Art House
Written By Amy Sutherland
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In this home the art studio is in the kitchen, the laundry room, the bedroom — you get the picture.
On a rainy afternoon, 8-year-old Nonie Thomas hunches over a piece of paper at the kitchen table drawing a portrait of Sugar Cube, the family's white cat. The moment Nate and Henry, her 5-year-old twin brothers, burst through the door, they too go to work. Henry grabs a pencil and paper, and tow-headed Nate reaches for some tape, pink feathers, and a pompom, though he abandons this project in an artistic pique when the tape won't cooperate.
A plate on the kitchen counter brims with the threesome's handiwork, including brightly painted clothespins and a bunny head made of pompoms with pipe cleaners cleverly bent to make floppy ears, a collaboration between Nonie and Henry. "We don't have a craft room, but we put out a lot of stuff for the kids," says mom Carrie, who previously taught and worked as a developmental psychologist. She set out to make arts and crafts a spontaneous part of her family's everyday life, something her kids can do on their own, with a simple, portable plan.
