currents

Mural Painting for a Good Cause

Project TKE needs volunteers (on short notice!) to design and paint a series of murals in a hospital pediatric ward in the Bronx. If you have the first weekend in October free, think about working for a good cause. Project TKE is Transforming Kids Environments. They are an ongoing community service organization.
www. project tke .org/ Josh Fifer is the contact at joshuafifer@yahoo.com. Email with the theme proposal, your name and phone number. More info below.

Beginnings of Meaning-Making

This image looks a little like Joe Friday from the 1960s TV series Dragnet, however, it is a depiction of my father that I drew when I was about four years old. (Yes, he died young of a smoking-related disease!) I think it is valuable for artists, if possible, to look at the earliest ways that we were shaping/interpreting the world. My mother obviously thought that this small pen drawing was a masterpiece. She saved it for 35 years. What is your earliest memory of drawing? Can you remember a time was drawing was about meaning rather than style, content and stardom?

Littlest Artist in New Mexico

This retablos is by Joellyn Rodriguez, who might be New Mexico's youngest professional artist at four years old. She is one of five children in the Rodriguez family who practice this traditional art form. Notice on this depiction of St Francis set in a Southwestern environment-- the cat has an extra leg! This work was purchase for 25 dollars at the Spanish Market, an annual event held at the end of July in Sante Fe.