The adopter, J C (Craig) Lennon, writes:

I stumbled upon the FAAN site quite by accident. I can't remember just how I did, but it was probably late at night during one of my late night study or insomnia sessions. I began looking at all the wonderful artwork and became excited at the prospect of participating in this exciting project.

I am an art teacher in a middle school. I teach 2D art, drawing and painting, and I especially enjoy showing examples of work by current, contemporary (ALIVE) artists that help describe the elements and principles of art and design. It's not that I don't want to use our beloved masters, whether they be masters of the Renaissance or Modern Masters, but making the works more relevant to the students makes a big difference when it's not just a cheap poster of something that they only see in books. I want to introduce them to the possibility of a career in art and that real people are actually producing awesome artwork. The response has been extremely positive.

I saw the work by Randee Silv and immediately knew it would be great for a unit on works that have dominant elements of art. Randee's 349 Cornelia was perfect for the element, shape. I emailed Randee and described my idea and was delighted to hear back from her. I was excited to hear she was so willing to send her work to me to use in my teaching.

I have approximately 1100 students every year. I have used it for each quarter since it arrived so far and plan to bring it home for the summer weeks and proudly have it hang in my house. It will return with me back to my classroom when I return for the 2009-10 school. I have other artists examples from people I know or have met and am so glad to widen the network to include Randee's work. I should also mention, that I don't just bring any artwork home. Randee's is one of my very favorites.

Randee has been wonderful and I am so grateful. The response from the students is awesome and I love having parents comment on the work, always asking if it is something I have painted. I get to introduce Randee's work to them and this creates a dialogue that opens up all kinds of possibilites to talk about the elements, or the process, or technique and also to introduce them to the Fine Art Adoption Network. I now have a little sign with cards and the FAAN website. Parents are always interested. I'm hoping they'll contact others and who knows, maybe even buy something from the artists on the site.

Thanks for such a great opportunity for me and hopefully for all the generous artists who have donated their work.

Sincerely,

JC (Craig) Lennon
Quad Cities IA/IL
Moline, IL