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.

The inspiration, too, will come from seeing art that is not widely taught in school. The greats are truly great and though Caravaggio and Turner have in some way marked my own maturation and my sense of aesthetic, there is art happening today that will and should inform their own. It does not assume what is happening today is superior but nonetheless required to a complete education—extending the artistic tradition. These artists deal in subject, media and concepts that push boundaries; not for the sake of doing so, but in interesting ways demonstrating that beauty can be found in all things, even thrown ink and water, as is the case with photographer Shinichi Maruyama.

It is the Continuum’s hope that these gift boxes will bring encouragement to these young artists. Too often, the world about them—parents, teachers, ministers, peers and the endless influence of media—suggest that art is superfluous; that art is decoration and decadent, and certainly, it is not as essential as science and engineering or business administration or preaching in contribution and should therefore be simply a hobby if there happens to be enough time. There aren’t many voices suggesting otherwise, but the Continuum understands the value of mentorship—the older embracing the younger to impart passion along with knowledge and skill, and wishes to use these gift boxes to establish that type of relationship, and to impart the immeasurable value of things like Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue.

Each box was uniquely assembled. The contents from one to the next nevertheless are consistent enough that an example of one gives a good picture of them all. Inside a wooden plein air painter’s box with trays and compartments for their own supplies are the Nihonga painter Makoto Fujimura’s New York Works, photographer Shinichi Maruyama’s Kusho, poet laureates Kay Ryan’s Elephant Rocks and Richard Wilbur’s Things of this World, jazz artist Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and director Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke. Lastly and significantly, each box receives a personal letter to the artist.

We wish to broaden this project to include other young artists and are already considering ways to improve it possibly even by means of a young artist night where each artist is able to display and talk about their work at a Continuum event. We in the Continuum know that it will be young artists like these that will define culture in the years to come; we want to play a role in shaping it through them and others like them. We wish Cassie, Alex and Hannah good luck as they continue to engage their imagination and creative talents.