by Dennis Dalman
When the Saul and Lisa Wolf family moved to St. Joseph from Madison, Wis. seven years ago, it was like a homecoming because both parents had graduated from St. Joseph area colleges – the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University.
Though they had enjoyed living in Madison, the parents wanted to raise their children in a smaller town, a more rural area. The Wolfs, who now have five children (two girls, three boys) packed up and moved to the Pleasant Acres neighborhood in St. Joseph.
Lisa is a stay-at-home mom but has a license to practice family-and-marriage therapy. Saul is the product owner for an insurance company.
Once back in St. Joseph, there was something in Madison they missed, especially daughter Aquiliana, the oldest child. She had loved the art programs every summer in Madison parks.
Last year, Aquiliana, at the age of 14, convinced her mother to help her start an “Art in the Park” in St. Joseph. They did. They worked together and it was a rousing success. So this summer, they’re going to offer the free program again. It’s designed primarily for children 3 years old up to elementary-school ages.
Last year, each event attracted an average of 35 children.
“We couldn’t believe it!,” said Lisa in an interview with the Newsleader. “Even some daycare kids came to it. All different types enjoyed it – grandparents, moms, dads. It was all so diverse. What was really fun was that older siblings of younger kids would come along too. They’d play volleyball or another activity in the parks, like at Millstream Park, and some of them did art works too. I call the program ‘Building Community’.”
Aquiliana would bring friends who were happy to help out, as well as her younger sister, Mireya. Aquiliana will be a tenth-grader at St. John’s Prep School next year; Mireya will be a seventh-grader there.
“We had so much support from the community,” Lisa said. “If it was raining hard, especially if it was thundering or lightning, we’d cancel and put up signs in the park so people would know.”
They also packaged do-it-yourself kits so in case of inclement weather the daycare operators and their little clients could have fun creating art back home in a safer setting.
Among the art options to do are air-dried clay animals and pinch pots, stained glass made with certain kinds of beads and Elmer’s glue, drawing and painting with markers and crayons in coloring books or on blank sheets of paper and the very popular “sticker pages” on which kids find sticker shapes on the page and match them up together according to numbers as a picture – say, a giraffe – takes shape, kind of like paint-by-numbers sets.
Children have come to St. Joseph for Art in the Park sessions from as far away as Melrose, Albany and nearby Sartell.
The six art events will take place from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. on Thursdays at the following dates at St. Joseph parks.
June 8: Centennial Park
June 15. Klinefelter Park
June 22: Millstream Park
June 29: Centennial Park
July 13: Klinefelter Park
July 20: Millstream Park
July 27: Centennial Park
Lisa and Aquiliana recommend attendees should bring a snack or two and bottled water. Also, some parks don’t have their bathrooms open unless some rented event is taking place in the park so it’s recommended that guardians/parents/daycare providers persuade children to use the bathroom before leaving home.
Genevieve Christenson of Sartell painted a picture at “Art in the Park” last summer in a St. Joseph park. She is the daughter of Alayna and Eric Christensen. Quite a few Sartell children participate in the fun program.
Aquilina Wolf (right) persuaded her mother, Lisa, to start an “Art in the Park” program in St. Joseph last summer. It was a rousing success and will start again in June this summer. At the left in the photo is Aquilina’s sister, Mireya, who often helps out at the events.
This paper snake was created by one of the children who enjoy participating in the “Art in the Park” programs throughout the summer, mainly in St. Joseph parks.
