Happy Thanksgiving in a 21st century remake of Norman Rockwell’s ‘Freedom from want’

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

Ernest Disney-Britton

Maggie Meiners asked her friends, a gay, married couple, to pose for her recreation of Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom From Want.” “I want to expand dialogue,” she said.CreditMaggie Meiners/Anne Loucks Gallery

Seventy-five years after the 1943 release of Norman Rockwell’s four images — Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom From Want, Freedom From Fear, artists are still doing updates of the American idea. In 2012, black artist Hank Willis Thomas enlisted photographer Emily Shur to shoot several images that reimagined Mr. Rockwell’s “Freedom From Want.” That’s what led Maggie Meiners, an artist from suburban Chicago, to create a series of her own. Ms. Meiners, recreated the photograph with two married, gay friends serving their guests. On this Thanksgiving 2018, we are grateful for images of a more accurate, complete picture of the American idea. [link]

Happy Thanksgiving! Art by Joseph Griffith

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

Joseph Griffith's "The First Thanksgiving" (2013)

Virginia-based artist Joseph Griffith is consumed by the act of methodically blending the strange, the contemporary, and religious references into displays of visual delight. Drawing upon the influence of masters like Van Eyck, Trumbull, and Van der Helst, the inspired works of Joseph Griffith are also derived from his odd dreams. His work has been described as postmodern, surreal, and lowbrow. His painting "The First Thanksgiving" is dramatic contrast to traditionalist “The First Thanksgiving 1621,” by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. We think you will agree that it's different from most all Thanksgiving paintings! His studio is lined with his original Nintendo collection, various fossils, arcade machines, and inspirational art from other artists.

Fabio D’Aroma and other artists to watch for #Thanksgiving

ARTNET NEWS

Fabio D’Aroma, Thrice King (2016). Courtesy of BC Gallery.

Thanksgiving—you either love it or you hate it. Some of us choose to spend it with our families, some with friends, some with strangers, and for others it’s just another day on the calendar. One thing we can all agree, whether you’re observant or not, is that food itself becomes a major player during the holiday season. In our continued effort to highlight up-and-coming artists you might not have heard of, we’ve gathered a list of some very appetizing still lifes for you to consider adding to your walls. There’s something to suit every taste, because sometimes traditional Thanksgiving fare isn’t enough. [link]

Happy Thanksgiving 2015 remembering Norman Rockwell's "Golden Rule"

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Greg & Ernest Disney-Britton

Norman Rockwell’s "Golden Rule"

On Thanksgiving, many picture Norman Rockwell's "Freedom from Want" (1943) from his series The Four Freedoms, and that's a very solid choice. Our choice however is Rockwell’s “Golden Rule” (1961), where the artist shows a group of people of different religions, races and ethnicity as the backdrop for the inscription “Do Unto Other as You Would Have Them Do Unto You.” Rockwell said, "The thing is that all major religions have the Golden Rule in Common. 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' Not always the same words but the same meaning." In that same spirit, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving reflecting on the Golden Rule.

Arts of Thanksgiving Transcends Cultures, Religions for 600 in Cleveland

JEWISH WEEK
By Jacqueline Mitchell

CJN / BOB JACOB

OHIO---Representatives of almost every faith group and culture in Northeast Ohio gathered in one room to celebrate Nov. 24 at B’nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike. About 600 people attended the synagogue’s fourth annual arts of thanksgiving, an inter-religious and multicultural celebration sponsored by a coalition of religious and cultural institutions. Artists and vendors spread out across the Gross Atrium displaying religious and cultural art. Attendees could participate in a drum circle or have their hands painted with traditional Indian and Arabic henna. Gross Schechter Day School in Pepper Pike hosted a dreamcatcher art project, and the Persian Unity Center translated names into Farsi. [link]

How Does Our Big, Multicultural Nation Say Grace Nowadays?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
By Meredith Goad

MAINE---How does our big, multicultural nation say grace nowadays? Let us count the ways. Families and friends all over Maine will gather around the table on Thanksgiving Day and say grace. With kids, it’s a lot about learning to be grateful Some will join hands, Norman Rockwell-style, and listen to the family patriarch say a Christian prayer. Others will skip the deity altogether and thank the turkey for its ultimate sacrifice. Or there may be a round robin of thanksgiving as each person at the table takes a turn counting blessings from the past year. “Too much of our life is scrubbed clean of the sacred,” said Dana Sawyer, a professor of philosophy and world religions at the Maine College of Art. “We’re drowning in materialism, not just in the consumer sense of that but in this idea that there is no metaphysical aspect to life, and I think people are kind of starved for the sacred.” [link]

It's a Turkey. It's a Menorah. It's Thanksgivukkah!

DAILY MAIL

It's a turkey. It's a menorah. It's Thanksgivukkah! An extremely rare convergence this year of Thanksgiving and the start of Hanukkah has created a frenzy of Talmudic proportions. There's the number crunching: The last time it happened was 1888, or at least the last time since Thanksgiving was declared a federal holiday by President Lincoln, and the next time may have Jews lighting their candles from spaceships 79,043 years from now, by one calculation. [link]

Paintings Created Hundreds of Years After 1st Thanksgiving Aren't Historically, Factually Accurate

STANDARD-EXAMINER
By Becky Cairns

“The First Thanksgiving 1621,” by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, includes some inaccuracies about the feast.

UTAH---If only there had been a camera at the First Thanksgiving. Many of our stereotypes about the feast and its attendees come from artists’ renderings of the event, painted long after the 1621 event was over, says a Brigham Young University historian. Take, for instance, a popular painting of the First Thanksgiving, done in 1915 by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris, an American painter. The art — like many pieces that portray this event — depicts the Indians wearing elaborate feathered headdresses common to tribes who lived on the Plains, not in Massachusetts. A modern painting of the First Thanksgiving would be more apt to feature both groups sitting at a table, the professor says, or both groups sitting together on the ground. The Pilgrims and Wampanoag enjoyed a cooperative relationship at the time, Pulsipher says — “not one people dominating over another.” [link]

Happy :Thanksgiving" 2011

"Thanksgiving"
John Currin (b. Colorado, 1962)
C. 2003, Ink and Gouache on Paper, 15" x 18"
Location: Sadies Cole, London, England and Gagosian, NYC

"Refugee Thanksgiving" by Norman Rockwell (1943)

"Refugee Thanksgiving"
Norman Rockwell (b. NYC, 1894)
C. 1943, Oil on canvas, (cover, Saturday Evening Post, Nov. 27)
Original: Lost (likely destroyed by Rockwell after printing)