Mad Ann Bailey

I do love finding out about interesting people and ‘Mad Ann’ as she was known, definitely ranks as an interesting character.

Ann was born in Liverpool, England in 1742 and moved to the Colony of Virginia when she was 19 years old. She married Mr. Trotter who was a soldier. He was killed on October 10, 1774 in the war with the Indians at the ‘Battle of Point Pleasant.’ This is when life changed dramatically for Ann! 

She left her 7 year old son with her neighbor so that she could go and seek her revenge! She taught herself to shoot a gun and then disguised herself as a male Indian so that she could become an ‘undercover’ frontier scout.

She would ride up and down the border encouraging the men to volunteer themselves to join the military so that the women and children would be safe. She was often seen riding between Fort Savannah and Fort Randolph to carry messages to the troops. This was an incredible distance of 160 miles and she did the journey on a regular basis. 

She met and married her second husband, John Bailey (who was also a frontier scout) around 1790 and they moved to the present day Charleston in West Virginia. She did not give up her work and in 1791she became so famous that even a song was written about her.

At this time, Fort Lee, near Charleston was under siege by the Indians. The fort was running very

Ann Racing For Powder

low on gun powder and the General asked for a volunteer among his soldiers to ride for more stock. Not one man would volunteer, but guess who did? Our daring Ann!

She rode the 100 miles to Fort Union and returned by the third day exhausted, but with fresh supplies carried by a second horse. This brave act saved the lives of many men, and the fort. Apparently she was rewarded with whiskey and a horse!

For this incredible act, she has been credited with the founding of the beautiful State of West Virginia.

Soon after this heroic act, her second husband John was killed, so she decided to take her son William and they lived in the wild on the bank of the Kanawha river.

On her daily horse rides she often came across groups of Shawnee Indians. On one of these days, they chased her and to avoid getting caught, she jumped off her horse and hid in a hollow log. They searched everywhere for her and eventually gave up, but took her horse back to their camp. Ann waited until nightfall and crept into their camp and get her horse back.

Mad Ann Bailey Reenactment

When she had put a safe distance between herself and the Indians, she stood screaming as loudly as possible. The Indians thought she was possessed and that bullets and arrows would never harm her, so they were afraid of her.

They named her ‘White Squaw of Kanawha.’ They never got too close to her after her trip into their camp but would watch her from a distance.

Ann and William continued to live in the wild for nearly 20 years; they would visit friends, but always went back to their camp, or their favorite cave to sleep. 

Around 1818, they both moved to the Harrison Township in Ohio and took up a more normal life. Ann even taught in the local school.

She died in 1825 at a wonderful age of 82 years old and was buried in Point Pleasant in the site where her first husband was killed. 

I think you have to agree that Ann was a truly remarkable woman of her time, and if nothing else,

Ann Bailey

has given us a wonderful story to read!

Andy Lakey Paints Angels for the blind!

Andy Lakey

I have a love of Angels. I have Angel Cards, a lovely pair of Angel Wings, and have always liked the idea that we have Angels around us.

When I read about Andy Lakey and his Angel paintings I had to know more so here is his amazing story.

Andy is often described as the world’s most famous painter of Angels, but he certainly did not start his life that way.

In his teens he was extremely troubled and unfortunately turned to drugs. He managed to clean himself up and get off the drugs but had no real job prospects and so resorted to selling cars.

How Andy become a man who paints angels.

On New Years Eve 1986, he had a near death experience that totally changed his life. He tells us that 7 Angels appeared to him and told him he was going to be an Artist. Andy had never been at all artistic but felt he had to follow this message. He went out and bought some art materials but had no idea how to paint. He did his best but nothing was selling.

After 3 months he managed to sell his first painting but unfortunately the lady who bought it came

Pink Angel Andy Lakey

back the next day with the painting and asked for a refund! He persevered, but by January 1990, he was ready to give up, then his Angels visited him again.

He said that they appeared as a bright ball of light in his art studio and told him he had to create 2000 Angel paintings by the year 2000. He wanted to know ‘Why’ and ‘How’ and the Angels said they would guide him. Although he felt re-inspired, he still felt unfocused and lost. 

Then some unusual circumstances led him to meet up with a colleague who suggested he change his brand of paint. He did that, but accidentally spilled some new paint into another paint.

He was about to discard the paint when he noticed that the mix had a really unusual texture. Andy quickly created 3 Angel paintings with the new paint and took them over to the Bank opposite his studio. He asked if he could hang the paintings in the lobby of the Bank.

This is when the Universe intervened. Pierette Van Cleve, founder of the Art Cellar in San Diego saw his work. She then contacted Andy and asked him if he had ever thought of painting for the Blind. Poor Andy thought he was being insulted in as much as ‘only the blind would appreciate his art’ but Pierette had plans for him.

A few days later she rang him to tell him a local ABC station was going to do a story on new artists and wanted him involved. ABC took a few of his paintings to a local well known gallery and they were billed as “Andy Lakey, the artist who paints for the Blind”.

Andy watched many people touching his art and wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that. Then he saw one blind woman running her hands over his paintings and she cried. It truly moved him.

From this show, 60 of the network affiliates broadcast the program and within just 3 months of starting his new style of painting, 50 million viewers had seen his work!

He received thousands of letters from the sighted as well as the blind who were intrigued with his art and his story, although he still had not told the whole story of how he got started with his painting.

Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, many Hollywood stars, as well as President Reagan, soon became owners of his paintings.

Then Andy decided he wanted to tell his whole story including the drugs and the Angels. It seemed to be the end of his painting days as many important galleries immediately dropped exhibiting his work. Many thought of Andy as ‘Crazy’ and others thought his admission of his early use of drugs would scare buyers away.

Angels Painting Andy Lakey

Amazingly, 400 new galleries contacted him about showing his work. He touched the public’s heart with his honesty, especially the young. By 1993, Andy was receiving thousands of letters from youngsters all around the world.

Even more incredible was that he received around 30,000 personal pledges from children to say that they would stay in school and stay off drugs. In return, Andy sent each child a drawing or sketch to seal their pledge to him.

Andy will say that his Angel paintings gave him his life back so that he could give something back to the Universe. He still gives a portion of money from all his paintings to charities on a regular basis.

When he was asked “could someone who has never painted in his life suddenly paint thousands of paintings that speak to people from all walks of life from all around the world without some kind of ‘Divine Guidance’?” Andy answered an emphatic “NO!”

He remains low key and quite humble although his work can now be seen in many homes and galleries around the world. He has donated many canvases to clinics and hospitals for the Blind and this has been a very special moment for him.

Andy does not take the credit for what he has achieved, but gives it to ‘something bigger than himself’. Something that wanted him to help others remember the beauty of life. Something that wanted to remind him to remind us that we are not alone!

I am sure that there will be very mixed reactions to the story of Andy Lakey, some believers and some skeptics. But whatever you believe, a miracle happened and beautiful Angel paintings were created for everyone to enjoy including the Blind. How wonderful is that!

Meet the man who does portraits for orphans

Portraits For Orphans Ben Schumaker

Ben Schumaker from Madison, Wisconsin USA, has added a little magic to many children in orphanages in Central America. He met a wonderful lady called Helen Vindus who moved from Costa Rica to Nicaragua to run an orphanage.

It’s called the Centro Infantil Cristiano Nicaraguense (CICRIN) and is on the island of Ometepe in the middle of Lake Nicaragua at the base of a volcano. She is making a safe place for the children who have had a terrible life.

Many of then come from very troubled backgrounds of drug addicted parents and similar. If they are not orphans, they have been abandoned or taken away from their parents as it is too dangerous for them to stay.

Ben realized these children had nothing of their own in the way of memories and have to share everything. He came up with the wonderful idea of having portraits painted for each child. You know yourself how children love to look at images of themselves as in photographs, so this was a great idea.

Of course, Ben could not paint all the portraits himself so he established the Portraits For Orphans in 2004. He still runs the project from a bedroom in his parents home and he created it to establish a sense of personal heritage for the children.

He arranges for photographs to be taken of each child in an orphanage and then sends the photographs to High School

Portraits For Orphans Haiti

Art Teachers across the USA. The teachers then assign these photographs to their Art Students.

These students have to spend hours studying the photos, especially the eyes, and it wakes them up to the reality of all these children around the world without parents. Ben really believes it raises the level of compassion in young students who will one day become adults.

The first year he started, 500 portraits were painted with Ben going back to the orphanage with a suitcase weighing 62lbs full of images of the children. Seeing the joy and disbelief on the faces of the children as they were handed their portrait was enough for Ben to know he was doing a wonderful thing. Now, 5000 portraits are painted annually to be sent all around the world. That’s 40,000 up to today!

Comments from “Portraits Of Orphans” Art Teachers:

“ I want to tell you what an awesome experience you have provided for my students through this project. I have been teaching for 30 years and I have never had my students more engaged in their art.” 

“This is a very beautiful and uplifting project for me and my students. Thank you for letting us participate.” 

“Our students said that this was one of the most moving experiences they have ever had and one that they will always remember after Art School.” 

I think Ben Schumaker is a very special young man who has brought great happiness to many young children with so little to look forward to in life. I am sure his parents are extremely proud of him and it will be interesting to see what he does next!

Jo Tempest

Betsy Damon

I have come to realize that my blog is fast turning into where you can read about people who have left their mark on the world, one way or another. I hope you are enjoying reading about my finds as much as I am enjoying writing about them. I have a great one for you today.

Betsy Damon loves water and wants all of us to also love water! Well, if her projects are anything to go by, she has certainly succeeded. She came out of Columbia University with an MFA and knew where her heart lay.

In 1985, while making a paper cast of a dry stone riverbed in Castle Valley, Utah, she decided to devote the rest of her artistic life to water. In 1991, Betsy founded ‘The Keepers of the Waters‘ in Minnesota, USA with the aid of the Hubert Humphrey Institute.

She saw herself as an environmental art pioneer and wanted to create large scale art parks that featured sculptured flow forms of water. These parks would help to clean urban waterways and also raise awareness around the globe about water problems. 

Her non profit making organization ‘Keepers of the Water’ provides useful information and the technical support required for other groups who are working with similar design projects. 

Her best known project is probably ‘The Living Water Garden’ in the center of Chengdu in the Sichuan Province in China. With the help of landscape designer Margie Ruddick, the Chengdu Landscape Bureau and many Chinese artists and designers, it is truly beautiful. Completed in 1998, it won The Top Honor Award from the Waterfront Center in Washington, USA, and also an award from the Environmental Design and Research Association.

Living Water Garden, Chengdu, Sichuan

Chengdu was the first inner city ecological park in the world with water as its theme. The 5.9 acres of public park is located on the Fu and Nan Rivers, a really ancient river diversion system that was designed and constructed in 250BC.

It’s a fully functioning water treatment plant with some wonderful features. Polluted river water moves through an artistic and natural treatment system of filters, flow forms and ponds.

This makes the process of cleaning the water visible for everyone. Every day, 200 cubic meters of polluted water moves through the natural treatment system and emerges clean enough to drink. Obviously this small amount of water is not enough to affect the whole river quality but the idea is that it teaches and inspires people.

There are some wonderful features of sculpted black marble and cement flow form pools found throughout the park. They help the water purification by creating gentle rhythmic oscillation of the water currents as they pass from one pool to another. You will find a giant sculpture of a fish which in Chinese culture is the symbol of regeneration, along with a refuge for plants and wildlife.

Visitors can walk anywhere they want in the park and they love to see the many birds, butterflies and dragonflies that have made it their home. The forested areas are made up of over 100 different plant species, some of which are very rare. This part of the park represents the biodiversity on Mt Emei, a very sacred Buddhist Mountain that is located 160 kilometers outside of Chengdu.

A clever feature is that there are 2 places where steps have replaced the flood wall, giving visitors a way to reach the river. 

The park has become a living environmental education center and visitors love spending time there. In fact, since the Water Park was completed, it has become the most popular park in the city as well as being a huge national tourist attraction. They understand they are privileged to see the dead river water being brought back to life and watch it become cleaner and cleaner as they walk through the park.

There is a 5 year plan to rebuild Chengdu’s infrastructure so that it can support the growing population for the next 200 years! Isn’t that an amazing piece of forward thinking. 

Betsy has been involved in many other projects such as the Da Vinci Water Garden in 2003. This was a community

DaVinci Water Garden, Oregon

based collaboration between Urban Water Works and the Da Vinci Arts Middle School in Portland, Oregon, USA. 

You can find it located on an abandoned tennis court and it redirects the storm water from the roof tops and a parking lot through a beautiful artistic water garden. She has personally changed our views of how a water purification plant should look and we thank her. 

I will leave you with a few of her own words on how she describes her work.

“I am a conceptual humanist artist who has dedicated my art and life to informing and awakening public consciousness to the need and memory of clean water. I seek to release the initiative in a community through community organizations, educational institutions and government agencies. The projects create a language and a vision of living water in the community.”

Thank you Betsy Damon for all you have done so far and all you will inspire others to do in the future with regards to cleaner water around the world. 

Jo Tempest.