Dorothy Lange/ Photographer/Strong Women in Challenging Times

"When any woman honors herself, all women collectively move closer to becoming what they are truly capable of being. 
" This quote comes from om.com an on line site about positive thinking.   I am not sure who to attribute it to on the site, but it is a strong statement about women and human beings in so many ways.

Dorothy Lange truly embodied this quote with her life and career as a woman photographer.  As in Louise Nevelson's life we again see a woman born in a time when society and culture do not honor their contributions in the arts because they were women.  Dorothy struggled and overcame many of the negative societal  attitudes about the ability of women to succeed in a male dominated field.  Her images of the depression scream out to us today of hopelessness, poverty, and despair.  
I am forever impressed with individuals from this generation of depression and two wars, but women in particular.  They had to be made of stern stuff and be resilient survivors.  
Dorothy was truly one of these exceptional women from her generation.  She had polio had a young age and walked with a limp the rest of her life.  She turned it into a positive by walking with distinction and walk people remembered.  She studied photography at Columbia University and New York School of Photography.  She married a well known painter of the time, Maynard Dixon.  They had two children, both boys.  She later divorced and remarried a professor by the name of Paul Taylor who was an economist and interested in poverty and the plight of sharecroppers.  
In turn she and her camera turned their eye on the worst depression and poverty this country has ever seen. 

 Her most famous photograph is of a Mother and her two children who have no hope left and the desperation of extreme poverty has set in.  It is called Migrant Mother.   


" I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it."  (This is from an interview in 1960 about her  famous photograph)


There is much more information to read about Lange's life and art work.  Linda Gordon authored a book called, Dorothy Lange, A Life Beyond Limits"

Welcome Gabon!!!!!

It is such a pleasure to see Gabon visiting our site.!It will be exciting to learn about your art and culture.  Having so much of the world checking out our site is wonderful.  Not only am I learning my geography, but I am getting introduced to so many new cultures and in turn our readers around the world also. 

Alexander Pope on Art

Asheville North Carolina/ Budding Artist            Photo by Elizabeth Gordon

To wake the soul by tender strokes of art" - Alexander Pope

---

5 Facts about James Rosenquist

This is an article by kris Kerzman of James Rosenquist.  There  has been so much interest on the blogs I have written on Rosenquist that I thought you would all like more information about his life and career.  I hope you enjoy the article

Five Facts About James Rosenquist by Kris Kerzman

1. He’s from North Dakota. Rosenquist was born in Grand Forks in 1933, moving around the region frequently in his youth and spending a fair amount of time at his grandfather’s farm near Mekinock, N.D. Rosenquist has noted that the landscape he was a part of became an inspiration for his perspective on the world – the wide open prairie would often be home to large stretches of disjointed imagery. After settling in Minneapolis, he graduated high school there and attended the University of Minnesota.

2. He began his career painting billboards. Rosenquist worked for General Outdoor Advertising in Minneapolis following his graduation from college. In the early 1950s, billboards were all painted by hand, and he became well-trained in the process. Following his move to New York City in 1955, Rosenquist enrolled in the Art Students League and within a few years began professionally painting billboards once again. This experience proved to be a critical component of his work. He learned how to scale small images into large ones and to work the materials necessary for creating large murals.

3. He is considered a founder of the Pop Art movement. While in New York, Rosenquist began to paint large murals that incorporated the effects he had learned painting billboards and the techniques of commercial advertising. His paintings would juxtapose seemingly unrelated fragments into works that defy easy explanation but do pull in the viewer’s curiosity – chosen for their form and color, many of his subjects are all instantly recognizable (visit Rosenquist’s website for examples of his artwork.)

In Painting Below Zero, Rosenquist says that he “never cared for” the term Pop Art, explaining that the term “pop” lent itself to something unimportant or impermanent. Still, he became grouped with other artists from that era (Andy Warhol and Roy Liechtenstein, for example) who were working with a similar set of tools. They all utilized popular American images in an ironic sense in their work and provided commentaries on the emergence of 1950s-era consumer culture. Rosenquist said that they should have been known as “antipop” artists. His breakthrough piece,F-111, offered a commentary on modern militarism through a mural that wrapped around the walls of the Castelli Gallery in New York. This was the beginning of a long period of critical success for his art.

4. He has received numerous accolades for his work which resides in collections across the world. Rosenquist has received a number of honorary doctorates and was appointed by Jimmy Carter to serve on the National Council on the Arts from 1978-1983. In 1987, he was named to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His work has been shown throughout the world and has been collected by a number of museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim, The National Gallery of Art, and many others. A retrospective of his work was shown by the Guggenheim in 2003.

5. He has maintained a successful career spanning five decades and continuing to this day. While tastes in visual art have changed, Rosenquist remains a relevant and in-demand painter. He continues to fulfill requests for commissions and continues to push forward with his art. An exhibition of new work, Time Blades, was shown at the Aquavella Galleries in 2007.

In April, 2009, a major fire destroyed Rosenquist’s home and studio in Aripeka, Fla., taking all of his work with it, including a first version of The North Dakota Mural. He immediately rebuilt his home and studio and began working again, completing commissions and continuing to inspire with his work even at age 77.

If you enjoyed the article please let Kris Kerzman know.  This was a wonderful job of quick efficient facts about James Rosenquist.

I did have the opportunity to meet and speak with him once at the Tampa Museum of art. He is a positive, engaging and generous man.  He gives back to Tampa and the communities that are near his Aripeka studio.  

What A Week of Visitors We Had Round the World This Week!

So nice to think of you all in this world loving Art!

Thanks for visiting and thanks for your support!

Pakistan
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Burundi
Ivory Coast
Serbia
Georgia
Lithuania
United States
Canada
Brazil
Columbia
Sri Lanks
Philippines
Germany
India
Mexico
Switzerland
Sweden
Russia
United Kingdom
Italy
France
Belgium
Netherlands
Australia
Ukraine

A Woman Artist Even My Mother Could Love/Strong Women in Art

Louise Nevelson 

I taught art in public schools for many years.  I always tried to find interesting ways to teach children about art history. I had to make art history come alive for them.  I brought home videos to review for class, one of those was of Louise Nevelson as an older artists. 

My Mother, who was also aging and worried about her wrinkles, was captivated by Nevelson's life and looks.  She told me when she got older she could at least look as interesting as Louise Nevelson! 

Louise Nevelson/google image

Louise was born in 1889 in Russia not long before my Mothers birth in 1913.  Women born in a generation of war, depression and strife.  Louise went to the art student league and studied art.  She later married and was expected to be a good wife who moved in her husbands world of socialites.  It was not a world she could thrive in, she left her husband with her young son Myron and went back to New York City.  It was there something interesting happened....one of those odd things in life that lead to amazing things later...she and her son wandered the streets of New York collecting wood for heat.  The wood was not a log, or wood from a forest, but wood from old buildings and wood that had been worked or crafted for use.  That very wood would give Louise the idea for her wood collages later in her career and big her signature work of her life!  

Wood Collage Sculpture by Louise Nevelson     google image

I think it is difficult for us to think of the tenacity and strength it took for this woman, in an era when women were not allowed to do much, still succeeded and made her way. She challenged the idea of what women were allowed to paint and what society dictated women could do.  The following excerpt is from Wikapedia about her role in the women's movement. As you read through this you will see the sexism she dealt with in her life and the art world.  


"Louise Nevelson has been a fundamental key in the feminist art movement. 

Credited with triggering the examination of femininity in art, Nevelson challenged the vision of what type of art women would be creating with her dark, masculine and totem-like artworks.^[1] Nevelson believed that art reflected the individual, not "masculine-feminine labels", and chose to take on her role as an artist, not specifically a female artist.^[25] Reviews of Nevelson's works in the 1940s wrote her off as just a woman artist. A reviewer of her 1941 exhibition at Nierendorf Gallery stated: "We learned the ar

tist is a woman, in time to check our enthusiasm. Had it been otherwise, we might have hailed these sculptural expressions as by surely a great figure among moderns." Another review was similar in its sexism: "Nevelson is a sculptor; she comes from Portland, Maine. You'll deny both these facts and you might even insist Nevelson is a man, when you see her Portraits in Paint, showing this month at the Nierendorf Gallery."^[26]

Even with her influence upon future generations of feminist artists, Nevelson's opinion of discrimination within the art world bordered on the belief that artists who were not gaining success based on gender suffered from a lack of confidence. When asked by Feminist Art Journal if she suffered from sexism within the art world, Nevelson replied "I am a woman's liberation."^[22]"

Quotes on Art by Georgia O'Keeffe/Woman Artists

In this era of assault on women and women's rights I think it is essential to look at strong and accomplished women and what they contribute to our world.  Georgia O'Keeffe is certainly a role  model for a strong woman and accomplish artist. Poppies by  Georgia O'Keffe  from google image Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.
To create one's own world in any of the arts takes courage.
Still - in a way - nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.
One day seven years ago I found myself saying to myself -- I can't live where I want to -- I can't go where I want to go--I can't do what I want to -- I can't even say what I want to --....I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.
I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way-things I had no words for. Georgia O'Keeffe

Welcome Burundi!!!

untitled painting by Jean Ayan/Burundi           google image

Wow, it is so nice to see you checking us out.  We really look forward to finding out more about Burundi and its arts and culture. Please check out this site on African art called African Colours.(click)

Welcome Georgia and Lithuania!!!

R.Filistowicz Works/Lithuanian Artist 

from google image

So many new countries this week!  We welcome you and look forward to learning more about your country and culture!  

Nodar Argvliani/Georgian Artist

Welcome Serbia!

By Famous Serbian Artist Todorovic

It is so nice to have you aboard with us.  We look forward to learning more about Serbian Art, Artists, and Culture!

Raku and Glass Fusion Tomorrow!!!

I can hardly wait, Raku!

Raku Tongs/photo  by Elizabeth Gordon

 Being on the road for two weeks in New Orleans was wonderful, but I missed my classes and my art buddies.  It is so wonderful to discover new things and be in a studio atmosphere.  I am especially excited about Raku.  I have three pieces waiting to be fired.  I love the whole process of raku: the fire, the drama, and the surprise.  The new pieces are high relief, really sculptural.  They are based on nature, either insects, birds or flora.  I plan to work on a series of these as a homage to my Mother who will be 99 in April.  She was a biology and science teacher and taught me to love every thing in nature. I find that background appears and reappears in my work continually, even when I am not conscious of it.  

Art series with insects, clay using clay ink and transfers

detail photo showing sculptural leave design

detail shot showing high relief insect

The raku pot below is one that is similar to those I am firing tomorrow.  I used a raku glaze called Hawaiian Blue that is a matt glaze.  It brings out blues and coppers in the firing. You can see the leaves wrapping around the pot and folding to the inside.  

Raku sculptural Vase by Elizabeth Gordon

I will share the results of the firing tomorrow with you when they are complete.  Lets do art!

An Artist of Prickly Pears!!! Real Cati Sculpture...Ouch! A Artist of New Thought

RABBIT'S MOON STUDIO NEW ARTIST SERIES INTRODUCES JONATHAN TAUBE

During our on site visit to New Orleans we were not only introduced to wonderful foods, cultural events, and galleries, but new artist as well.  Our last two post on artist in New Orleans, we talked of George Rodrigue and the Blue Dog and introduced Frank Relle photographer extradonaire.  

But as in all travel wonderful things happen that are just happenstance.  When touring the New Orleans Glass and Print Studio I met a charming energetic young artist by the name of Jonathan Taube.   He is primarily a sculpture.  He talked in a way that I have begun to understand, among the new generations, who are born out of technology and a different social vision for our world, that is just mind blowing creative!  He, and many others of his generation, sees the world and our structures differently and is out to change the world.  I almost heard an audible click as if someone opened up a door to a new world I had not conceived.  He talked about art studio's being virtual, not set in one country or place, he talked of pop up art shows, he talked of collaboration with artists in other countries and areas in new ways, that is did not have to be permanent, and he talked of art as not having ownership not needing to claim it as one person and individualize it.  We stood and talked while the glass blowers tuned molten glass, and the print makers walked around us trying to roll their presses...we talked while my partner patiently waited, then left after it was too long....it was exciting and enlightening!  I know you have had conversations like these at times....when they happen it is like a huge gift the universe has given you...Christmas presents under the tree, fireworks bursting in the air....so now lets talk about Prickly Pear Cacti Sculptures!!

Why Cactus you say....why sharp needles, live, and temporary sculptures? Jonathan has a great passion for prickly pear cactus, just ask him.  He knows everything about prickly pears, their origin, how they grow, where they grow, and everything else prickly pear.  He has studied them up front and close.  I am not sure how he would term himself as an artists, I might call him a conceptual artist, but he may have a different take.  In the photo below you can tell he its not only interested in presenting it as a live sculpture, but as something live that is deconstructing as well.  It opens up to other thought....living and dying, how and what happens when something dies, how the sculpture changes in color and shape, and that it is temporary......Art can be so many things, we can express so much that we feel and think, if we allow our minds to be open and not close them to the concept that art can only be one thing...a realistic painting, something beautiful that matches our sofa, or an expression that fits the rules of the art schools and critics of the day.  Most all of the artists we consider accepted and that hang in our museums, were at one time not. Every movement pushes the limited of its time and moves our thinking and challenges our perceptions.  I think Jonathan is in that fine tradition of pushing our thinking and pulling us out of staid rules of art and image.  Go Jonathan, Go!!!!

Jonathan Taub, Prickly Pear Sculpture/google image

An Artist of Prickly Pears!!! Real Cati Sculpture...Ouch! A Artist of New Thought

RABBIT'S MOON STUDIO NEW ARTIST SERIES:


 INTRODUCES JONATHAN TAUBE

During our on site visit to New Orleans we were not only introduced to wonderful foods, cultural events, and galleries, but new artist as well.  Our last two post on artist in New Orleans, we talked of George Rodrigue and the Blue Dog and introduced Frank Relle photographer extradonaire. 

Jonathan Taube/New Orleans Sculptor/google image

Proposal for Baltimore Social Interaction Sculpture/Jonathan Taube/google image

But as in all travel wonderful things happen that are just happenstance.  When touring the New Orleans Glass and Print Studio I met a charming energetic young artist by the name of Jonathan Taube.    He is primarily a sculpture.  He talked in a way that I have begin to understand, among the new generations, who are born out of technology and a different social vision for our world, that is just mind blowing creative!  He, and many others of his generation, sees the world and our structures differently and is out to change the world.  I almost heard an audible click as if someone opened up a door to a new world I had not conceived.  He talked about art studio's being virtual, not set in one country or place, he talked of pop up art shows, he talked of collaboration with artists in other countries and areas in new ways, that is did not have to be permanent, and he talked of art as not having ownership not needing to claim it as one person and individualize it. 

Jonathan Taube, Floating Bench/Baltimore Proposal/google image

 We stood and talked while the glass blowers tuned molten glass, and the print makers walked around us trying to roll their presses...we talked while my partner patiently waited, the left after it was too long....it was exciting and enlightening!  I know you have had conversations like these at times....when they happen it is like a huge gift the universe has given you...Christmas presents under the tree, fireworks bursting in the air....so now lets talk about Prickly Pear Cacti Sculptures!!

Jonathan Taub, Prickly Pear Sculpture/google image

Why Cactus you say....why sharp needles, live, and temporary sculptures?


Jonathan has a great passion for prickly pear cactus, just ask him.  He knows everything about prickly pears, their origin, how they grow, where they grow, and everything else prickly pear.  He has studied them up front and close.  I am not sure how he would term himself as an artists, I might call him a conceptual artist, but he may have a different take.  In the photo below you can tell he its not only interested in presenting it as a live sculpture, but as something live that is deconstructing as well.  It opens up to other thought....living and dying, how and what happens when something dies, how the sculpture changes in color and shape, and that it is temporary......
Jonathan is an exciting new young and vibrant artist....he has done sculptures on site in Israel and Mexico, and many national venues.  He is an artist on the move....I think we best keep an eye on Jonathan he is up to lots of creative good for the world!!!

Our New Artists Series/Meet Frank Relle/New Orleans Photographer

FRANK RELLE(please click on name)
NEW ORLEANS PHOTOGRAPHER

This new artists came to my attention via a friend of my brothers who collects Frank Relle's work.  Bill knew I had recently been to New Orleans and shared his interest in this wonderful artist.  
Relles' photographs are rich and mysterious, especially those of the houses and architecture of New Orleans.  Some of the most captivating are post Katrina.  His work and back ground are  so interesting I thought you might enjoy him as well. 

Nightscapes by Frank  Relle from google image

Choctow by Frank Relle New Orleans photographer/post Katrina

His images are powerful and the lighting makes them dramatic.  They make you feel as if a Tennessee Williams play could be happening here and some one will step out and yell, "Stella!!!" The characters are present, you can feel them or sense them....that is the essence of New Orleans you can feel a lot you can see, you can feel the presence of the history of things as though it is a living breathing thing.  Relle captures that.  The clarity of the photograph, the detail in each piece, lit as well as another...every object is given equal attention and that makes it quite masterful because it draws us in and we want to know more and we want to know the story...

If you had seen New Orleans right after Katrina and the sheer mass of destruction it would have been overwhelming to you, as it was to me.  I felt as if I was walking through the streets of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, not the Big Easy.  It was impossible to tell the whole story on tv, and if you thought you got a sense of it looking at a newspaper or the news, you were wrong.....only by being here could you get the feeling of neighborhood after neighbor hood, street after street, for miles and miles, complete and utter ruin...sights sounds, smells, and the desolate ghost like streets, tic tack toe graffiti on house fronts saying who lived or died.  My partners Father spent a month with us, his home flooded.  The rest of her family was displaced to Texas and Conneticut. Lives were lost, lives were changed, and a city altered forever.  It was one of the worst natural disasters in the United States since the San Fransciso 1800's Eathquakes.  Someone had to record it in a way that would grasp its enormity and inconsolable loss, Frank Relle has done that.  It is not the totality of his work by any means, but that he did is important, very important. His pictures capture, what we cannot say in words.

Clouet by Frank Relle/New Orleans photographer....from google image 

A special thanks to Dr. Bill Lavely for introducing Frank Relle's photography to me and therefore to you.

Picasso as a child

Picasso was very bright and ahead of his classmates that were six years or more older...artistically. But he hated being told what to do and often found himself in trouble....

"For being a bad student I was banished to the 'calaboose' - a bare cell with whitewashed walls and a bench to sit on. I liked it there, because I took along a sketch pad and drew incessantly ... I could have stayed there forever drawing without stopping"

I think of so many children I taught who were the same way and myself as well. They drew on their math papers and looked into the distance when things became boring seeing a vision others could not see.  They were bright, but in a different way than people could see or understand.  They are often punished as Picasso was.  Many a child sits in a classroom today feeling the same way, being punished because they want to draw, they want to create.  They are often misunderstood, but they will become the creators of the future if the light is not drowned out.  Like Picasso, Edison, and Einstein and so many others who dared to keep envisioning and creating. So I say to them let nothing darken your path, let no one dissuade you, keep drawing, painting, creating...it is your path that will lead the way in the future!

Interesting Facts about Pablo Picasso

Self Portrait by Picasso

Picasso's had name had 23 words in it.  He was named Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso. He was named after different saints and family members. "Picasso" is actually from his mother, Maria Picasso y Lopez. His father is named Jose Ruiz Blasco.

Welcome Cote d'lvoire/Ivory Coast!!!!!

Welcome to Rabbit's Moon Studio we are so excited to see a new country on our list.  We look forward to learning more about Cote d'lvoire and its art and culture! From the old to the new a rich and vibrant culture.........

Wooden Carved Mask/Ivory Coast, photo from google image

Claire Mobio, artist and illustrator of children's books

Welcome Pakistan, Jordan and Viet Nam

ART SEEN AROUND THE WOLRD

Pakistan Art  Detail  photo from google image

It is so nice to have you all!   Paksitan I believe it is a first visit for your country.  We welcome you and look forward to learning more about your art and  culture!

Jordanian Building of Art and Culutre

15th Century Pear Jar, Viet Nam

WHEN ART DOES GOOD IT IS A VERY GOOD THING!

NEW ORLEANS BUBBLE BEAD DOG SCULPTURES


Art can be an individual expression, it can be for private sale, or in a gallery or museum, but when art is a public project meant to be shared with all for a good cause it can be very powerful.   There are wonderful examples of public art sculptures and murals around the world.  Cities often fund sculptures or murals, but a new venue is one we are all becoming more familiar with.  The original idea came from a Swiss architect and then was brought to the United States. We have seen it with the Cows on Parade Sculptures in Chicago, horses in Kentucky and pigs in Cleveland and fish and more in other towns...but it is when a city or area choses one basic form they reproduce and choose many different artist to participate in decorating them.  Usually another part of the fund raising is when the sculptures are auctioned off.

from google image

Recently when I was in New Orleans I noticed funny looking little bubble dog sculptures about, all decorated differently.  I wondered what it was about.  I even took a few pictures from a moving car, not great photo's, but you will get the idea.

New Orleans/Metairie photo by Elizabeth Gordon

The following is a description by a New Orleans publication Nola of what the project is about:


With dozens of bulbous, canine-esque statues dotting Metairie and New Orleans, the push to raise awareness of animal cruelty is in full swing. The sculptures, dubbed “bead dogs,” are helping to spread the message of the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals by mimicking earlier public art projects that produced vibrantly painted streetcars and 
fish along the sidewalks.


So far 32 sculptures have been installed in the Paws on Parade effort, with another score being built, LeBlanc said. The pieces are in Metairie and New Orleans, and the SPCA is open to installing them in communities farther away from the city center, she said.

New Orleans/Metairie  photo by Elizabeth Gordon

A side note is a project I did with young students when I was teaching.  We had studied the Cows on Parade in Chicago and decided to do a public art project with the students and raise funds for a reading program at our school.  The project brought together students, artists, businesses, galleries, and the community.  It was called Deer on Parade.  I will talk more of this in a separate article for art teachers.  It was a highly successful project that brought together over 25 artists, 400 students, the Florida Craftsmen Art Guild, and the community of St. Petersburg. Everyone involved in the project felt as if it was magic! 

WHEN ART DOES GOOD IT IS A VERY GOOD THING!

NEW ORLEANS BUBBLE BEAD DOG SCULPTURES


Art can be an individual expression, it can be for private sale, or in a gallery or museum, but when art is a public project meant to be shared with all for a good cause it can be very powerful.   There are wonderful examples of public art sculptures and murals around the world.  Cities often fund sculptures or murals, but a new venue is one we are all becoming more familiar with.  The original idea came from a Swiss architect and then was brought to the United States. We have seen it with the Cows on Parade Sculptures in Chicago, horses in Kentucky and pigs in Cleveland and fish and more in other towns...but it is when a city or area choses one basic form they reproduce and choose many different artist to participate in decorating them.  Usually another part of the fund raising is when the sculptures are auctioned off.

from google image

Recently when I was in New Orleans I noticed funny looking little bubble dog sculptures about, all decorated differently.  I wondered what it was about.  I even took a few pictures from a moving car, not great photo's, but you will get the idea.

New Orleans/Metairie photo by Elizabeth Gordon

The following is a description by a New Orleans publication Nola of what the project is about:


With dozens of bulbous, canine-esque statues dotting Metairie and New Orleans, the push to raise awareness of animal cruelty is in full swing. The sculptures, dubbed “bead dogs,” are helping to spread the message of the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals by mimicking earlier public art projects that produced vibrantly painted streetcars and 
fish along the sidewalks.


So far 32 sculptures have been installed in the Paws on Parade effort, with another score being built, LeBlanc said. The pieces are in Metairie and New Orleans, and the SPCA is open to installing them in communities farther away from the city center, she said.

New Orleans/Metairie  photo by Elizabeth Gordon

A side note is a project I did with young students when i was teaching.  We had studied the Cows on Parade in Chicago and decided to do a public art project with the students and raise funds for a reading program at our school.  The project brought together students, artists, businesses, galleries, and the community.  It was called Deer on Parade.  I will talk more of this in a separate article for art teachers.  It was a highly successful project that brought together over 25 artists, 400 students, the Florida Craftsmen Art Guild, and the community of St. Petersburg. Everyone involved in the project felt as if it was magic!