In the Beginning...

The Story…

In the beginning

there was only one doll.

It was made out of

old garments and new dreams.

And it was given to

the very first child.

Imagination, was a very lonely soul.

She had long held the belief that

humans could only misunderstand her

magic and refused to befriend them.

She saw the doll and the child and noticed

that they loved each other, very much.

In wonder, she watched them.  She saw that,

together, they shared stories and spun visions.

Being quite surprised, and very moved, she

decided that she would share her magic

with the world of people.

As the child grew and all humanity

embraced Imagination’s creative spirit,

Imagination issued a decree:

Imagination,

The Maker of Dreams,

The Birther of Visions,

The Hand of Creativity,

Does decree,

From this Day, until your Last Day,

All generations of Humankind

SHALL have imaginary friends,

                                                    The RagdOlly People!

Every single RagdOlly person or creature

holds a key to a magical world....

Every single human being, regardless of age,

                                      has the power to bring these worlds to life

The Man that Asks the Questions...

We're so smart... so very smart.  We can figure out how to do things by ourselves.  We can envision things and then make them appear, prototype after prototype.  We teach our children, think for play, and puzzle through each day, figuring out how to do all that we do better and more efficiently.  We are so smart, but we are not the smartest.  The smartest guys look around and simply know what questions they should ask.  It is amazing to be bright enough to come up with intelligent answers to intriguing questions.  Think about it though, isn't the real genius the man that asks the questions?
-Eppie 

People That Other People Talk About...

This is a photo of the egg funeral.  Though this egg never had any articles or fun things written about it, we like this photo, and thought it would be fine to just stick it up here at the top of this article about 'living life to its fullest'. RIP egg.

I've noticed that we do a lot of things that, if they don't accomplish any big thing, we brush away by saying, 'Well, at least it's something we can talk about.'
Thing is, there comes a point when that is not enough.  When having a story to drag out at a party or social gathering about some 'fun' thing that we did last week (because we're awesome cool, kick butt artists :)) is not enough.  
I must be getting old.  I just don't have as much fun in the talking anymore.  I want to be doing things that are so mind blowingly awesome that I don't have time to talk about them.  Is it so wrong to say: I want to be doing things that are so undeniably interesting that other people (people that are better equipped and more gifted than I at putting into word the world around them) take time out of their day and open up space in their writings just to talk about me. Wouldn't the world be a million times more interesting if every one of us woke up in the morning and decided that we wanted to be 'people that other people talk about'?
-Epp

A Few Words on Focus

As artists, we are convinced it’s all about the art.  As entrepreneurs, we believe it’s all about the ideas… the vision.  As the blossoming businesswomen that we are becoming, we are learning it’s all about how good we are at sales and how efficiently we run our business.

... but perhaps, ultimately, it’s not about the product, or the price points, or even the art or vision; it’s about who we are and maybe, most importantly, how well we can help others communicate who THEY are.

-Epp

15 Hours, 11 People, One Big Honkin' Van

Yesterday we packed 4 adults and 7 children and a bunch of stuff into a 15 passenger van and made a 15 hour trip from TN to PA. We are crazy. Just for the record.

Growing Creative Children Is Easy!

Eppie comes from a large, very artistic family. Her childhood home was filled with voices singing, music being played, garments being sewn and art being made. Many of her brothers and sisters are still very involved in visual art or music, or both. Although, I'm sure she would agree, Eppie is one of the most extreme in the bunch when it comes to visual art and music.

When I (Julie) was growing up I was different than my family. I was born to paint and create. My family is made up of a Sheriff's Officer dad, math teacher mom and a little brother, Ben, who was always much more level headed than me. He is now Technology Supervisor at our local Board of Education. (-Side note- Ben is a writer and very creative as well, he just chose a technology passion- that pays him regularly!- to be his day job.)

Fairly solid sounding group, right? I was, ahem, not solid. :)

One might think that I would have had to scrounge and fight to create in a household made of people not artsy like me. But I did not! My (creative!) family found ways to make sure their artistically creative child was nurtured and encouraged.

The point is: Every type of parent can help their child succeed in creativity.

Little Arowyn and Mia at a sculpture park in NY


We, as Zephyr Art, have a firm belief that every child is creative and that there are many ways to encourage that in your child, wether you are an artist, math teacher or a truck driver. 

We would like to help you enhance your child's creativity! Try our "6 Ways to Encourage YOUR Young Artist". It is a free PDF featuring a few easy things you can do to create an environment that is friendly to creativity. 

Also, you can find a list of not-so-obvious places to show off your child's creativity here, in our "6 Ways to Show Off That Creativity!", it will show you how to break that art on the fridge habit.

Happy Creativity, Everyone!!!

Jake, Arowyn, Mia and Silas playing with Playmobils.