Posted on 05/06/2013 12:33:38 PM PDT by SgtHooper
A 6-year-old South Dakota girl who was initially accused of cheating in a federally-sponsored art contest was restored as a winner, and her painting of a duck is again on track to be used on a U.S. postage stamp.
A 9-by-12-inch oil painting of a canvasback duck by Madison Grimm, of Burbank, S.D., was declared the winner from some 29,000 entries in the 2013 Federal Junior Duck Stamp Contest. In addition to having their artwork immortalized on a stamp, winners receive a $5,000 scholarship. But days after the April 19 announcement, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials said Madison — whose father is a wildlife artist — had used an illegal transferring technique. The agency then crowned Peter Coulter, 17, of Missouri, for his acrylic painting of snow geese.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/06/south-dakota-girl-6-reinstated-as-federal-art-competition-winner/#ixzz2SXiKB5Rg
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
What people call a prodigy is often just ghe result of an environment rich in a specific discipline, a lot of parental input and reward for achievement. People use the term prodigy as if describing a freak of nature because they don’t want to face the fact that a high level of parental involvement combined with a high-information household is the difference that makes a difference.
Agree... looks a little too good to be true.
That was a great wise quack
There are motor dexterity things that a family can NOT teach to a 6 year old -- this also applies to musical instruments and in some cases singing and other arts.
You could teach arithmetic to a 6 year old, but it would be all but impossible for that 6 year old to discover calculus ON HIS/HER OWN.
Bottom line, if a 6 year old can paint like that then he/she is a "freak of nature" (your unfortunate choice of words -- I would have "a talent so rare as to be well beyond 99.999% of people of the same age irrespective of environment") or has been "helped" by "parental involvement."
My only question is why these jerks are having contests...Shouldn’t they be trying to break even?
That might be a fowl.
I think they have to prove that she had mallard aforethought.
See here.
Ludicrous. Rembrandt couldn’t paint that well when he was six. Six-year-olds may be brilliantly talented and have a fabulous eye for color and form, but this image shows a mastery of technique that even people who become successful professionals must study for years to grasp. The handling of the water and the light on the duck’s neck is that of an experienced pro. Let the young lady sit down and show her skills in front of witnesses who are not family members; then I’ll believe.
I watched that video. Didn’t see her pick up a paintbrush. I saw the hand movements of a talented child as she used a pencil to color in some dark areas, but did not see her mixing paints, applying them, blending, adding detail—anything.
Ditto. Nothing in the video showed the ability needed to produce the winning picture. Although I would like to believe that if her prize was reinstated, the judges were convinced it was her work. Is it possible photos we are seeing are of the father’s photo and not her painting?
Having worked for an artist, who comes from a long line of artists, and having seen artwork from Chinese prodigies, yes, it is possible for a 6 year old to draw/paint that well.
It is not unusual for a child whose age is in single digits to be the equal or better of her artistic parents. This girl will probably get there a bit early.
with the new GDP rules, will this give it a bump?
My sentiments exactly. Even if it was color by the numbers, it would require some skill in smoothing, shading, edges, etc. Way too suspicious for me.
I've been on FR for a long time and I haven't seen too many changes around here, so my guess is no.
Apparently some practical aspects of the site, including the fact that we add HTML by hand, are viewed as laughably antiquated by some people familiar with other forum sites on the Internet.
But the site isn't run for profit and and as far as I can tell all changes are made by one guy who can only work on it part time. Maybe they could find some trustworthy volunteers to do an update.
FR does work pretty well without a lot of fancy stuff. In some ways the relatively sparse design is an attractive aspect.
The ability to correct typos after posting would be nice. But maybe there are some good reasons for not allowing people to go back and edit or remove their remarks.
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