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Henry Moon
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« on: December 19, 2007, 06:04:06 am » |
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 Thomas Kennedy's montage depicts the life of Abraham Lincoln.There is a campaign to put Kennedy's painting in Indiana classrooms, and to make it an official image for the state and national commissions planning celebrations of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth in 2009.By Roger McBain
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Thomas Kennedy's montage depicts the life of Abraham Lincoln.There is a campaign to put Kennedy's painting in Indiana classrooms, and to make it an official image for the state and national commissions planning celebrations of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth in 2009.
A Gibson County artist's montage depiction of Abraham Lincoln's life will receive a high-profile boost today when it is unveiled in Indianapolis.
Suellen Reed, state superintendent of public instruction, will present a canvas print of Thomas Kennedy's painting in her capitol office at 1:15 p.m. EST as part of a literacy campaign promoting reading about the 16th president.
Kennedy, who has given oversized prints and reproductions of the montage to Reed and Gov. Mitch Daniels, will attend the event along with an entourage of supporters bused to Indianapolis from Spencer County.
Today's showcase is more than just a "thanks" for the gift, however.
It's a first public showing in a campaign to put Kennedy's painting in Indiana classrooms, and to make it an official image for the state and national commissions planning celebrations of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth in 2009.
Reed has said she would like to see less expensive lithographs of the painting, a collection of scenes from Lincoln's life, go up in every school across Indiana.
She sees it as an eloquent biography presented without pages of text.
"I think it will serve as a model for all the ways we learn and take in information," she said. "And it points out that Lincoln spent his formative years in Indiana."
Moving from bottom to top, the painting takes viewers from Lincoln's birth in Kentucky through his years in Indiana, then Illinois, to the White House, where he led the nation through the Civil War and the end of slavery in the United States.
The center section focuses on scenes from his life in Southern Indiana, where he lived from ages 7 to 21 with his family in what would become Spencer County. Today, the area remembers him with Lincoln State Park and the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, which preserves the site where his family lived from 1816 to 1830, before moving to Illinois.
Pushing for adoption
Reed intends to work with Connie Nass, executive director of the Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial, to push for the art to be adopted by both the state and national commissions.
"It just tells the whole life story of Abraham Lincoln in pictures," Nass said.
Kennedy, 47, is a Louisville, Ky., native who grew up in Owensboro, Ky., and spent most of his career working as an illustrator with ad agencies in Evansville and Newburgh. He's done full-color illustrations for text books, trade journals and magazines.
Throughout his career, he drew and painted portraits and made fine art. He's continued doing so in a home and studio in Spencer County, where he moved several years ago.
Kennedy spent more than two years researching and painting his Lincoln history, which measures 32-by-44 inches.
Kennedy has sold 30 to 40 limited-edition, stretched canvas reproductions created with a Newburgh company. The original-sized copies sell for $1,500. The 42-by-58-inch "estate" reproductions, like those given to Reed and Daniels, retail for $3,000.
Gift to first lady
Kennedy also recently presented a print to first lady Laura Bush when he and Reed visited the White House to view an 18-foot tree decorated with ornaments representing the national parks. Kennedy created the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial's ornament, depicting Lincoln and scenes from his life and legacy.http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/dec/19/19a0xabeart/ |
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