Inspire your heart with art at your library

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When I was in grade school, my mother would take us to the local library and check out a different art print every month or so.  Her favorite artist was Robert Wood, an American landscape painter. However, my mother wanted her children to learn about many different styles of art and to know important artists.

Art can inspire and soothe or excite and motivate. Mom wanted us to learn what art says and how it can communicate different ideas. My sister carried on the tradition by having postcards from the Chicago Art Institute museum on her kitchen door and would talk with her children about the artists and their contribution to the art world. Her girls would pick their favorite and then she took them to the museum and hunted for that piece of art.

Inspire Your Heart with Art Day celebrates art and the effect it can have on your heart. Art is valued and appreciated for all sorts of reasons. Jasper County Public Library offers space in all three locations to recognize local artists with gallery space that changes every couple of months. We also have many art books featuring many different styles of art. Some books teach how to draw types of art and others delve into art history and still more look at specific artists.

Why not grab a book of art and try to draw a picture from it with your child? Unless you’re already an artist this might be a humorous time, but you can make art fun and your child can learn lots just by trying to imitate different artists.  Art for kids: comic strips: create your own comic strips from start to finish by Art Roche might be a great activity while keeping warm inside on a winter day. Or one of the books about drawing Manga might appeal to your tween or teen. When you have a book of art you may look at a piece and ask yourself: What is it telling me? How does it make me feel? What emotions is it evoking (if any) within me?

While the title of this day suggests you inspire "your" heart, I’m guessing you may use January 31st or any other day to inspire someone else's heart, whether that’s a picture of kittens on a calendar or framing a print that has special meaning to give to a loved one, or going through a book of artists with a child, that's perfectly okay.  Have fun celebrating Inspire Your Heart with Art Day on January 31st.