Cutting Art

With all the talk about government budget cuts, I guess it was inevitable that the National Endowment for the Arts program has been mentioned. The NEA has supported the arts since it creation in 1965. Some of the programs the National Endowment for the Arts has sponsored are: Learning in the Arts for Youth and Children, The Arts Education Partnership, and Coming Up Taller Program. Millions have been spent on these programs and others. The current thinking, however, is to place less emphasis on youth art progrms to focus more on community awareness and employment related to the arts. I am in favor of educating our youth about art at an early stage and throughout their early learning years. I know that I would be a different person today if I were not exposed to art at an early age. I always looked forward to my art classes in elementary school. I was fortunate to have had an aunt who loved art. She took art classes at a community college and created beautiful ceramic pieces. I could count on at least one a trip to museum while visiting her on summer vacations. Hopefully the changes and cuts that are ahead for NEA will not significantly impact all the good they currently do for the arts. Let’s not forget the NEA’s mission : “To advance artistic excellence, creativity and innovation for the benefit of individual’s and communities.” www.nellasbooksandcollectibles.ecrater.com

Gauguin - The Printmaker

One of my favorite post impressionist artist is the gifted and talented Paul Gauguin. One of the things that makes this artist so extraordinary is that his live began with a vocation very different than most artists. Gauguin, a middle-class Parisian stock broker, took up painting full time at age 35. Although known for his remarkable paintings, the prints created by this artist are not as well known.

Some of the most significant pieces of work made by Gauguin were the eleven zincographs created for the Catalogue de L’Exposition de Peintures du Groupe Imppresionniste et Synthetiste, or the Volpini Suite. These prints were originally displayed in a café within the expositions devoted to art in Paris in 1889 and were Gauguin’s first attempts at printmaking.

It has been said that Gauguin has transformed art. His use or color and the flattening forms and emotion prevalent in his work have led many to suggest that he is one of the best. Gauguin is considered to be among the founders of modern art.

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