The "Artists You May Not Know! - Part I" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Trying to anticipate how much wall space my wife and I may have when we finally make a move to an apartment or a condo in a local retirement community.  The amount of wall space will determine how many pieces of artwork we will be able to bring with us from our present home in Manheim Township.  We now have close to 100 pieces of art displayed in our home and know we will be limited in the amount of those pieces of art we will be able to take with us when we move.  Some pieces I plan to sell such as a few of my Wallace Nutting photographs and perhaps a few Ansel Adams photographs.  A room full of posters from the New Jersey Shore will also find new homes as well as one or two very large original pastels we have purchased on trips to exotic locations.  Going to be tough to decide what should be sold/given away and what we will keep for our new home.  One such painting that I must make a decision about was given to me in 1971 by one of my students whom I had in my Graphic Arts class at Manheim Township High School.  Mike Kiehl was a great young man whom had quite a bit of artistic talent and entered the National Scholastic Arts competition with a few of his art class acrylic paintings.  

Painting I have from Mike Kiehl

I would stop to watch him paint from time to time when he had his art class and I had some free time in my teaching schedule.  Well, when his artwork was returned to him after the competition had ended in the 1971 Scholastic Art competition, he gave me one of his acrylic paintings I had watched him paint.  Told me he wanted me to have it as a reminder of him being in my class for two years.  It has been on my wall since 1971.  That's over 50 years now and I will have a tough decision when I have to find wall space in our new home.  I will not sell it, but if I can't find space in our new home, I may perhaps donate it to Manheim Township High School so they can place it somewhere in the school for display.  Mike's painting in not the only painting that I must make a decision on, but is certainly the most personal painting I must decide about.  I also thought I might offer it to the retirement community where we will be moving to so they can hang it in one of the halls of the place.  I do feel bad that I might not have room for it and must keep some of the more valuable pieces, but feel I can find a good home for it.  I have lost track of Mike since he graduated from High School in 1971, but I'm sure he still remembers the painting he gave to me back then.  I will make sure that it has a good home one way or another.  Now, for the next piece of art that I may not have room for...check out my story tomorrow.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.