My youngest loves anything… anything involving art. Especially when she isn’t instructed and can just be free to have fun. Enter her mothership: Art Ala Carte.
It was created in 2012 by this genius, Aria Leighty. The Vancouver location is newer, but there’s a Portland one as well that’s been around longer. The Vancouver location is getting a bigger store soon (yay!) and we are excited to see what they do with more space.
Basically how it works is your kid gets a tray and goes down the “art bar” and picks out what weird odds and ends (they take donations of all kinds, plus you get a discount for bringing a donation!) and art supplies. Then they go to a table and create! The first time we went I whispered to my daughter “Lucy… do you really need all those pipe cleaners? Save some for the other kids.”
Then about 5 minutes later an employee came up to her with a pile of more pipe cleaners.. “I found more for you!” 🙂
Kids are free to create, find their own voice, glitter and all.
The open studio is open tomorrow so send your hubby and kids to create something for you for Mother’s Day and they can leave the mess behind!
Art Ala Carte Vancouver is located at 5305 NE 121st Ave Unit #306 Vancouver, WA They have moved to an even better space at
9120 NE Vancouver Mall Loop #130
(Same Parking lot as “Van Mall” Timbers Building)
