In a first, Norman Rockwell Museum enlists illustrators to inspire voters

[bluescribbler]

STOCKBRIDGE — Lady Liberty isn’t holding a mere torch to light the way. In a new illustration inspired by the iconic statue, her raised, clenched fist is actually aflame.

And instead of a serene, 1,000-yard stare, artist Yuko Shimizu’s Lady Liberty stares up defiantly, through a crown’s silver spikes and Medusa-like shock of hair.

“DEFEND DEMOCRACY,” wording above her proclaims. “VOTE!”

Shimizu’s work soon will join the permanent collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum. But, right now, in a first for the Stockbridge center, her illustration, and five others also commissioned by the museum, will be offered as free downloads to be shared on social media as part of a voter-registration campaign.

More at link:

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/in-a-first-norman-rockwell-museum-enlists-illustrators-to-inspire-voters,614116?newsletter=614175&fbclid=IwAR2SK8dG5TDL2yndNrwzeAmVMGZZgVV8c9AIlOIDrX0WHO29gLZ5XUuYucc#top-carousel

[FM123]

1. Wonderful!

Years ago, I worked at a local museum in my county and we were thrilled to hold a Rockwell exhibition there. He was so much more than just the beautiful Saturday Evening Post covers he was so well known for, he was also a human rights activist as shown by his other artwork:

“The Problem We All Live With”, in which a 6-year-old Ruby Bridges and a team of U.S. Marshals walk past walls covered in thrown vegetables and racial slurs on their way to her first day of classes at an integrated school.

“Southern Justice”, published in 1965, was painted in response to the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi a year prior, and is one of Rockwell’s darkest and most striking pieces.

“New Kids in the Neighborhood”, published in 1967, uses black and white children to highlight the tensions of housing integration.

[crickets]

2. What a great idea.

Link to the museum page: https://vote.nrm.org/

All six of the images there are wonderful. Click them for background info on the artists.