Midland Frogs

Today we went to Midland which is about 7 miles from George's house. Dow Chemical is the major employer. Dow has donated a lot of money to the town for the arts as well as a botanical garden. The town is so charming - tree lined streets,the branches canopying overhead, flowers planted everywhere along the major streets and hanging flower baskets in the downtown area.

Trina, Sandy's daughter (pictured between Sandy & I) makes the most amazing figurines from polymer clay. Her work is so well done that it looks like a commercial line. She has had a difficult time finding a niche in the Dallas area where she can display and sell her work.

This weekend happened to be the Art Festival weekend in the downtown. This is the only time of the year they hold this event. Local artists made these frogs and they are
on all the street corners. We browsed through the shops and it was a pleasure because most of the work we saw was by local artists, not the usual touristy stuff. One of the last places we visited was an art co-op. I bought a dichroic glass pendant and the woman who made it happened to be working the cash register along with another co-opmember. Trina asked them about the co-op and they explained that the artist pays $100 a month to display her work and she works 4 hours a week in the store. In return she has her own space in the store and she keeps whatever she makes. The work was all very high quality and there was nothing in there that would compete with her work. Trina explained what she did and they were very excited about it - very genuine - and they told her to bring in work as soon as she moves from Texas, which will be in August. Trina was walking on a cloud. The women were so friendly and so welcoming. Not only will she have a place to sell her work, but she will get to meet other women who are also artists. Everything is coming together for her and George, so there are alot of very happy people around here.