The Think Bottle Blog was created to gather great art, ideas, and inspiration into one place. I hope you get inspired to take a chance and dive into something of your own. Plus it’s a great place to interact with me on a daily basis. Cheers!
Brownstones to Red Dirt
Here's something that I think anyone concerned with kids, education, peace and justice throughout our planet and galaxy, should know about. David LaMattina and Chad Walker, two friends at Blue Sky Studios have created a feature length documentary about a pen-pal program between a group of at-risk sixth graders in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn and orphans in war-torn Freetown, Sierra Leone. As an off shoot to their film “BROWNSTONES to RED DIRT” which features children from both schools, the producers have created a Post Card Art project (see one of the postcards above) which they hope will inspire and ultimately harness the good energy and powerful dollars needed to build a new school and library for the children in Freetown.
The post card theme “pen pals” is drawn from the connection between the kids in Sierra Leone and Brooklyn who were introduced to each other through their participation in the International Pen Pal Program. Though they were worlds away geographically and politically they quickly understood that the cold hard ground they stood upon was the same.
To meet some of the children featured in the film and to learn more about their schools and the film and more importantly to see what inspired the film-makers please visit www.brownstonestoreddirt.com (go to heading “video” to see kid intros and a teaser)
These kids understand that to effect change requires nothing profound or technical, only compassion for a friend, perseverance in the face of difficulty and hope for the future. Changing the world is definitely NOT kid stuff but sometimes the kids are better at it than us big people, or maybe they just have more at stake.
I hope you enjoy!
DC
Your Comments
Your Comments
hi leslie,
sorry i didn’t respond sooner, i’m not checking my blog for comments regularly.
i do understand the frustration of doing what you love and hitting the roadblocks- believe me i’ve been there and i’ve experienced it in a personal way. i hope you don’t let those bumps in the road affect your work or outlook. that said, i also have to tell you that i can’t look at any msq because i am writing too and that limits any liability. still i try to be available as a resource when ever i can
so maybe i can help in some other way.
i really do hope you can continue to pursue your dream.
all best,
dave c
Your Comments
Hi Dave,
A quick technical question. When you did “I like myself ! Did you painted directly on the color paper?
Great work !
Thanks !
Grace
December 25th
Hi Dave,
i wrote to you several days ago about working with me on my book of 10 years, which needs new illustrations and I am seeking a new publisher also. The topic is very current and has helped many families. The book recently sold out of copies and I cannot afford to publish myself again. I like your style of art and think it would work well with this book and maybe others. I was surprised when I did not hear anything from you, since your the big go after your dream guy. At least suggest other illustrators you feel might be interested and/or a publisher, who would have an inhouse illustrator and be interested.
Thanks and hope to hear back from you. Attaching link to the book’s new fan page.
Leslie B. Allgood
205-991-2006
http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/The-Not-So-Wicked-Stepmother-A-Book-for-Children-and-Adults/373127825483?ref=nf