The Gallery for Children
Chapter 14 - The Gallery for Children
Two years after the gala, Claire opened the Lawson Children’s Gallery.
Children entered free.
Paintings were hung at their eye level.
A kitchen near the workshop served soup, fruit, bread, and warm croissants throughout the day. No child had to earn food by behaving beautifully for adults.
Rosa Diaz became the hospitality director.
Daniel Price joined the oversight board.
Sebastian Ward loaned three works to the opening exhibition after independent review.
Lily displayed her first painting in a small wooden frame.
It showed two red-haired figures beneath an apple tree.
One was Claire.
The other was Lily.
A silver table stood in the corner with a croissant on top, but in Lily’s picture, no one knocked it away.
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Beauty, she learned, did not require children to become silent decorations.
It required adults to make room for them to be alive.
