Scott Siedman, Painter:  The Man From Illinois

            I have always felt that narrative in art not only articulates the inner life of the artist, but serves to give form to the dreams, desires and fears of the larger culture - to express emotions and experiences whose depth and complexity are simply beyond words.  I was also raised to believe that I had a responsibility to apply whatever talent I posses to the creation of more just and beautiful world.

            Those values seemed hopelessly idealistic until I watched a tall skinny young African American man from Illinois deliver the Keynote address at the Democratic Convention. Like so many others, I recognized greatness. Here at last is a leader.

            Three years later I began a painting that I hoped would place Barack Obama, a man with a name and history exotic to American sensibilities, in the center of old fashioned American mythology and values - that celebrates the land and honors what we used to call honest labor.

            To that end I appropriated bits and pieces of mid 20th century regionalist paintings by Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood and Norman Rockwell, and placed him in the center - hoe in one hand, book in the other, eye on the horizon... struggling with great challenges. He strides forward with a confidence the comes from overcoming great odds. He is blessed with a temperament and an intelligence equal to our enormous challenges, and we are blessed as a nation and world to have him.

Scott Siedman    February 7, 2009

Nora Dunn, Actress

Before I became fully committed to a career as an actor, I studied painting at The Art Institute of Chicago.  After three seasons I still floundered, and eventually I moved to San Francisco, studied acting, and became a comedic performer.  It was by mere chance that I was discovered a few years later, again in Chicago, and became a cast member of Saturday Night Live.  I have always, however, held a strong reverence for the irreverence of art and artists, and feel that a political philosophy that asserts the notion that funding the arts is foolish and wasteful is what lead us to the place where we now stand.  Sheep on a hillside make a lovely landscape, but we are not a still life.

We've been called to act.

The painter, Scott Siedman, is a long time friend of mine, and I have been an avid fan of his work for many years.  His painting of Barack Obama inspired me, which is the only way I judge a painting.  How it makes me feel. He deliberately evoked the style of Thomas Hart Benton and the 1930's era of art.  Iconic Americana.  Barack Obama has called us to action, to join a work of art, if you will, in progress.

Scott's painting embodies the feeling of this movement.

Sheila Donohue, Poet

            As a native Chicagoan, I remember people knocking on my door, to share stories about a man running for the Illinois Legislature, that was smart and accountable.  They too seemed different from the mindless canvassers that I had been used to encountering.  They were interested in my ideas in a new way.  This was over 10 years ago now.

            I never thought of myself as politically active.  But when you stand on a soapbox, with a poem in hand, in fact you are participating in the cultural dialog, just by giving voice to an idea or feeling.  As a 4 time National Poetry Slam Champion, I have heard thousands of poems from all parts of these 50 states.  I have read poetry aloud in parks, bars, libraries, churches basements and even once in a rush hour train car.  Poets spread their ideas in the most grass root way imaginable—to each other, person to person.

Barack Obama is a spoken word hero.  And when I saw Scott's painting, like Nora, I was deeply inspired.  This is not a campaign image.  Scott captured a spirit of work that is positive and needed from everyone in this country.  This country is full of amazing people, who are hard working, who have great ideas and who are always ready to go the extra mile for a neighbor.

I wanted to help bring this art print to as many people as possible, so that when it hangs in homes and places of work, we will be filled with strength—to do the next right thing—for a child—for a neighbor—for a boss—for a co-worker—for a partner—for a friend.  This is the way we can lead in the world.  This is the way we can help spread freedom.