This year for Christmas, the Continuum and its artists gave gift boxes to young artists, twelve to eighteen years old that demonstrate a passion and persistence in art of some kind. This year’s recipients, Cassie Cole (painter), Alex Porter (painter) and Hannah Tyson (illustrator and story teller) each received gift boxes in order to encourage them to continue and inspire them beyond what they’ve already accomplished.
The contents of each gift box included not supplies, but books, movies and music to inspire their future and broaden their perspective of what is possible in artistic media. I for one drew incessantly growing up, worked in pastels and charcoal and painted only to later find that poetry was my forte. Exposure is the key word in describing these gifts—exposure to good, creative and broadly categorized arts so that each might understand that imagination is what truly defines the artist; this so that they might not lose interest but engage the artistic endeavor as a lifelong pursuit.