Thought Required

A few posts ago I wrote about art that has a message.

(Okay, you could say that ALL art has a message - I wouldn't disagree!)

What I mean, though, is art created as commentary - Picasso's Guernica, for example, which expresses horror at a specific atrocity: the 1937 bombing of a Spanish town.

To tell the truth (and this is horrible too), we live in a world so full of atrocity and suffering that I might never have remembered the story of Guernica were it not for that unforgettable art work.

I think that was Picasso's intention.

So - who creates art to chronicle today's outrages?

One artist whose work speaks to me is Valerie Patterson. She lives in the North Country and paints watercolor in a style both luminous and crisp. Her realistic imagery jolts the mind in a way that requires thought.

Take a look - see what YOU think.