World of Good Blogburst, Art Museum Style

So I get up this morning, make a cup of coffee and on my way to the computer I literally trip over this World of Good (WOG) entry. No kidding. It was so easy to find that Google had found it for me already, spit it out and left it lying on the floor in front of my chair. That's how easy it is to find the acts of kindness that are all around you.

Well, not really, but it did take me only about 30 seconds to find a really cool example of good deeds for this week's WOG.

My father is an artist. He wasn't always an artist. First he was a soldier. Then he was an Air Force pilot. Then he helped design aircraft. Then he worked with the space program. Now he's an artist. Everything he sets out to do in his life he does with thoroughness and preparation. He has been studying art now for 25 years and still takes classes regularly. His cityscapes and seascapes are marvellous. He even painted a picture featuring our Maximum Leader. Dig this.

A scene from a French village where school children are on a field trip. Note who is leading the way.

It's our Maximum Leader!
The photo doesn't do justice to the painting. I just snapped some right now to support this post and didn't take the painting off the wall or light it properly. (Sorry about that, Chief.)

So this morning, when I sat down to WOG, I went looking for acts of kindness in the art world. I found Beaux Arts. Beaux Arts is a charitable organization attached to the University of Miami and their Lowe Art Museum. If we lived in the Miami area, I'm sure my dad would participate in this. Here's what Beaux Arts does.

The purpose of Beaux Arts, Inc. is exclusively educational and charitable:

-To continue community outreach programs at the Lowe Art Museum
and introduce handicapped and underserved children to the cultural arts,
-To provide improvements, equipment, and financial assistance for exhibitions,
-To promote interest in the Museum of the University of Miami and
-To encourage a more thorough understanding and appreciation of the Arts

The Lowe museum has many Rennaissance paintings like this one from Cozzarelli.
Beaux Arts is a thriving group of philanthropists.

Beaux Arts was founded in the spring of 1952 by fifty members under the direction of Ann Atkinson, the assistant Director of the newly built Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery. The organization has grown to 100 active members and over 200 active associate members.

The first Festival of Art (formerly “Clothesline Sale”) was held in the spring of 1952 in order to give young artists a chance to meet the buying public. The Festival became an annual project and is now recognized as one of the leading art shows in Florida. The 2003 Festival netted nearly $100,000, with over 250 artists from all over the country, drawing crowds in excess of 150,000.

A painting of Yosemite by Bierstatd hanging at the Lowe Art Museum.
They have an annual art festival that is rated in the top 200 in the country. The next one will be this coming January. You can read more about it at this website. Beautiful art. A charitable organization. Miami in January. Do we need any more reasons to go?

In addition to other programs, Beaux Arts offers free art instruction and education to children through their Hands on! program.

Hands on! is Beaux Arts community outreach program designed to introduce area youths to the world of art.

The Hands on! program enables fourth and fifth grade students from four to five different Title 1 elementary schools to visit the Lowe Art Museum during the school year free of charge. In addition, Beaux Arts pays for the cost of bus transportation from the schools to the museum.

Volunteers help children with their artwork as a part of Hands on!
One last note. As I looked through their information one more time, I noticed that there was no mention or photos of the members of Beaux Arts. There were no wealthy men in tuxedos nor lovely women in gowns attending glittering charity balls. Just all the information one needed to participate in the program and some of the work produced by the children. For the people in Beaux Arts, their acts of kindness do all the talking.

Now this is what I call art!
As Mark Shea says when he links to these posts, "There's a World of Good out there." It's waiting for you to join in.

Images from Beaux Arts and the Lowe Art Museum used without permission.

What's a World of Good post and why do we do them? The answer is here.

For more good deeds, visit this week's Catholic Carnival.