141222 An unusual artist  

While a 19^th Century artist like Turner would spend time perfecting a color for the illusion of light and mist, or a few seconds as portrayed in the movie this year, I am an artist who spends time poring over the events in a young girl’s life in Latvia, and others in her community with whom I became acquainted by a printing press.

The total value of Turner’s paintings today are probably in the billions, thanks to avid art collectors, historians and publishers. I wonder, what could be the value of a 12-year old girl’s experience in winning a bronze medal for prints she made in Riga’s Grafikaskola? Her name is Evita, and this I know from a Google Circle announcement placed there by the graphic school’s director—Ieva Helmute.

For about an hour today I studied many aspects of this event—a girl winning a prize in a Polish art contest for kids, a fundraiser in Riga to benefit a children’s emergency healthcare program, and side trips to explore (virtually) Riga’s famous Rīdzenes street shopping arcade.

This is the work of art—to be part of the effort to help youth. Turner may or may not have had the same idea in mind. We will never know. But our little Halfwood Press, which—with the help of a neighbor upstairs from my studio—traveled halfway around the world to Latvia to be used by kids at Ieva’s school is a story to remember.