Art Insider – November Edition

Art Store Classes & Workshop Update

All classes and workshops will be scheduled for a January restart. The studio will be used for the rest of 2021 to show some of our employee’s and student’s artwork. Come see the works of our employees, instructors and students. You will be able to see a few creations that could inspire you to create your own or take a class or workshop in 2022.

Firing of ceramics is still offered through this time. Depending on your needed holiday schedule, prices may vary. The unveiling will be announced by a short post by our newsletter.

Golden Artist Colors is Now 100% Owned by Its Employees: Golden Artist Colors employs over 200 workers in upstate New York.

Golden Artist Colors, an American manufacturer of professional artist paints best known for its acrylics, announced on Friday, October 1, that it has become fully owned by its employees.

The move marks the completion of a transition that began in 2002, when the company issued an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for its staff. An ESOP is an employee benefit plan that provides company stock to employees as part of their retirement benefits. In May 2010, Golden crossed a major milestone when it became majority-owned by its employees. As of last week, all of the company’s stock is exclusively owned by the employees and held in a special ESOP trust.

Founded in 1980 by Sam Golden, and currently run by his son Mark, the eponymous company grew from a modest workshop in a barn in upstate New York to a globally recognized brand of high-quality artist paints. It now employs over 200 workers at three locations in New York’s Chenango county: its headquarters in New Berlin; a 100,000-square-foot facility in rural Columbus; and a 45,000-square-foot commercial warehouse and distribution center in Norwich.

“Implementing 100% ownership for staff is very unique and something our family has dreamt about since the company’s beginning,” said Mark Golden in a statement to Hyperallergic. “We began on the premise that ‘what you care about will grow’ and Golden Artist Colors has grown many times beyond the dreams we once had as we peered across the fields from my parent’s kitchen. It has been through the care and dedication of each of our staff that has joined us on this journey and made this place part of themselves.”

According to data by the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), a nonprofit that advocates for employee ownership, there were only about 6,500 companies in the US that share ownership with their employees as of 2018. ESOPs cover over 14 million workers, of whom 10.3 million are active participants, meaning currently employed and covered by an ESOP plan. Workers who are covered by an ESOP reported having more than twice the average total retirement balance of Americans nationally, according to a 2018 survey conducted by the NCEO and Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA).

“Time has demonstrated that companies with 100% employee ownership often see greater productivity, higher profitability, and increased revenue,” Mark Golden explained. “These successes tend to continue over time, as employees have a vested interest in the sustainability and overall success of the company.”

“Employee ownership, when done right, benefits all stakeholders and should be celebrated,” added Golden’s president and chief operating officer, Barbara Schindler. “It is a true win/win transaction for all parties involved.” Hyperallergic

Art History Enamel Pins ~

Searching for Frans Hals’s “Laughing Cavalier

”So many of us have seen this painting too often in reproduction, without perhaps ever having really seen it at all.

If you are culture hungry in London, and one of your life’s greatest wishes is to avoid the vulgar yawp and bustle of shoppers on Oxford Street, there is a ready answer. A couple of streets back from the Bond Street Underground station there is a lovely, sequestered spot called Manchester Square. You will find it by taking a turn off the north side of Oxford Street onto Duke Street, and then walking for a relatively short distance, having first passed by a house once lived in by Simón Bolívar.

What better place to scheme and to plot if you are a South American liberationist than a quiet, 18th-century residence in Mayfair?

At the back of the square you will spot a rather ugly Victorian townhouse of grandiose pretensions. This building, known back then as Hertford House, was once the home of Sir Richard and Lady Wallace, and it is now known as the Wallace Collection. Its entrance is flanked by a pair of Grecian urns. Once through the gate, you will see that the COVID-19 rules, displayed on a shrieking yellow sign board, are very particular to this place. Here is the one to which you need to pay attention: “If you need to cough or sneeze, use a tissue or the crook of your arm.” Have your arm crooked in readiness.

The house itself has been preserved in aspic, beginning with the Front State Room circa 1890: what a nonstop display of opulent clutter we have here! Admire the chandelier, the gilded, coffered doors, the portraiture, the busts on their elegant marble plinths, and, just outside the door, the grand flourish of the house’s main staircase — and, of course, the mild-mannered, ever-so-polite security guard who may be blocking your way as he gently rises and falls on the heels of his high-polished black shoes. In short, this place is almost entirely a journey back in time …

Except for the new gallery in the basement, where the exhibition under review is to be found. Has this gallery been created from some featureless understairs world where the servants might once have passed dutifully to and fro? In all its overstretched, box-like plainness, it rather resembles a very long, dingily lit ship’s container. Today it has been tricked out to welcome an exhibition by a master of the Dutch Golden Age. Quite oddly tricked out, though, it has to be said. The walls are painted a deep maroon for the most part, but sometimes the maroon is edged with — or fuzzily interrupted by — passages of gray, as if the walls are making a stab at recreating a Rothko. Why? Why? Ask me another.

Frans Hals: The Male Portrait brings together 13 of Hals’s greatest paintings of the movers and shakers (all male) of the Dutch port city of Haarlem, from the 1620s onward. Its central talking point is a very well known painting called “The Laughing Cavalier” (1624), which hangs pridefully on its own on an end wall. This painting was acquired by the 4th Marquess of Hertford (the main founder of the Wallace Collection) in 1865, and it has lived in this house ever since. What is more, its purchase and display helped to wrest Hals from obscurity. The name of the painting is a Victorian invention, too. This man is not a cavalier. He is not on horseback at all. There are no horsy accoutrements. There is a not a whiff of horse reek about it. And though the man could in a pinch be said to be smirking, no one in their right mind could ever claim that he was laughing.

It’s worth spending more than a little time in the company of this painting, and one of the reasons is because we know it too well, and we need to reflect upon some of the issues that arise from the curse (or the blessings) of overfamiliarity. Yes, so many of us have seen it too often, a thousand times over, in reproduction, without perhaps ever having really seen it at all. That is the curse of overexposure. “The Laughing Cavalier” is like an old, well-worn armchair into which we sink once again, breathing a sigh of mild pleasure without giving it more than a second’s thought.

What is more, this painting is Frans Hals. It is his representative. We know him by no other. Is it a good painting? Is it a bad painting? Is it a profound piece of work or not? Is its appeal mainly decorative? Could the hat be regarded as ridiculous or not? Is it on the way to becoming that “Quangle Wangle’s Hat” of which Edward Lear wrote so compellingly, in which all the birds of the air nested to their hearts’ content? Sweep all such questions away! They are irrelevant. We are beyond all such poker-faced piffle. “The Laughing Cavalier” is here, among us, as deeply embedded in our English soil as an ancient tomb, and he has always been here. Or at the very least since 1865.

Today is rather special though. Today we can see him in all his breathing likeness. Likeness to whom though? No one knows. Least of all the 4th Marquess of Hertford. Least of all he who blithely decided to call it “The Laughing Cavalier” in 1888 or so, more than 250 years after it was painted. So let us consider this question of entitlement a little more. There is no evidence from the painting that this man is a horseman. He is not, as we have already pointed out, laughing. The look is sidelong, slightly rakish, and nowhere near to being a rip-roaring, full-bellied outburst of laughter. This man is too restrained by all his fancy costuming to indulge in laughter. He is too intent on posing, you might say, in all that fancy lacework about the neck and the wrist, arm akimbo.

But, but … to be a Cavalier with a capital C is slightly different from being a cavalier with a small c. The title seems to suggest that this man should perhaps be regarded as an Englishman of the king’s party — and by that I mean one of those Cavaliers who fought in the English Civil War against the Cromwellians, who were, some may recall, known as the Roundheads. That Civil War was raging within 20 years of the making of this painting, and so it would not be at all preposterous to suggest that the circa 1888 title was a direct reference to the vanquished Cavaliers — after all, they lost, their king (Charles I) had his head deftly removed close to the top of Whitehall, and a glorious Commonwealth was declared. But is this Cavalier laughing because he has the gift of being able to foresee that the monarchy would rise again, that the republican experiment in England would be snuffed out within little more than a decade, and that a second Charles, a new and more dissolute cavalier altogether, would return from France in triumph?

Frans Hals: The Male Portrait continues at the Wallace Collection (Hertford House, Manchester Square, London, England) through January 30, 2022. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Lelia Packer. Hyperallergic

MTN Water Based Spray Paint – Improved on the sales floor

MTN Water Based Spray Paint is a low pressure water based spray paint can with matte finish that is perfect for indoor or outdoor use. This non toxic spray paint formula comes in a multitude of colors and can be mixed with acrylics while wet, yet permanent once dry. 300ml Cans. NEW WIDER RANGE OF COLORS ADDED!

MTN Water Based Spray Paint is a low pressure water based spray paint can with matte finish that is perfect for indoor or outdoor use. This non toxic spray paint formula comes in a multitude of colors and can be mixed with acrylics while wet, yet permanent once dry. 100ml Cans. SETS NOW AVAILABLE!

Pastels Many budding artists choose to work in pastels because they are easy to use and the colors produced are rich and sensual. To create a work in pastels you only need paper, fixative and the pastels themselves. There’s no premixing on a palette, no need to add mediums and pastels can be applied to almost any surface. Though pastels are similar to chalk, they are actually a powdered pigment bound together with a gum or resin and shaped into sticks or pencils. Several types of pastels are available in both student and artist grade. Student grade pastels are economical and ideal for experimentation. Artist grade pastels use finer pigments making them more expensive, but their strong color quality and smooth consistency are the reward. Although seemingly an intimidating aisle in the art store a few rules of thumb can unveil the pastel mystique.

Pastel Types

Soft/Chalk Pastels

These are the original and most popular pastel. They glide easily onto a paper’s surface with the ability to produce many different types of strokes. This pastel has the widest range of colors available. However, soft pastels can get dirty and dusted from the surrounding chalks. Keep them clean by wiping them with a tissue as you work or laying them in a bowl of rice which will rub away the dirty surface powder.

Hard Pastels

Hard pastels contain additional binder making them durable and less crumbly. They are available in both stick and pencil form which when sharpened to a point make them ideal for use in the drawing portion of your painting. They’re also used for detail work because they have the ability to create sharp, hard edges. Hard pastels may be used alone or in conjunction with other types of pastels.

Water-Soluble Pastels

These pastels have a chalky consistency and are used dry or wet. Available in pencil and stick form, once applied to paper they can be thinned with a wet brush. Many soft and hard chalk pastels are also water-soluble.

Oil Pastels

Oil pastels are cream-based stick pastels. These colors can be used direct, built up in layers, blended with a cloth or even diluted with mineral spirits to create rich, transparent washes. They can also be used in combination with other dry or wet media to produce myriad effects.

helpful hints

The Ideal Pastel Workstation

Using an easel that allows the top edge of the painting to tilt toward you is best for pastel work. The tilt ensures that, rather than sift down onto the picture, falling pastel dust will drop to the floor or the easel’s tray. Try making a trough out of moistened newspaper for easy clean-up.

Supports

Pastels can be applied to many different types of paper. The finished look of a pastel painting directly relates to the texture of the paper used because the pigment is picked up and grabbed by the paper’s “tooth.” Because you mix pastel colors on the paper’s surface as opposed to a palette, the application of color is important as the paper will only accept a certain amount of chalk. One way to ensure success is to apply your colors in layers. Begin by applying a coat in one shade, then add another on top so the bottom layer shows through. At some point the paper gets full and will accept no more color. To avoid this, a thicker paper is better. Watercolor paper, printmaking paper or any type that is thick with some texture is good. There are also specific types of pastel paper designed to absorb layers of chalk. You can buy these in single sheets or in pads. Colored papers are interesting and useful because they can help in adjusting your eye to the correct tonal range of what you are painting.

 

Blending

Depending on the finished look you desire, there are a number of blending tools to choose from for use with pastels. Stumps are sticks made of compressed paper which have double pointed ends and are easily sharpened. Tortillons are only pointed at one end and are made of tightly wound soft gray paper. Chamois cloths are fine quality skins also used for blending and shading pastels. A recent addition to the blending category is the Colour Shaper. These tools provide a truly unique approach to blending and moving color. Consisting of a long handle fitted with flexible, washable rubber heads they come in an assortment of shapes and sizes suitable for any technique.

Fixatives

Fixatives can be very helpful for working in pastels. Workable fixatives are used during the painting process when the paper surface gets saturated with pigment and can no longer pick up any more. A workable fixative will layer the surface and create a grained clear layer on top of the surface allowing you to resume painting. A finishing fixative is used to prevent smudges and create a protective, fade resistant clear coat on the surface of the finished artwork.

Edgar Degas was the master of the art of pastel. His drawings of women in stop-action poses featured gaudy hues side-by-side which created a vibrancy to his work.

Historic Art Watercolor Sets ~ on the sales floor

Can Graphene, a One-Atom Thick ‘Wonder Material,’ Keep Precious Artworks From Fading? Scientists Say It Shows Promise

A transparent layer can retard UV rays and moisture, but some conservators worry about application and suitability for aging oil paint.

For non-chemical engineers, a one-atom thick, invisible protective cloak that blocks oxygen may sound like science fiction—the sort of weapon a supervillain would brandish to hold earth ransom for nefarious purposes. But new research published in Nature Nanotechnology confirms that graphene, which is very real, can protect certain artworks from fading.

Graphene is a two-dimensional carbon allotrope whose molecules bind together through a phenomenon called Van der Waals forces. It is invisible to the eye but forms a honeycomb pattern under a microscope, and can be extracted from the surface of graphite using a piece of tape. Hailed as a “wonder material” since its isolation in a single-layer form in 2004, graphene has many potential uses. China appears convinced of its military and aerospace promise, and it is being used to protect roads in the U.K. Graphene is also being used for everything from filtering toxins from water to creating a “camera” to capture heart cell activity. It has also been used in paint.

“It’s super-strong and stiff, amazingly thin, almost completely transparent, extremely light, and an amazing conductor of electricity and heat,” says Costas Galiotis, a chemical engineering professor at University of Patras in Greece. “It could be likened to an invisible veil that has the ability to adhere to any clean surface.”

Galiotis—a member of the executive board of the European Union’s Graphene Flagship research initiative—and colleagues studied the museum and gallery utility of graphene, whose properties he calls “remarkable and exciting.”

Graphene offers several material advantages: it can be produced in large, thin sheets; it blocks ultraviolet light; and it is impermeable to oxygen, moisture, and other corrosive agents. Layered overtop an artwork, the researchers posited that graphene can retard irreversible color fading due to light exposure and oxidizing agents (like air). Their findings revealed graphene can prevent color fading by up to 70 percent.

The authors cite the fading of color in Vincent van Gogh’s sunflower paintings, “in which crystals of red lead have turned into white plumbonacrite due to the reaction of paint impurities with light and carbon dioxide,” as a prime example of what they hope graphene can deter.

Galiotis’s team studied graphene’s protective effect over what they say is the equivalent of 200 years of exhibition. Using both mock-ups and real, artist-donated artworks with highly light-sensitive inks, they found it seems to work best on art with smoother surfaces, such as photographs and graphic arts. For flat works, the researchers used a “roll-to-roll” technique, which they modeled on commercial laminating, but depositing graphene “veils” on rough or embossed art, including paintings with uneven brushstrokes and very fragile works, can be difficult. For those, the scholars studied a contactless approach using graphene-enhanced glass, which doesn’t touch the art and which they say can protect against fading by 40 percent better than standard museum glass without stymieing transparency. And, in contrast to commercial polymeric coatings, such as archival varnishes or spray films with UV protection, it can be removed easily.

According to Galiotis, the European art preservation community has expressed interest in this approach; however, he allows, some are reluctant to lay graphene on old paintings “due to the element of risk which is always present when you deposit even an invisible cloak onto a work of art.” Contemporary artists can lay graphene membrane upon a painting before they frame and complete the work, he says.

Another sticking point for critics—or better, unsticking point—is the researchers’ claim that removing graphene is as easy as “using a soft rubber eraser without causing any damage to the artwork,” as they write in the paper. Galiotis says he and colleagues demonstrate that erasing in this manner doesn’t affect the art beneath the graphene. This was true for graphic art and ink drawings, but erasing graphene from atop a graphite drawing would, presumably, lose the baby with the bathwater.

Chris McGlinchey, a senior research scholar at New York University Institute of Fine Arts’ conservation center, who was not involved in this paper, says it is promising that graphene can be easily erased. “However, some works of art are so fragile they can’t be cleaned that way,” he says. “I’m sure the authors are thinking about these matters if they want to see graphene used more broadly for practical use.”

Preserving art for future generations is part of conservators’ mandate, so “demonstrating as a proof of principle that graphene can prevent light-induced damage suggests it may be a useful tool in their toolkit to help accomplish that for select works of art,” he says. But he worries that graphene’s barrier against oxygen and vapor could paradoxically cause problems for some traditional art materials.

“Oil paint changes over the decades well after the artist has considered the work to be finished, and these changes produce small molecules that would normally volatilize away,” he says. “If that process is suppressed, these degradation compounds could be trapped below the graphene layer and possibly cause a foggy appearance.”

Unanticipated warping and stress may also develop. “This could happen if only one side is coated with a moisture resistant layer, and the other is left to absorb and release moisture as humidity fluctuates,” McGlinchey adds.

Graphene may find more useful applications with modern artistic media, McGlinchey says. He also thinks researchers should study whether graphene could be applied to vintage electronic media to increase its longevity.

Only time will tell whether graphene will become a standard tool in every museum conservator’s kit. A supplemental video attached to the paper shows the Mona Lisa smiling as she is treated with graphene, while her twin, who receives no such coating, frowns as she fades over time. Artnet News

State of the Art Store

Most of us have heard that there are shortages in most areas of our lives. 2020 was a boom in the art and hobby industries. In turn, the manufacturers had to social distance as well as accept that raw materials would be harder to find. Even some raw pigments would become scarce. As well as the containers for some art materials. Shipping and receiving affecting a lot of the materials as they come into the United States. Available labor dropped considerably.

Some products have simply gone off the market such as some of polymer clays, decorative papers, drawing and sketching papers, imported watercolor papers, drawing materials from Europe and even as simple as any white colored pencil from all manufacturers.

One Shot paints have learned a very good lesson. As they found, manufacturing the small cans to hold their oil paint is not manufactured in the United States. So there has been a shortage of this paint for over a year now.

Golden Acrylics has been at half the employees needed to meet the demand for their product. Shortages have been caused due to this. Some colors have no estimated time of arrival. This including waterbased varnish from Golden. This limiting how artists can protect their paintings. No estimated time has been given if this product will ever return. MSA solvent for the MSA varnish has also been very difficult to order, no ETA has been given.

Many of you have noticed the store has been stocked in most products. As the owner of the Art Store, I chose nearly 10 years ago to drop most products that were coming from China. Being a Son of Liberty and critical thinker, I chose to stop supporting the Chinese movement to saturate the market with low quality products profiting a communist country with intent to harm others and the environment. As many of us know, the greatest polluter of the Earth is China. They also have financially passed us globally. If we the people do not choose to stop buying Chinese products we will not grow stronger.

As the owner of this store for 22 years, for over 10 years I did the ordering every week. This has not changed since I was able to become the only owner in 2019. Many of you have come in to celebrate this decision I made to keep the store running for the benefit for our community. I do think I do need to thank all of you for supporting my decision but also the rebuilding of the store. Thank you for supporting the store as I returned and as I was recovering.

Please remember that I order weekly and do special orders by what is in stock in the warehouses. Real time inventory can be seen from day to day.

As all of us artists know, Prescott and the surrounding area needs an art store………..it will be open as long as its supported.

State of the Owner

2021 has been interesting to say the least. Just so you all know, I have not wrote this down until now for any of you to refer back to for your own safety. Many people hide their illnesses for many reasons, I never have. I think that the ones that do, only encourage the irresponsibility of others. As well as the continuing of the separation of community members. Which I do not believe in. I also do not want to worry any of the locals in case of any temporary closures of the business in case of needed medical therapies.

I have been in total recovery mode from a 1% chance to live, divorce and spiritual struggles since 2018. A 3-year recovery. Yes, it changes a person in looks, attitude and perspective but I am back from the nearly dead with a greater sympathy for others.

As the owner of the Art Store, I have lived in Prescott for 42 years. 22 of which being a business owner. A resident for this long, I have found some hazards of our town. Many of you being new residents that have joined our community, I have experienced major health concerns mainly due to my past choice of my circle. I have also been informed that my past condition was worsened by the local water being so high in arsenic. The result of arsenic. lead and yeast poisoning being sepsis and near total failure of most of my organs. Each one having to be restarted due to the limited nutrition to my vital organs past my own brain health. Yes, I have been told many, many times, “YOU should not be here”. That the medical system and government has failed me. it is why I write this down.

The city will tell you the arsenic and lead levels are within the acceptable national levels of water quality. This is only a perceived safety since one’s microbiome consists of viruses, yeast, bacteria and mold. This microbiome is extremely important to keep in balance. Due to my slim chance to survive from a misdiagnosed transferred yeast infection (irresponsibility of local naturopathic doctor, Dr. Ross Dunbar for missing such for nearly 3 years), I was in a very dire position. The medical world will tell you that yeast infections are not transferrable. I can with great knowledge of my past, attest they are. They also are very difficult to diagnose in men because of this misunderstanding. I presented with the obvious symptoms and the precious caregiver did not follow the standard operating procedures. As I lay bedridden for over a year with no other caregivers (friends were told I had moved out of the country by others), I started researching on my phone what it could be. I told Dr. Dunbar that I believe I am stuck in a cortisol disorder and its caused many of my problems. After being tested for this by my insistence, I was found to be only alive by my adrenal glands. Only then did Dr. Dunbar pursue the initial testing he misssed. Told I needed to start the yeast die-off, this doctor decided to start the dieoff. After looking over the levels I was at 85% of my body infected with organ dysfunction at near failure, I should have taken me to the Mayo Clinic but this was not offered. With this even being a slim chance of survival, I followed the prescribed protocol by the cited doctor above and found myself 4 days later collapsed into the wall. My mother finding me there a few hours later as I could barely text her from the phone that fell to my side. A few days later, I was in front of the best doctor in our town (Dr. Susan Godman). To be told in her 30 years of practicing, I was the 2nd worst case she has ever seen. That the irresponsibility of this is extreme. I only asked one question,”Did you save the life of the worst case you have seen?”. She answered correctly. This being May of 2019, I started the suggested therapies agreed upon together as most being healing art therapies.

I was told that I needed to get my effects in order and find my higher power. This led to prayer and meditation. I was also told that the level of yeast growth is now out of any safe amount of therapies so acceptable use of antifungals would not work since my organs were failing. I would have to restart all my organs, rebuild my digestive tract, clear my lymph system and weather the possibility of my lymph nodes bursting (yes they did) before the infection could be managed. Since I was now in the realm of a medical miracle, I was not taken to any hospital since the American Medical Association does not properly react to systemic candidiasis in the best chances of survival. They tend to use antibiotics too liberally and this leads to removing the only adversary to candida albicans aka Acidophilus. Once this is removed, the yeast wins. You have days to live if this is mistakenly done.

So, where does the arsenic come into play? This organism acts like a sponge. Soaking up heavy metals from anything you eat or drink. When I was tested for arsenic and lead, this was found at 5X the acceptable levels. This was not just a year or two of infection I was informed but over 10 years, possibly 15. I then started the fastest way to chelate such levels. This being IVs. As of this time, I have done 27 IVs (35 are estimated to be arsenic and lead free) and still need to do more of these. More are planned. Jennifer Hamilton (our new painting instructor) has been filling in when I have to leave for a therapy.

Yes, the therapy is working. I have been able to not only survive the years of sepsis, extreme candida overgrowth, divorce, loss of income, the loss of my mother and temporarily loss of my mind……..but also arsenic and lead poisoning. I rolled high in fortitude.

The city of Prescott will tell you that 5ppm is the acceptable levels of safe water. It is not. I can also tell you that parts of Prescott and the surrounding area is up to 15ppm. Why is this? Arizona is a mining state. Also an EARLY mining state before any regulations were in place. Early practices of using arsenic to refine the mine ore has caused our aquifer to have levels of arsenic that change in levels by the aquifer use and seasonal rainfalls. This leading to the above-mentioned higher levels.  An upcoming change for all these new residents is that the aquifer will go down with water usage which will cause the heavy metal numbers to rise. As a 40+ year resident that nearly died of the “OK” levels, please be assertive in your own care. As we all know now, government officials and doctors care for themselves more than their patients or residents or We the People.

That needs to change to be healthier ourselves.

So how do you protect yourself:

Some of my problems were from the toxic food that is offered to us…….eat organic, drink filtered water, no refined foods, ask the local restaurants to do so as well.

Require your circle to be healthy in all ways, build good personal boundaries and trust only the ones who are trustworthy.

Use a reverse osmosis filter (an 80% reduction of arsenic and lead) or other suitable filters (no, brita does not work).

Do not trust just one doctor. There are plenty of ones that are distracted by their own homelife. Also be an advocate for your spouse or loved one. In many ways your own health can affect another’s as I found out. BE ASSERTIVE TO YOUR OWN CARE.

Support clinics and doctors who discuss chelation, microbiome and gut health with you. ESPECIALLY MINERALS AND GUT HEALTH.

Be a critical thinker. Be an assertive protestor.

Be a part of the Great Awakening by following the guidelines above

How do I encourage myself?

I do so by helping others. I always loved seeing others create. Finding the best way to do so.

I am making the front of the store be positive and interactive. I do so by honoring my mother for saving my life. In the near future, the monumental wings symbolizing all the mothers and caregivers you are and/or have experienced.

In my downtime, I reach out to others who are experiencing similar conditions. Try to alleviate their pain and suffering.

I continue my journey to find and experience creativity and love.

I visit the many bronze monuments in the area that I had much to do with over my 30 years of being a professional artist.

I support my community in getting into their dreams and projects including finding projects for the artists who support my store.

Which doctors did I go to? You can find them at Partners in Healthcare, Naturally – Naturopathic Doctor in Prescott, AZ (prescottnaturopathicdoctors.com). You could say I trust them with my life. 

As many of you know, medical malpractice is one of the hardest cases to win. I contacted 14 lawyers within the window of the possibility to do so. All lawyers refused to take the case. What I figured out is that the AMA uses this condition to benefit big pharma. Billions do not have a chance to be toppled by a small business owner.

If any of my community has questions about this condition, please just ask. I do not believe I experienced this to be punished but to help others especially if they are in physical and/or mental illness. As my doctor, counselor and legal team communicated to me, “you can only control yourself and the best person to love you is yourself.” If you happen to be on your own healing journey, I hope you find your path as I have and may the people you need find you. – Keith Kendall, Owner of the Art Store.

Italian mayor launches underwater excavation to find third Riace bronze
Town of Riace is planning a museum, while a new investigation hopes to confirm whether there are more ancient Greek statues to be found

In a sensational discovery almost 50 years ago, Italian Carabinieri hauled two exceptionally well preserved ancient Greek bronze warriors out of the sea near Riace in Calabria. Now, Antonio Trifoli, the town’s mayor, is organizing a major underwater excavation in a bid to find a third bronze. The search is one of several initiatives planned in Riace to mark the golden anniversary of the discovery next year, with a new museum, international conferences and a newly commissioned bronze statue all in the pipeline.

Discovered by chance by an amateur scuba diver, Stefano Mariottini, in 1972, the two fifth-century BC bronzes are now housed in a climate-controlled room at the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria. To date, there have been only two minor excavations of the site, and it remains unclear how the bronzes arrived at the Riace coast. One of several theories is that a Roman ship sank while transporting the statues from Greece.

Giuseppe Braghò, a Calabrian investigative journalist, is convinced that there are further clues, if not another statue, waiting to be discovered. In official statements in 1972, Mariottini told Carabinieri he had spotted “a group” of bronzes, adding that one had “open arms and one leg in front of the other”—a description that does not correspond with the two bronzes now displayed in Reggio Calabria. Furthermore, sonar inspections by researchers on a US ship in 2004 indicate there could be further substantial metallic objects near the site of the original discovery.

Braghò and Trifoli have assembled a ten-person scientific committee led by the leading underwater archaeologist Luigi Fozzati to conduct a fresh investigation of the site. Excavations are planned to take place before next summer in three phases, lasting at least nine weeks in total. They will focus on the locations where the US researchers detected metallic objects, an extended area surrounding the site of a 1973 excavation by archaeologist Nino Lamboglia, and an underwater medieval archaeological site. “One theory is that a ship carrying the bronzes sank in the 1500s rather than in the Roman era, so we want to check whether that could be true,” Braghò says. The project is expected to cost more than €350,000.

Trifoli also hopes to create a multimedia museum in Riace devoted to the 1972 discovery. Though the original statues remain in Reggio Calabria, the new museum would display 3D images of the bronzes in “stunning” detail, he tells The Art Newspaper. With an initial budget of around €500,000, it could be housed in a building near the coast that was recently confiscated from the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia. The mayor says he is also in talks to establish a school of underwater archaeology at the venue with Fozzati’s support.

Further proposals for the anniversary include a literature prize, a new statue marking the point where the Greek artefacts were found, and two days of conferences with contributions from international archaeology and cultural heritage experts.

However, it is not yet clear how the town will foot the bill for its ambitious celebrations, which are estimated to cost €2.5m in total. Riace has requested financial support from the regional government of Calabria but may not receive a decision until after regional elections on 3-4 October, Trifoli says.

Despite the uncertainty, Braghò vows that Riace will secure alternative funding sources if necessary. “We have a lot of interest from private sponsors,” he says. “The bronzes are famous all over the world and many people would love to help us find another.” The Art Newspaper

Art Community Spotlight:

Debra Owen invites you to build your own community with the local art community. To view their website you can go to this address: Home – Prescott Arts Journey Don’t forget to check out their blog and offer to build you a webpage.

Holiday Gift Ideas

Every year the Art Store brings in some great art themed gifts for others. Some have been listed above. The holidays also mean that we have the best studio furniture there is. The Futura craft station has returned as well as the Best Lobo easel for your painting and drawing needs. Other easels for the desktop and free standing ones are available as well.

Best’s Deluxe Lobo Easel is an easel to accommodate the watercolorist, pastel artist, and oil painter. It tilts forward to reduce glare and prevent dusting, and backward to form a table for gessoing, watercolors, and varnishing. Its retractable mast extends upward to handle a 62″ canvas, and folds down to a compact 65″ height. The painting tray can be adjusted from vertical to horizontal in just seconds. A hinged, oak veneer plywood shelf beneath the frame provides storage for books or supplies. Top and bottom painting trays have rubber grips to hold a canvas securely. It’s made of hand-rubbed, oil-finished, solid red oak. Some assembly required.

Studio Designs Futura Craft Station

This stylish table has a 38″ W × 24″ D (97 cm × 61 cm) tempered safety glass top with a 24″ (61 cm) pencil ledge. The tabletop angle adjusts up to 35°.
Features include three molded plastic slide-out drawers for storage.
The table is constructed of heavy-gauge steel for durability and includes four floor levelers for added stability. It’s great for drafting, drawing, or crafting.
Assembly is required. Covered by a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty.

Time to blow our horn! 

We hope you all attended the 2nd annual plein air art festival hosted by the Highlands Center for Natural History. The Art Store was one of the big sponsors for this event. This Center is a wonderful asset to our community and their art classes as well as displays can be enjoyed by all.

Local Artist Spotlight

Joy Herhold recently had a lino cut print sale at the Raven Cafe. I hope you did not miss it. I believe some of her work is still on display for the rest of the month.

More of her creations can be seen at her website at Unique Paper Art | Prescott, AZ – Joy Herhold Art.

Gift Certificates are for sale already!

Don’t Forget that our gift certificates are in $25 increments. Any artist loves to receive our Art Bucks for the holidays.

These can be purchased through our website on the front page by clicking on the Salvador Dali image.