Archive for January 26, 2014

Artist of the moment….Albert Swinden

{ January 26, 2014 @ 5:24 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Albert Swinden was born in the year 1901 in Birmingham, England. Swinden was an abstract painter. Swinden also painted murals for the Federal Arts Project .  His family moved to Canada and then to the United States when he was still a youngster. Swinden attended the Art Institute of Chicago. He also attended the National Academy of Design located in New York City.

The artist also became a teacher at the New York Art Students League.

The artist married and the couple had a daughter named Alice Carter who went on to become a professional painter.

Swinden also produced a large mural for the 1939 World’s Fair that took place at New York City.

The artist had a fire in his studio in 1940s. Many works were destroyed by this fire.

The artist was not a good business person. He was unable to support himself solely from his art and earned a living working as a designer in the textile field.

Albert Swinden passed away in in 1961.

Price range information: Sorry no pricing available.

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Artist of the moment……David Zinn

{ January 26, 2014 @ 3:01 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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David Zinn is a wonderful street artist renowned for his drawings of cartoons that appear all over the sidewalks of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The artist began drawing with chalk on the sidewalks in 2007.

A main character is Sluggo. The character sluggo started out as a drawing of child pulling a wagon. He then transformed the character into his signature character. Zinn didn’t like to sign his street art, so this character became his signature.

His characters usually are doing something funny.

Zinn has worked as the host of a radio program. He has also worked as a theater performer, director, and designer of makeup.

The artist was inspired by Maurice Sendak.

In this clip we see many of David Zinn’s street art!:

I love the fun design and colors the artist uses in his characters. Its like having a character from a Maurice Sendak book come to life. Its great to see his characters doing such modern activities as withdrawing money from the ATM. I really enjoy art that inspires children to create art.

Price range information: Sorry none available.

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Artist of the moment…….Thomas Alexander Harrison

{ January 26, 2014 @ 1:33 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Thomas Alexander Harrison was a brother of the Birge Harrison, the aforementioned artist who painted wonderful snow scenes. Thomas Harrison was born in the year 1953 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who was renowned for his paintings of the sea and marine scenery.

For his artistic education Thomas Harrison attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition Harrison studied at the San Francisco School of Design and the Ecole des Beaux Arts located in Paris, France.

After college he found a career as a mapmaker. He was employed by the United States government.

Over his career Harrison won many prestigious awards from the famed Paris Salon.

Thomas Harrison passed away in 1930 in Paris, France.

Price range information : Works range from $5,000 to $50,000.

A third brother who was a professional painter was Butler Harrison. Butler Harrison specialized in painting the figure, but I couldn’t find any examples.

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