by Dennis Dalman
Children will be able to unleash their artistic talents in St. Joseph parks this summer, thanks to the daughter-mother duo of Aquiliana and Lisa Wolf.
The “Art in the Park” visits to four St. Joseph parks will take place from 9-11 a.m. every Thursday from June 9 through Aug. 18. Children ages 3 to elementary-school ages can participate – free – in the art projects devised by the Wolfs. Art supplies will be brought to each park in the Wolf family van. The St. Joseph Jaycees decided to donate some of the money to cover the cost of art supplies.
For each Thursday art session, there will be a different project each time – for example, children making home-made chalk, putting together yarn-ball characters, creating coffee-filter butterflies, to name just three. A project will take about 15 minutes for each child to make, but they are welcome to make more than one, or they can do other free-form artistic activities, like drawing, coloring or painting.
Each child will be provided with an apron. There will be colored markers, paper, crayons and coloring books for children who choose not to make the other art projects.
The lead artist/teacher will be 13-year-old Aquiliana Wolf, who is a student at St. John’s Prep School. Two or three of her prep-school friends plan to help, too, as Lisa Wolf supervises.
Lisa and Aquiliana met with St. Joseph park officials to get permission to do the art programs.
“One reason Aquiliana wanted to do the Art in the Park programs is that she wants to bring families and people together for fun activities and to promote a sense of community fullness,” Lisa said. “She was looking for something to do for this summer. Aquiliana is very active and energetic. She is an excellent planner and organizer. She loves math and science and art, too.”
The Wolfs moved from Madison, Wisconsin to St. Joseph in 2017, and to the parents, Saul and Lisa, it was like a homecoming. He had been a student at St. John’s University; she had attended the College of St. Benedict.
When they lived in Madison, the children would love to do art projects that art carts would bring to the parks. That was Aquiliana’s inspiration for St. Joseph Art in the Park.
Moving back to St. Joseph was a purposeful “lifestyle change” for the Wolfs. Although they enjoyed living in Madison, the parents wanted to raise their children in a smaller town in a more rural area. And so they packed up and moved to the Pleasant Acres neighborhood of St. Joseph.
“We love it here,” Lisa said. “We needed more space so the kids could play in the water, dig in the sand, things like that.”
The Wolfs have five children – two girls, three boys. Aquiliana, 14, is the oldest; the youngest is 4.
Lisa is a licensed marriage-and-family therapist; Saul is a technical product manager who works mainly from home for Clear Capital, a firm based in Reno, Nev.
Lisa said children should bring their own water and snacks to the art sessions. If it rains, a session will have to be cancelled.
The following is a list of all the dates and locations for the Art in the Park event. All visits will take place from 9-11 a.m. Thursdays.
June 9: Centennial Park.
June 16: Klinefelter Park.
June 23: Millstream Park.
June 30: Northland Park.
July 7: Centennial Park.
July 14: Klinefelter Park.
July 21: Millstream Park.
July 28: Northland Park.
Aug. 4: Centennial Park.
Aug. 11: Klinefelter Park.
Aug. 18: Millstream Park.
