Artist is in Arkansas knitting together a giant American flag

Dave Cole is known worldwide for his interest in patriotism and nostalgia

Updated: 2:37 AM EDT Jul 3, 2023

New York contemporary artist Dave Cole is in Northwest Arkansas over the Fourth of July to knit together the stars and stripes."Knitting has been part of my practice for 25 years now," he said. "It’s a really accessible medium and I think art can be accessible and also be good and smart and complicated, but also be uncynical and fun."Cole has had plenty of fun over his prominent artistic career. Some of his work is in the Smithsonian. He’s known worldwide for his interest in patriotism and nostalgia. This week, he was invited to the Momentary contemporary art space in Bentonville to create a grand display of the American flag."I have always loved to scale and playing with scale and I am also a big fan of materials and taking the material and pushing them beyond what they are used to doing. Using craft store felt to do some monumental scale projects just seemed like a great idea," Cole said.Cole said he’s purposely waiting until Independence Day to complete his patriotic project. And everyone is invited."On the Fourth, around 7 p.m., we are going to gather back around and finish off the flag and set it up for display," Cole said, adding that he'll then celebrate the holiday by attending a party and watching fireworks at a local bar.

12-year-old artist sells his paintings to help kids with cancer

Updated: 5:14 AM EDT Sep 21, 2022

An Iowa boy is using his artwork to raise awareness and money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Arsh Pal started painting when he was 8 years old, and his work has taken off since then. He started selling his canvas paintings and donating all of the proceeds to St. Jude — he said he wants to help kids with cancer."Originally, my first goal was raising $1,000 for St. Jude Research Hospital and everybody kind of doubted me because I was so young, but when I did raise $1,000 everybody was surprised," the 12-year-old from Dubuque said.Related video: President Biden lays out plan to cut cancer deaths in half within next 25 yearsOver the past four years, Pal has raised more than $15,000. He was also honored with the Diana Award for his efforts.

DENVER — Rose Gale of southeast Denver started working on one of her drawings in 2020, but then put it aside until recently.

“This one I was going to keep and come back because sometimes you have to walk away from your art when you feel it's not working,” she said.

Gale fell in love with art at 8 years old. That love has continued throughout her life.

Her passion is using pastels. She draws portraits of people, pets, and even landscapes, and does a lot of commissioned work for people who've reached out over the years.

“This is my happiness now, especially since I’ve retired,” said Gale.

She retired a few years ago, but that happiness was part of her life long before, even when she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2009. Gale didn't let the disease get in the way of her love of art — then and now.

“You have to learn to deal with what you have. Whatever the diagnosis is, you've got doctors helping you, a lot of people helping you, and you make the adjustments,” said Gale.

That’s what Gale did.

“I use my thumb. I can't use my fingers anymore,” she explained. “And yes, I can hold a small piece... I can hold it right there, no problem.”

To those who feel like they have to give up their passion, Gale offers these words of advice.

“You’ve got to try it. If the first attempt doesn't work, try something else. Because I want to let others know you can do it. Don’t ever doubt yourself. Keep moving forward," she said.

Gale says she plans to enter some competitions, get her work back into art galleries and eventually teach art to people in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

This article was written by Amy Wadas for KMGH.

Local artist, educator and owner of Not Your Average "Paint and Sip" mobile unit, James Reynolds, designed and prepared the mural concept for today's event at Court Street Plaza downtown.

"This season, more than any other, is about appreciating and celebrating our community," Reynolds said. "Our mural will be a wonderful expression of Cincinnati's vibrancy, diversity and fraternity."

The event on Saturday afternoon was created to invite and inspire local residents to come together as a community to share and express their inner artist.

Court Street Plaza served as today's canvas, which produced a community-created mural honoring the city of Cincinnati.

Along with the community-wide mural painting, there were also performances by local musicians, coffee stands, and even take-home crafts, inspired by the new mural.

The free event was one of several community-produced holiday events in the FOUND series. FOUND is a collection of creative and engaging holiday events aimed at bringing the community together in Cincinnati's urban core.

You can catch a glimpse of the new mural at the storefront below the Stanley & More Flats located at 11. E. Court Street.

You can find more events produced by FOUND here.

A little art can spark a lot of emotion.

Artists are capturing the coronavirus crisis while turning boarded-up buildings into outdoor art shows that attract the eye and inspire the soul.

“It makes me feel like there’s hope and that we’re going to get back to normal soon,” one woman said of Project Plywood, a project where artists spray paint inspirational murals on plywood covering businesses shut down due to the coronavirus crisis.

The artist painting this pandemic is Weso Knarly,

@wesoknarly

on Instagram, who moved from Dallas to Denver to open an art gallery.

COVID-19 concerns caused Knarly to temporarily close his business, but his creativity opened his mind and his wallet.

“We like to have an element of us giving,” he said. “I myself am kind of a loner and like to paint by myself. So, this is a good opportunity to get out of my hole.”

At first, Knarly covered the cost of paint for Project Plywood murals while he and other artists supplied the talent and technique.

“Depending on the caliber of artist the whole mural might range you anywhere from $2,500 to $8,000,” he said.

With lockdowns lasting longer and more businesses closing down, more of Knarly’s murals are going on display

“We’ve done 12 to 15 different places and growing,” he said.

People are now donating to have Knarly spray paint plywood covering their businesses.

It’s enough to break even financially but emotionally its priceless.

“Creativity is the antidote for these hard times,” Knarly said. “Shakespeare created MacBeth during a pandemic.”

Knarly knows this beautification of businesses closed for quarantine won’t cure the coronavirus but he’s happy to help bring color to his community and inspire a growing outdoor audience.

“It gives me encouragement to get out and live life,” one passerby said. “And not let this whole thing get us all down.”

CHICAGO — Art can be beautiful and inspirational. But for some artists, creating works that stir the soul and the mind goes beyond just the brush and canvas.

Socio-political activist and artist Pritika Chowdhry focuses her work on reframing traumatic geopolitical events like 9/11. She sees art as a way to ask difficult questions.

“This is the artist asking, 'God are you there? Do you see what's happening? Are you still there?'”

She studies seismic geopolitical events in depth and channels that into her artwork.

“And then, I try to excavate things from those events that have been not spoken about as much as they probably should have been,” she explained.

Chowdhry calls these the counter-memories of trauma. Sept. 11, for example, she says became about never forgetting the nearly 3,000 lives lost that day. But she says the lives lost went far beyond that in countries half a world away.

“In the context of 9/11, it's almost unpatriotic to say, ‘Hey, but what about all these other lives that are now in the millions that were lost?'”

Chowdhry has channeled that notion in what she calls the Counter Memory Project, an effort to memorialize the "unbearable memories."

“This is a...this is a scale of justice," she said.

In one of her works "Ungrievable Lives: Ghosts of 9/11," she examines what she calls the "differential values placed on human life."

“The heavier side has this gold bullion bar, and it says, ‘One life 9/11, 2001.’ And then if you turn it over, it says. ‘One of 2,983. Made in America.’”

It’s a commentary on what lives are worth shedding tears over and which ones are not.

“What is this gold standard? Clearly, an American life,” said Chowdhry.

On the other side of the scale rests a piece of meat, hair, and nail clippings.

“This is representative, as I was saying earlier of the non-American lives that we do not grieve for,” said Chowdhry.

It’s undoubtedly provocative, something Chowdhry knows all too well.

“I'm an American citizen. I love this country despite all its flaws. I do. I call this home,” she said. “It's OK for us to let our guard down once in a while to introspect and see we, even as a powerful moral nation get it wrong.”

Getting it wrong was punctuated in recent weeks as the last known missile fired in Afghanistan by the U.S. military last turned out to be a grave error.

The botched American drone strike killed 10 civilians including seven children. The youngest child Sumaya was just 2 years old. On September 17, weeks after the strike, General Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, acknowledged the civilian causalities.

“I offer my profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were killed,” said McKenzie. “But it was a mistake, and I offer my sincere apology.”

It was a stunning admission coming at the end of the United States’ longest-running war. But Chowdhry says she is optimistic that it was a signal of change.

“Maybe there is a there is a shift,” she said. “We're finally witnessing a shift after 20 years where I think finally people even in America are realizing that maybe what we're doing is wrong and maybe the people over there are human, are grievable.”

And while she knows some may be angered by her anti-memorial work, she hopes to tilt the scale to the center, valuing each life lost as equally tragic and worthy of remembrance.

Add the late PBS painter Bob Ross to the list of youthful memories with a darker side, at least in terms of the messy battle that followed his death. "Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed" won't ruin anyone's childhood, but it does reflect the difficulty of remembering such personalities in pastel-hued colors, especially when green enters the picture.

The documentary begins by dutifully charting Ross' rise as a TV personality. He followed a stint in the Air Force by teaching art, using his soothing voice, trademark mane and knack for churning out landscapes at lightning speed to secure a spot on television hosting "The Joy of Painting."

Ross achieved those breakthroughs with the help of a couple, Annette and Walt Kowalski, who championed him and his work, before assuming control of Bob Ross Inc. after he died of cancer in 1995 at 52.

It's at that point when the documentary -- directed by Joshua Rofé, and produced by Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone -- kicks into a different gear. The filmmakers proceed to explore how the Kowalskis cemented and protected their authority over Ross' legacy, and their dispute with Ross' son Steve, in a bitter struggle that continued long after Bob Ross' death and wound up in the courts.

The documentary in many ways feels like the oldest of stories, presenting the avuncular artist as a gifted practitioner of his craft who potentially lacked the business savvy to protect his interests. (The focus on the Ross estate somewhat glosses over other details of the artist's life, including his extramarital affairs, which are alluded to briefly.)

While Steve Ross was interviewed extensively, many others declined to be, including the Kowalskis, who the documentary responded to the filmmakers with a letter that raised the specter of legal action against them. In a statement to Vanity Fair, the company dismissed the documentary as attempting to "relitigate claims brought against Bob Ross Inc." in Steve Ross' 2017 lawsuit.

By operating on twin tracks, the film manages to tap into the nostalgia regarding Ross, which has grown through the years -- from a 2019 exhibition to the Bob Ross Experience in Indiana -- while venturing into murkier corners that risk casting more complicated clouds over those memories.

The documentary paints a portrait of the man who referred to painting miscues as "happy accidents." Yet it's the rest of the film's subhead that serves as its foundation, and a reminder that with the lives and legacies of beloved public figures, it's not always easy to see the forest for the trees.

"Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed" premieres Aug. 25 on Netflix.

An artist along the lakeshore is giving people a new reason to leave their homes for fresh air—creating and hiding dozens of small ceramic gnome statues along the trails at Duncan Woods Park.

Maggie Bandstra and her dog Nelson have been hiding one gnome each day since the end of November.

Bandstra is in the process of working on her master's degree in fine art and painting at Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, doing her work from her family's home in Grand Haven.

She was finishing up her thesis a few months ago when she says she "needed to get up and go for a walk... and I had these little gnomes, and I thought maybe it'll be fun to play a game with people."

And so she made a post in the Grand Haven Informed Facebook group, explaining her idea and giving people a clue about where she had hidden the first gnome.

“I thought maybe there wouldn’t be people looking," Bandstra told FOX 17 on Friday.

But that was definitely not the case. People quickly jumped on board for the hunt.

“I found it, and I didn't know what it was," said Rhonda Stephenson, who found one of the gnomes several months ago.

"I posted to Grand Haven Rocks [Facebook group], and I said, 'What is this? What do I do with it?'”

Stephenson, and many others, have made a habit of coming out to look for the hidden gnomes after Bandstra posts her daily clue.

“You look for them, and then you meet everybody else. We're all in the same area, thinking that it's this tree, whereas it could be way on the other side of Duncan woods,” Stephenson said.

“Everybody's out here within minutes of her posting. You've got 10 cars out here looking.”

Starting as just a way to make going out for a walk more enjoyable, the project has brought together a wide network of people who are now sharing their finds with Bandstra and each other online.

“It's been quite an adventure, and I've met lots of new people through this, and it's just really been a fun way to be social and interacting with people without being close to anyone,” Bandstra said.

She documents the whole process in an online journal and on her Instagram page, planning to hide 365 of the miniature statues before she stops.

“I just thought about taking one action every day… like, what happens when you take this one simple act of sharing a little luck every day.”

Gnomes of Grand Haven— Instagram Page
Maggie Bandstra— Artist Website

This story was first published by Michael Martin at WXMI in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

WEST CHICAGO, IL — Breathing new life into discarded items takes vision, and an artist is doing just that every time he walks past a discarded bin of knickknacks.

Most people would probably toss out a bucket full of old springs, valves, and rusty gears, but not Randy Meyers. He uses these recycled materials to create new-age, functional art.

“Most of these are used fittings or obsolete,” he said pointing to a bin full of parts.

Over the years, Meyers has painstakingly curated all the ‘junk’ in his garage.

“I never incorporate plastic, you know, maybe some wood, copper, aluminum. But it's all got to be pretty old and unique. It's got to have a look,” said Meyers.

For Meyers, the workshop clutter is a treasure trove of possibilities.

“They asked me, ‘What are you going to do with that?’ It's like, ‘You're never going to understand.’ I knew exactly. I'm going to have some big wire coming down and then I'll rewire that for a 110 light. It'll be a desk lamp.”

When he sees a random piece like a car bumper part, he has a vision of what he'll do with it.

“Oh, yeah, yeah. This is because people can relate to this. I mean, older people,” he said. “The kids nowadays wouldn't even believe that came off a car. [There’s] more steel in here than a car these days.”

Using old equipment, vintage car parts, gears, and pipe fittings, Meyers makes retro-futuristic designs with a turn-of-the-century aesthetic that would likely make Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison envious.

“Everything is old that I'm working with like these are old lampshades from the 50s. The lamp would go in there and a big shade would screw on that and would shine down on something.”

The tinkering artist has created some 400 pieces, mostly lamps, all of them are now numbered and signed.

“There's a dimmer switch in this tin here. You can control the light,” he said, pointing to one lamp built out of a series of gears and an animatronic figurine. “I dim him way down just to make it look like that's a little factory, and this guy is cranking the crank and the generator to power the light.”

The first time he discovered he could make a cell phone speaker out of old record player parts he didn’t sleep all night.

“It’s louder than the phone itself.”

Like the gears spinning on his creations, his mind is always turning with ideas buzzing.

“Gauges, the bigger ones like this one, it's such a cool gauge. I'll probably just leave it the way it is, but if this was a little nastier, I would take the guts out of it, put a little quartz movement in it make a clock out of it," he explained.

The conservation artworks are show-stoppers at markets and local exhibitions.

But for Meyers, it’s not just about the sales. It’s about seeing the vision and reassembling the puzzle.

“I think creating something out of basically nothing is -- that's the magic," he said.

'Oh, you're the heart lady': How one artist is spreading smiles through her 'heartwork'

Updated: 7:21 AM EDT May 2, 2021

Deirdre Freeman walks the mile from her home, lugging a large, colorful painting and tote bag with her hammer and nails. Her destination is a telephone pole at a busy intersection, where she will hang her largest "heartwork" painting yet.Her goal is simple: to spread smiles and some much-needed love to the masses through this 18-by-24-inch acrylic on canvas, which features a red heart shape over whimsical designs — typical of the paintings she has been sharing in public places."Hopefully it stays here for a little while," she says, hammering away as traffic bustles by. "Sometimes cars will beep and wave when they see me doing it."She is recognized around town, too. "Oh, you're the heart lady," people tell her.This project began two years ago with Freeman cutting out small paper heart prints of her work, writing messages on the backs, pinning them to trees around town and sending them all over the world. Some 6,500 hearts made it to places like Italy, France, Portugal and Japan."It was really a labor of love," she says.Now, she paints larger pieces. Freeman has hung more than 120 heartworks, each of them taking between an hour and four hours to finish. She dreams of having her art on billboards.A speech pathologist who stepped away from her profession 12 years ago to raise her two children, Freeman always wanted to be an artist but the timing wasn't right until more recently.At age 50, she is overjoyed to make a difference in someone's day, week or month, to put a smile on a face or simply provide a sweet distraction from the challenges of everyday life, especially during the pandemic. One man told her he was suicidal when he encountered a heartwork that pulled him from that debilitating, dark space. A mom shared how her young son saw Freeman's paintings on poles and how the love they projected made him feel safe in his community.She never asked formal permission from the city of Alameda to do this project — but nobody has objected or stopped her yet. She posts heartworks-in-progress on her Facebook page with a simple message, "for the poles.""Sometimes I hide them in little surprise places," she says. Occasionally she shares a photo clue on social media to see who might find one first in this close-knit East Bay suburb of San Francisco. Some have been defaced, have deteriorated or been destroyed by exposure to the elements. Freeman just patches them up when possible or replaces a painting with another.She has work that stayed put on a pole for more than a year and a half, while other paintings have disappeared in just a few days. Some are taken — in fact, she saw one painting on a porch in her neighborhood. She accepts that, realizing her work has likely resonated with someone in a meaningful way."No, no, no, love will overcome," she says, because "Love is a magnet. A lot of magic can happen just from this one little project that I'm doing. It's inspiring some others, and it makes me so happy."One piece at the end of her street now has a friend, too. A child added a painting that hangs beneath one of hers, with the message, "Be awesome.""My happiest part of this is there are children and others who are starting to put things up," Freeman says. "It's starting a love and kindness movement, which is what we need."