1/31 SOL

Introduction:

I'm Briahn, and I am in 7th grade. This year I studied Environmental Inventions, and for my next unit I am going to study Festivals Around the World. I like to snowboard, and Ice Skate with my friends and family as well as read.

Most people could say that the art in Ohio is in the things around us. The trees, the animals, even the architectual design in the buildings. When my family and I visited Ohio for Thanksgiving, we just went to an art museum. This was after a couple of days relaxing with family, celebrating Hanukkah, and celebrating Thanksgiving. Hanukkah is always fun with my family for a lot of reasons; the traditional food such as latkas, and the customs that our family practice. My favorite part is lighting the candles after dark. The blue candles become glossy as thick wax drips off of the sides from the small flame. We all say the hebrew blessing for the candles, together as a family and in unison. Our family talks about the candles and the words they are associated with while the flames are still burning. The first candle is connected with faith, and we would talk about that until the conversation ended or until the candles burned out.
My aunt made the food for Hanukkah, and Thanksgiving with her own family recipes. Holiday food is comfort food and it is even better with family recipes cooked in. The turkey was softer, the cranberry sauce was sweeter, and the latkas had the best homemade applesauce. Some people would also call cooking an art, and I would have to agree. You have to mix and compliment the flavors and spices in the dishes as well as making it look like a culinary master piece.

Our trip soon came to an end but before we left, my family and I went to visit the Ohio art museum in Gahanna. The museum displayed a large exhibit to an artist the worked with light, so we went at night for the best experience. As I walked in the first part of the exhibit, I saw lights flashing up above me with the sound of lightning and thunder. It was a inside of a greenhouse, that had blooming plants and flowers everywhere. The lightning clashed and made me shudder at the loud sound. As we kept walking, we eventually ended up outside in the garden of lights. The entire garden was filled with hundreds of balls of light that changed colors in waves. It reminded me of the ocean as the blue wave moved across all of the lights, soon changing into green. We passed colored glass sculptures hanging from the ceiling that were reflecting the light all around the room, and many others before going outside to a different area then the garden of light.

These were the water bottles in the pillars.

Each triangle had around 30 water bottles.

There were many pillars of light, that also changed colors, but not in waves. each one changed colors separately, but they looked identical. As I looked closer, the lights were inside 2-liter water bottles that made up the pillars. It was cold enough that the artist put in the lights and then froze water around it. This was also in the last part of the exhibit, which was a dome about fifteen feet tall also lit up with light inside water bottles. As I walked around it, it changed colors and reminded me of a memory from when I was younger. All of the lights were beautiful, but the pillars and the dome spoke to me in a special way, and I hope I can see them again next year.