Artist at Work and Play

Free Youth LACMA Membership

Mulholland Drive: The Road to the Studio David Hockney 1980, LACMA collection

While we are on the subject of museum membership benefits, the Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art offers a fantastic free membership to youth 17 and under. I am a big fan of early exposure to art and nature to children. Start now in hopes that a life time of curiosity and respect ensues.

NexGen LACMA is the nation's only free youth membership program. If you are a parent with a child under 17, join. If you know someone under 17, sign them up. Youth membership includes admission for one adult.

Hedgehog Art from a Manroot Seedpod

Marah fabaceus (a.k.a. mountain cucumber or manroot) is a pernicious California native vine which grows like kudzu here in the winter and spring. It smothers nearby plants, then produces potato sized thorny seed pods. If it is not removed promptly, it dies back when the weather warms up, creating a tangled, tinder-box-like fire hazard which breaks apart at the slightest tug, making it a royal pain to clean up. You cannot kill the plant; the only way to remove it permanently is to dig up the root which can weigh up to 100 lbs (hence the name manroot).

Imagine my surprise to see my garden nemesis transformed by my son (with help from my wife) into an ephemeral hedgehog tribute to Mrs. Tiggy-winkle. Media: manroot seedpod, pepper corns, salt, pasta o's