Madison was wearing dog ears and both shrieked with delight as they spoke about playing with bubbles.
While some children participated in bubble blowing and face painting, others circled around the craft tables. Henry (3), walked his completed artwork to Kathy Balzer, one of the volunteers with the Assistance League of Los Angeles. The artwork, a red caterpillar with the caption “VROOM! You’ve got this” was written in bold blue marker by his father Tom. As the two migrated to another activity table, Balzer added the completed art card to the mass of cards that others had created.
“Today we were collecting school supplies for kids that are going to be starting school in September, but don’t necessarily have markers and crayons and pencils; so we’re going to distribute those through our services, and the kids are writing cards to go with that,” stated Balzer. In addition to the school supplies Balzer told Mirror Media, “We have Operation School Bell where we supply new school clothes – including uniforms, shoes, underwear – a week’s worth of clothing for kids in K through [grade] five” The volunteer organization of women will begin celebrating their centennial anniversary this July with live a performance at the Assistance League of Los Angeles Theatre for Children.
Additional activities at Family Fun Day included live music by duo Andrew and Polly, who played kid-friendly pop music, a magic show with Christopher T. Magician, and a performance by The Hallow Trees who played classic Americana music. As the schedule of events concluded, some made their way indoors for the Annenberg’s latest exhibition.
For more information, visit: www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org
