Pie Meeting

I now know that the best way to hold a meeting is with pie.

Tonight our family had a meeting with Avery Bloom, who will be in charge of the layout of our exhibition. I knew that Avery was awesome as soon as he walked in the door with a fresh hot strawberry-rhubarb-craisin-granola pie and a pint of vanilla ice cream. It was probably the best pie I've had all year...this dude can bake with the best of them.

As we all sat around the kitchen table eating pie and discussing the creative process for this project, it finally dawned on me just how BIG this thing can be. The message of LTLYM to me is that regardless of age, gender, class, perceived talent level or whatever, anyone can create art. The Olivers are the perfect family to do this because we're not artists in the traditional sense of the word. As a family we don't have a lot of artistic talent or even much manual dexterity...we're just full of great ideas. The challenge now is to express those ideas in a way that is interactive and fun for all.

My hope is that thousands of families who see and experience our work will be inspired to embark on artistic projects of their own. As we've been brainstorming ideas for each of the 63 assignments, I realized that my Mom, Dad, Pete, Syd and Mary are all really excited about this project not because of the publicity it may generate or the cultural impact it may have, but because this is an amazing opportunity for us to grow closer as a family. I really believe that this will happen and that other families will take notice and do the same.

I look forward to working with my parents and siblings and with Avery, Bob, Harrell and Miranda and their teams. Stick around, blog readers. It should be a fun few months.