Amos, in Atlanta, with Printers!

Our friends at Ricoh International (we have friends EVERYWHERE!) graciously invited us to have Amos featured at the mega-conference, “PrintUnited” in Atlanta, in October. Amos’s work-of-many-colors was the perfect content to showcase Ricoh’s ability to print rich and vibrant color. As part of the effort, Ricoh donated $1 to us for everyone who visited their booth, and interviewed our Executive Director for their magazine “TMI”. The full article is below!

Press Release | Stay Alive, Make Art in Cincinnati! 2023

An immersive art experience exploring the connections between creativity, mental health, and substance use. Presented by the Amos Lemon Burkhart Foundation along with these generous partners:

Press Release

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Teens, Art & Mental Health: A Post-Pandemic Analysis.

For a reprint of this article, click here to download.

In 2021, over a quarter of U.S. parents reported their adolescent had seen a mental health specialist, according to a survey published this April by a University of Michigan children’s hospital (Mott, 2022). The CDC reported in 2019 that suicide was the second leading cause of death among children 10 to 14 - before the pandemic. The data has spurred the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association to declare a national adolescent and child mental health emergency (AAP, 2021).  

School counseling resources are strained (Barshay, 2020). Although more states and schools have been designated to receive federal relief funds to address the problem, creating programs on “mental health first aid” and other interventions, the scale of the problem demands additional resources from schools, families, and communities.

Some of the most effective tools already exist in almost every school - the art, music, drama, and media classrooms. Brains run on art! It’s time we recognized that the protective effects of the arts on mental health are a necessity, rather than a luxury. 

Students at a mental-health night sponsored by Kutztown University’s Health & Wellness department and a grant from S.A.M.S.H.A. in 2021.

Kids were already struggling, and the pandemic exacerbated the issues
The Center for Disease Control published the first national survey of pandemic mental well-being of high school students in March, 2022. It illuminates issues that have made the headlines and spotlights specific populations at greater risk. 

The 2019 report already indicated that, “Mental health and suicide ideation or actions among young people is a severe and growing problem in the United States. Poor mental health is associated with a host of health risks, both during adolescence and into adulthood. It can lead to risky sexual behavior, illicit substance use, unintended pregnancy, school absence and dropout, and other potentially life-long health problems.”

The 2022 study showed that the pandemic has “created additional traumatic stressors that have the potential to further erode students’ mental wellbeing.” More than half of the students in the post-pandemic study (55%) reported they experienced emotional abuse by a parent or other adult in the home, including swearing, insults, or put-downs, and 11% experienced actual physical abuse. Over a quarter (29%) reported job loss by an adult in their home. 

A question left in the “Q and A” section of a 2022 exhibit at the Richmond Art Museum.

Girls and LGBTQ youth reported greater levels of poor mental health; emotional abuse by a parent or caregiver; and having attempted suicide than their counterparts. A large proportion of Asian students (64%) and Black or mixed-race students (both 55%) reported experiencing instances of racism, which is linked to poor mental health, academic performance, and lifelong health risk behaviors. It is shocking that the number of black students who reported a suicide attempt in 2019 increased by almost 50% - even before the pandemic.

On the protective factor side, students with a sense of being cared for and supported at school were significantly less likely to report feelings of sadness, thoughts of attempting suicide, or actually attempting suicide, than those who did not feel connected to school. Unfortunately, less than half (47%) of youth reported feeling close to people at school during the pandemic.

Students talking face-to-face in the “hangout” area of our interactive exhibit at the Goggleworks Center for the Arts.

Schools lack the resources to address mental health
In the 2018-19 school year, there were roughly 425 students for every school counselor, which exceeds the American School Counselor Association’s recommended ratio of 250 to 1. Twenty-three percent of students attended schools with no psychologists and 53% attended schools with no social workers. (Barshay). Data also shows that the situation worsened over the pandemic and the “great resignation” as more education workers left the system, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting a 3% drop in the school workforce between February 2020 and May 2022.

To pick up the slack, classroom teachers have been urged to incorporate aspects of Social-Emotional-Learning (SEL) into their curriculum (Durlak, 2011). But crowded class sizes and mandated content defined by state testing standards don’t make it easy to focus holistically on students’ emotional wellbeing. During pandemic lockdowns, teachers struggled mightily to create personal connections to students learning online. Delivering hands-on lessons in art and music were especially challenging. On the positive side, parents thrown into home-schooling created a huge surge in art supply sales, as everyone recognized the value in “non-screen time” and people gravitated to what brought some peace and happiness (McCann, 2021).

Efficacy of arts programs as a protective factor

In the realm of social and emotional health, there are protective factors that contribute to a child’s well-being, and risk factors that interfere with health. Protective factors help insulate kids from poor choices and make them more resilient, or better able to withstand internal and environmental stressors (Palmer eta l, 2022). Of course, trying to intervene before a crisis is preferable (and more cost-effective) than repairing one afterward.

A review of studies exploring the effects of creative activities on the health and wellbeing of children and young people identified benefits like “increased self-esteem, a sense of achievement and empowerment, improved social skills and promotion of social engagement” (Zarobe, 2017). The analysis found additional positive protective factors including greater happiness, increased self-confidence, closer relationships, and appreciation for working in a team.

A 2018 review of twenty separate studies on the arts and mental health reports “non-clinical engagement in arts, culture and creative activities can increase mental health wellbeing of individuals who are experiencing mental health problems” (Jensen, 2018).  The activities measured ranged from hands-on arts or crafts, to singing, dancing, hearing stories or listening to music, and included patients suffering from chronic pain, cancer, and other diseases, as well as health care workers and patients reporting other stressors. 

The review reported  health impacts including, “Subjective feelings of increased self-confidence and wellbeing, being part of a community, building new social relationships, participating in meaningful activities, creating a connection between body and mind, promoting relaxation, fostering a sense of hope and developing new coping mechanisms and experiencing increased sense of self-worth, motivation and aspiration and decreased levels of depression.” 

Middle School student creating a work about “Stressors and Strengths”at an in-school workshop in May 2022.

An additional study compared the use and non-use of an art intervention in different units of the hospital (Staricoff 68). The groups experiencing art programs had a measurable improvement in clinical outcomes, including better vital signs, diminished stress-associated cortisol, and needed less sleep medication.

These studies were conducted among hospital patients – but what about kids? A randomized, controlled study of over 10,000 third- through-eight-graders in Houston showed arts programs had significant positive impacts on student academic and social success. Specific data included a 3.6 percentage point reduction in students receiving disciplinary infractions, and a slight increase in students’ standardized writing test scores. Three subgroups showed even more pronounced effects: Elementary age students, those with limited English proficiency, and those designated as gifted or talented showed significant improvement in school engagement, empathy and college aspiration (Bowen, 2019)

A middle school group reflecting on the ways creativity, addiction, and mental illness have touched their lives.

Trauma-informed approaches, including those that integrate the arts, recognize the signs of trauma, incorporate understandings of trauma into practices
and seek to prevent re-traumatization (SAMSHA, 2014). Art experiences build resiliency by giving students a way to process their emotions from disaster and trauma and begin to heal (Dev Services Group, 2016).

The arts include nonverbal, individualized SEL skills such as developing emotional regulation, and improving personal aspirations and compassion for others. The more traumatized the student is, the more healing the effects can be.

Longitudinal research of student outcomes has consistently suggested that both at-risk and not-at-risk students involved in arts education outperform their non-arts peers on a host of educational, social, and behavioral outcomes, even when controlling for other demographics. (Catterall et al, 2012), 

And the results of school-based arts education experiences in childhood are lasting. Having even one formal arts class in school is associated with later adult arts engagement as creator, performer, patron, or donor/financial supporter (Elpus, 2015).

A burning need for wrap-around programs 

Arts programs are historically “on the chopping block” when budgets shrink. Although about 82% of all high schools in the nation offered at least one course in one or more of the four major arts disciplines, a 2019 survey reports that only about 37% of eight graders reported taking an arts class. “Academic track” college-bound students often find arts electives are squeezed out of their schedules, whereas students in technical programs may not have any electives at all, and under-performing students may be steered to test-preparation or remedial courses to pass state standards. In short, it can’t be assumed that every student gets to enjoy the mental-health boost of an art, music or theater class during school hours (Von Zastrow, 2019).

Parents, volunteers, community nonprofits and grant-making organizations are resources that can collaborate with schools to provide cost-effective programs. Many schools already have artists-in-residence or other programs that only reach students in art classes, but creating or finding arts-related programming to support mental health can energize not only students, but frazzled faculty and staff. Imagine harnessing the same community spirit that rallies around physical health programs like sports teams and physical fitness programs, and devoting a fraction of it to mental health.

This simple recommendation from the CDC could apply to arts-based programs: “Schools, families, and communities can work together to provide more intentional messages, skills, and mental health support for adolescents so that encouraging trends can continue and troubling trends can be reversed.” Using the arts to deliver these messages can lead not only to fun and memorable experiences for “arty” kids, but to overall well-being for the entire school community.

Jonathan Mermin, M.D., director of the CDC’s Center for monitoring and addressing school-based health, says it well, “The data tells us what works. So, what will it take for our schools and communities to help youth withstand the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond?” Let’s paint a brighter picture for kids.

References

AAP News, (2021). “AAP, AACAP, CHA declare national emergency in children’s mental health,”

American Academy of Pediatrics News, October 19, 2021. https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/17718

Barshay, J. (2020) “Lowest student-to-school-counselor ratio since 1986.” The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/lowest-student-to-school-counselor-ratio-since-1986/ April 27, 2020 

Bowen, D.H, and Kisida, B. “Investigating Causal Effect of Arts Education Experiences: Experimental Evidence From Houston’s Arts Access Initiative,” Houston Education Research Consortium 7, no. 4 (2019): 1-28.

Catterall, J. S. (2012) The arts and achievement in at-risk youth: findings from four longitudinal studies / NEA Research Report #5 

Center for Disease Control. (2019) The Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2009–2019. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH). 

Development Services Group, Inc. 2016. “Arts-Based Programs and Arts Therapies for At-Risk, Justice-Involved, and Traumatized Youths.” Literature review. Washington, D.C.: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. https://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/litreviews/Arts-Based-Programs-for-Youth.pdf    

Durlak, J.A., Weissberg, R.P., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., & Schellinger, K.B. (2011). “The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions.” Child Development, 82, pp.405-432. 

Elpus, K. (2015) “Arts Education as an Investment in Lifelong Arts Participation”, N.E.A. Arts.gov working paper. https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Research-Art-Works-Maryland3.pdf

Jensen A, and Bonde, L.O. (2018) “The use of arts interventions for mental health and wellbeing in health settings.” Perspectives in Public Health. 2018 Jul;138(4):209-214. doi: 10.1177/1757913918772602. Epub 2018 Apr 30. Erratum in: Perspectives in Public Health. 2018 Sep;138(5):288. PMID: 29708025.

McCann, M. (2021) “Retailers are betting on the crafting boom to continue into 2021.” Modern Retail.com, May 10, 2021 

Mott Poll Reports (2022) C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Parent views on addressing mental health concerns in adolescents. Mott Poll Reports March 21, 2022. Volume 40, Issue 4. https://mottpoll.org/reports/parent-views-addressing-mental-health-concerns-adolescents

Palmer, C., Wisniewski, S and Danforth, J. “Prevention and Social-Emotional Learning”. The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Prevention Solutions, Webinar, June 22, 2022.

Stuckey, H.L. and Nobel, J. (2010) The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature. American Journal of Public Health.
2010;100:254–263. doi:10.2105/AJPH. 2008.156497)

Staricoff, R.L. Arts in health: a review of the medical literature. Available at: www.thesah.org/doc/music%20and%20science.pdf. Accessed July 5, 2022.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014.

Von Zastrow, C. (2019) “New Data on Who is Taking Arts Classes.” EdNotes.org (blog). Education Consortium of the States. November 11, 2019. https://ednote.ecs.org/new-data-who-is-taking-art-classes/

Zarobe L, and Bungay H. (2017) “The role of arts activities in developing resilience and mental wellbeing in children and young people: a rapid review of the literature.” Perspectives in Public Health. 2017 Nov;137(6):337-347. doi: 10.1177/1757913917712283. Epub 2017 Jun 14. PMID: 28613107.

“Thank you for believing in me.” Meet our 2022 Scholarship winners!

Jillian Michel and Isabella Reinoso-Velez are this year’s “Artistic Promise” ALBF Scholarship Winners from Governor Mifflin High School. Let’s meet them!

Ann and Jillian after the Governor Mifflin Awards Ceremony. No, Ann is not pregnant lol.

Name: Jillian Michel

High School: Governor Mifflin

Favorite Class: It was definitely my AP art class. It was by far the most fun, albeit stressful class.

Artistic style: I would say my artwork borders on the surrealist side, I enjoy darker works of art and art of things I find interesting, like incorporating skeletons.  I like to put some of my personal struggles or feelings into my works to better understand them myself in a visual aspect.

What are your college plans? I plan to attend Montserrat College of Art, majoring in painting and minoring in art history and curatorial studies.

What helps you stay sane? Art definitely helps keep me sane, art has been an outlet to get out my frustrations and stress.  I also write - I have written some poetry - or I work on my personal writing projects, which at the moment is a story-based video game.

What did receiving the ALBF Scholarship mean to you? Receiving this scholarship really meant a lot not only to me but to my family.  I’m the only art student in my family of mostly STEM careers, and being recognized for the scholarship also just was a show that I’ve worked hard to get where I am and I was able to make it.  The money will definitely help with the costs for college and I am eternally grateful for it!

Name: Isabella Reinoso

High School: Governor Mifflin

Favorite Class: Art

What are your college plans? I plan to go to RACC and then transfer to Kutztown

What helps you stay sane? Knowing that nothing is permanent and I control my life, no one else does.

What did receiving the ALBF Scholarship mean to you? The scholarship made me realize that I shouldn’t give up on my passions and that even though I didn’t believe in myself, someone else does, it gave me motivation to keep pursuing art.

Just one of the heart-stopping questions left behind by high school students on our Q & A Wall in the Richmond Art Museum.

“I want you to know that looking at the art made by Amos made me feel understood and unalone.” “The design and construction of the exhibit are world-class.” “I have heard beautiful feedback from students today - all day! It was reviving.” “Having a story like Amos’s made it hit close because he was so young like us.” These are just a few of thousands of responses about the exhibit from students, teachers and visitors at the Richmond Art Museum.

Even more powerful was a yellow sticky note left on the “Ask your own questions,” section of the wall: “How Can I Tell My Mom I Want to Kill Myself?”

The Amos Lemon Burkhart retrospective exhibit, You Miss 90% of the Shots You Don’t Take, was on view from February12th to April at the Richmond Art Museum in Richmond, Indiana. Why there? RAM is the only municipal art museum in the United States that is attached to a high school. The exhibit was experienced by over 2,400 teenagers - undoubtedly the largest number of teens to see one show in the museum’s 150-year history. 

The exhibit was supported by a $10,000 grant from the local hospital foundation, Reid Community Benefit to train and pay docents. They facilitated visits from every secondary language arts class in the school district, along with groups of art educators, behavioral health providers, the County Drug Prevention task force, and Scout groups, as well as families and friends of the high school students on repeat visits. The topics of addiction and mental health are especially relevant in this small town in the heart of the midwestern “Opioid Belt”.

RAM Education Director, Lance Crow, said, “This exhibit made us re-think everything we do in regards to community involvement. It changed the way we think about what art can do, and how we can create a more participatory experience with new audiences.” 

 “The students who usually are the least engaged with art were the ones most affected by Amos’s story,” reported RHS principal, Ray Woolpy. “I literally had students stopping me in the hallway to thank me for this experience.”

Carmen Hardwick, an RHS student, wrote,  “I think that through this everyone will learn how others feel or why they do what they do. Putting feeling and emotion in art is hard to do but when it happens it can never be forgotten. A lot of us feel less alone because you let us see {Amos}.” 

And the experience did not end when the exhibit came down. Earlham College intern Kate Wallace collated the colorful data from the Chromatic Data installation, and written responses from the Reflection Obelisk, to outline actionable Social-Emotional Learning tasks for the school system. The “Stressors” and “Supports” artwork collectively provide a snapshot of the issues students face, and support systems that are working, at any given time. Less quantifiable, but perhaps more powerful, are the snippets of writing and drawing added to the “What’s On Your Mind?” community mural throughout the exhibition.

“Dear Parents of Amos, This exhibit was an amazing experience. Most of the time that kids have to go to art museums, it’s super boring to most of them and everyone just goofs off. I feel like having a story like Amos’s made it hit close because he was so young like us. I also loved the hands on part because I feel like you could either blow off steam about something or you could make a piece of art and really express yourself. Thank you for the opportunity.” (RHS student)

The recently renovated Beaux-Arts galleries presented the work with beautiful lighting and thoughtful curatorial decisions by museum Director Dingeworth. In the separate interactive gallery, the 15 different “stations” held up to teenage hands - although the popular “Wheel of Destiny” occasionally needed loose screws tightened. Richard McCoy, Executive Director of Landmark Columbus Foundation, commented, “The construction and content of the exhibit are as good as anything I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been in the museum business for 30 years. Kudos to you for an important exhibit on important topics.”

The exhibit came back home for some slight adjustments by our resident master cabinetmaker, and will be heading back to the midwest in September for two months in Cincinnati.

A Dramatically Fantastical Gala!

Our first ever fundraiser on November 6, 2021 was an unequivocal success, to wit:

• people had FUN
• AMAZINGLY talented and generous artists donated 89 inspiring works to our Auction
• FANTASTICALLY smart and big-hearted sponsors made it possible to donate 100% of the auction proceeds ($55,000) to our three scholarships benefitting young artists
• GROSS donations totaled just over $100,000; minus expenses, we netted over $80,000. We are banking funds for the upcoming capitol campaign to open our Mohnton, PA Gallery and Community Center as well as a major strategic planing initiative in 2022.

Some highlights of the evening were the beautiful objects d’art on display, our colorful signature non-alcoholic cocktails, live art being created by Joey and Michael Strain, on-demand caricatures by illustrator John Gurney, a “Balloon Pop” prize game and the first sale of an original Amos Lemon figure drawing.

Dane presents a check for $20,000 to new Caron CEO Brad Sorte.

Another check goes to the Berks County Community Foundation for college scholarships for young artists. We look forward to more collaboration with great partners like Franki Aiken, BCCF fund manager.

Installing a mural in NY... in the snow... after Covid

On December 9th, after spending about three straight weeks on the couch with matching cases of Covid-19, we rallied our bones, donned our masks, and rallied some hard-working friends to help us install a vinyl-wrap mural at The Grey Dog in NYC. Our old pal Bill Tsapalas had the brilliant idea to create the Neighborhood Curbside Canvas project, pairing artists with restaurants in NYC to help brighten the streets by creating murals on the “streeteries” during Covid. To be true to the artist’s vision, we decided to use a super bright high-resolution vinyl wrap, printed by Justin Shenk at Business Link, which came out FANTASTIC. Justin and his gal Jules and kids, plus our super-focused hardworking intern, Gia Lisa, assisted Whirlwind Burkhart with the handily grommeted installation. A few hours of stretching, screwing, and stapling and the art was UP as the snow started coming DOWN. Check it out at 11th street and University Place in Amos’ beloved Greenwich Village and have a cup of cozy cocoa!

See the NYC Local News channel (Fox5) story about curbside canvas featuring the mural here.

Tried to make sure people could find the restaruant from the street side even if they were blinded by the dazzling artwork. Many passerby commented, “cool.”

Luckily most of the crew were working so hard they hardly got cold. Except me - I was freezing.

Wrapping the interior shelf space of the barricade with a hodgepodge collage of art.

Dane shows me how to screw up a banner.

Classic West Village street fashionista (who matched the mural) was nice enough to pose, after she stopped to see what was going on.

New Kid on the Block

Congratulations to Morgan Lease, the Governor Mifflin Amos Lemon Burkhart Art Scholarship winner from the (“Hero”) Class of 2020. Morgan is going to begin her studies at Reading Area Community College. Her subject matter is people, and her line work is extraordinary. We look forward to seeing how her artistic journey progresses. Congratulations, Morgan!

Self Portrait by Morgan Lease 2020

Artists of that ilk

As we banged the last nails into the wall and composed the last grouping of art, we stood back, patted ourselves on the back, and collapsed in a heap on the gallery benches. Well, I did, anyway. We packed the giant blob of bubblewrap into the van and headed home, and on the road my phone bleeped with the new announcement - the University (and gallery) will be closed for an extra week. It then extended to another week, then another, then the entire semester. The opening was cancelled. The show stayed up.

Instead of a tragedy, as creative people around the world reacted by pivoting international exhibitions and Art Fairs, art teachers figured out how t teach via Zoom, and artists cooped up in quarantine buckled down and boosted their productivity, we decided to focus on the opportunity. The 10 artists in the show were from across the US and probably could not have come to the show in person, but they all could participate in a webinar-style gallery talk. Instead of a live opening, filming the show while it was hanging showcased how great the work looked individually and in groups. Curating everything virtually let man more people see it than might have wandered into the gallery.

Read about the show and see the work here.

The First Ever Sharadin Creative Royale

On November 14th, Kutztown University’s Health and Wellness department sponsored the first ever Creative Royale, suported by a “Communities Talk” grant from SAMSHA and the Amos Lemon Burkhart Foundation. Over 70 student artists participated in a short guided meditation to discover their own personal prompt (a favorite color, something that makes them happy, and a current feeling they can identify). Each artist had two hours to create artwork from their prompt and hang it on the wall. They learned 4 tools for supporting mental health: Community, Mindfulness, Gratitude and Emotional Awareness. During the event, mental health and substance abuse screenings were available. Each student received a personalized kit of art supplies including a blank canvas, brushes and paint (and a “STAY ALIVE / MAKE ART” sticker). Art supplies were donated in part by Blick Allentown and the KU Bookstore. Celebrity judges (Anne Marie Hayes-Hawkinson of the KU Arts Society, Karen Stanford, Director of the Marlin and Regina Miller Gallery, and Rhonda Wall, artist and Professor Emeritus) presented the following awards:

Best in show: Courtney Houseknecht
Artist’s Choice: Joey Strain (selected by votes from participating artists)
Blick Technical Ability: Angie Nguyen & Nick Rogers
Amos Lemon Burkhart Award: Maddie Zeman (selected by Dane Burkhart)
CD / Best Concept: Emi Neiberlin
#Teamfunky award: Sydney Burghese (selected by the Corez-Funk family)
Essence Literary and Fine Arts Magazine Award: Lee Pemberton (selected by Kate Clair, Essence Magazine advisor)
Miller Gallery Award: Jake Geiger
Innovative Printmaking Award : Erin McCormick (selected by Leslie Friedman)
Caricature Awards: Belen Jurado & Josh Ristovski (selected by Kevin McCloskey and John Gurney)

“I’m graduating in three weeks and this is the first time I’ve gotten to paint since I came to KU,” said Omair Ali, KUCD ‘19. “It was really great just to relax and make something for my family.”

“This was a great stress reliever” said Morgan Nadin. “We should do it every semester.”

For more information contact Frances Cortez Funk at Kutztown University.

2019 ALBF Scholarship Winners

Congratulations to the two ALBF SCholarship winners from Governor Mifflin High School.

Kylie (Talis) Boltz (on the right) will be attending Kutztown University as a B.F.A. Applied Digital Arts major. She will be majoring in Applied Digital Arts and is interested in concept art and character design. She was awarded $2500 .

Sydney McIntyre (on left) is undecided about her college choice. She was awarded $1000 .

Awards are administered by the Berks County Communicty Foundation via an endowed fund. Students are chosen by the Governor Mifflin senior high art teachers as exhibiting “great artistic promise.”

c Talis Boltz: 1 Hour Illustration: Seedless

2018 ALBF Scholarship Winners

Michael Joseph Strain was awarded the inaugral ALB Foundation scholarship. He is a 2018 graduate of Governor Mifflin High School and will be attending Kutztown University as a Communication Design major. He was identified as exbhiting “great artistic promise” by the art teachers at Governor Mifflin High School.

Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts will be awarding annual scholarships from their endowed ALB Foundation fund. We will follow the individual artists as information is available.

Michael Strain: “Vacuum of Teeth and Dreams” (purchased at the Charlotte Kohl Art Show to benefit Mifflin Art Alumni).

Preservation and Documentation #2: Photographing the work

Ever try to photograph your own artwork? Seems easy. Isn’t. There are a million blogs, how-tos, YouTube videos etc. etc. online, but the task is onerous. Amos and I certainly tried our best when he was photographing work for college applcations. We did the lay-it-all-on-the-ground-on-a-sunny-day shoot (not bad, the lighting at least was perfectly even - too bad I can’t focus a camera), the “use an old copy stand” or “downshooter” as some people call it (not nearly big enough / high enough away from the larger pieces), the buy-two-lights-at-Lowes-and-set-up-a-studio-in-the-garage-with-a-tripod shoot (good enough to get into CalArts but still not perfect), but when it was time to create high-resolution, good enough for galleries, images, I gave up and called in the experts.

I remembered that Nick Stover, a former student of mine, had phenomenally crisp portfolio images he aquired from a super-secret-resource. Turns out the secret sauce was Simone Associates , a full-service studio in Lebanon, PA, that has an exceptional setup for food, fashion and still life work, and who were absolutely familiar with the constraints of shooting flat artwork. After photographer Pammi Schaeffer and I met, dried our eyes (she’s a mom) and took a long look at the work, we set up a fairly efficient system with the help of Paige McClatchie, our excellent ALBF intern, and Joey Strain, one of Amos’s best art friends, willing to lend a hand / arm / shoulder. Paige and Joey swapped out each piece and we shot from largest to smallest, with Pammi carefully focusing and lighting each piece to bring out the smallest details and textures like gold ink, impasto paint surfaces, transparent overpainting, and delicate linework. The results are so gratifying - to finally be able to zoom in and read all the tiny comments and intricate details on the paintings in absolute crisp focus. We narrowed the selection down to 64 works, and got them in camera in digital form by about 2 pm. These will be great resources for the website, first show, researchers and catalog. I highly reccommend not struggling with this task on your own if you can possibly afford a pro.

Pammi at the Simone Associates studio bouncing light onto a painting.

Pammi and Paige putting their heads together on color accuracy.

Preservation and Documentation #1: Securing the Ouevre

Ann Lemon

The first task of an artist’s estate is locating and preserving the existing work. After Lemon’s tragic death, family and friends helped to collect all available work with the idea of having the first public viewing of the totality of his output at his memorial service.

The result was overwhelming. Hundreds of images filled the sanctuary of Immanuel UCC, the church where Amos was baptized, attended nursery and Sunday school, and was confirmed as a teen. The sheer visual intensity of the volume and quality of work surprised us all. His art teachers had only seen the work in class; his friends had seen his sketchbooks - almost no one had seen many of the paintings in “his” studio in the barn at our home, or the recent works on paper created while in treatment and on the road in his brief period of homelessness.

For the first time, as work was unearthed, we began to group like images together. The result was a gradual realization of the way his work progressed through distinct phases, each one building on the previous phase.

Lemon continuously, restlessly experimented, generating a large volume of drawings and sketchbooks, then academic figure drawings, then his ultimate stylistic invention - the intensely colored pieces he called “zoetropes” where figurative underlying space is overlaid with multiple, intertwining “animations”. He photographed many of these miniature motion studies and animated them as .gifs on Tumblr and Instagram.

As his work was progressing, his mental health was deteriorating. The struggle, told by the work. as this young visionary tried to express and understand his interior world, is intensely moving.

A ceaseless observer of the quirks and oddities of the human race, Lemon’s wit, humor, and despair are all on display - if you look closely enough. 

I See You

Amos Lemon Burkhart
College application essay

 As I walked in the front door of Joey’s music shed, I was greeted by Anna. She waved her arms in the air and shouted “Hey!” over the sound of the distorted guitar rhythm. I had only ever had a few conversations with Anna. I had never been to a party before. Jack was the singer from “Cult Status”, a garage band put together by Joey. He was in charge of invitations. Me and Anna danced a little, the band finished their set, and things mellowed down a bit. I sat down on the ground next to a ratty old mattress. I was comforted to see Logan, and old friend from sunday school. He was getting cigarette ashes on his shirt. Jack came over to me and offered a poorly rolled joint. I said no. I asked if Annadore was coming. He said he didn't think so. He said he wished she were there, he said she would like me. Jack and Annadore had been a couple. Most of the school probably thought they were still together. I had talked to Annadore in study hall a few times. Jack encouraged me to take things further, I didn't quite understand why he was doing this, but my life had been so lonely for so long, I needed someone.I look back on that night as when my life really got started. As I transitioned out of childhood, I sank into a steady period of anxious isolation. I was halfway part of a lot of the groups at school, but I didn't feel like I belonged in any. So I kept to myself until Junior year. I experienced everything I had missed out on in so little time. I got a car, I had sex, I tried drugs, I put makeup on, I went new places and did new things. It felt like a new planet, and Annadore was at the center. I loved her. She was crazy and too much to handle and I loved her.

 She was a world of worry and ecstacy. I did everything I could to try and help her, it never worked. After all, I had nothing else to do.

We made plans to run away, they didn't work out, we tried to break up lots of times, our parents wanted us separated. We tried being friends, that didn't work, so we tried being friendly, that didn't work. We were done for good. Everything after that I can't seem to make sense of. I knew we hadn’t been good for each other, but nothing else seemed to measure up. I became best friends with Anna, I could never figure her out. What I did figure out was that marijuana turned my feelings off. Anna and I and some other ne’er-do-wells smoked and tripped and drove around in search of a good time. I tried and tried to feel like I did before, I found a girl named Aurora, and I liked her, but she didn't need to be taken care of and that was all I knew how to do. Senior year came, I got accepted into college, I got tired of my parents, I moved out, I spent lots of time with Aurora, Anna and I tried lots of new chemicals, things still didn't feel right.     
    A few weeks later I attempted suicide. My therapist says I did it to create my own chaos. The past year has been hard, but different. I’m developing a sense of direction in life, though it’s still unclear. Art helps me try to make sense of it all, and I get lots of inspiration from my past. I feel as though I’m ready for whatever happens next, I’m excited to do whatever I end up doing.

Still from Together, 2016 Multimedia animation