This year's program cover for the LeMoyne Chain of Parks Art Festival will feature a new painting by one of the city's most celebrated artists, Eluster Richardson. During the January 18 unveiling of that painting at the LeMoyne gallery, Richardson said the local creative community is a lot bigger now than it was when he began his artistic careerg in the third grade.
"It's exciting to see how well and how much it's grown. I started with a handful of people, maybe less than that. But I wanted to see my community go forward in art. That's why I stay here. I wanted to see my community thrive in the arts. I love Tallahassee."
As much as he enjoys the creative process, Richardson said his biggest thrill is seeing how his paintings are inspiring a new generation of artists.
"(I get) goose bumps to have a young person grown who you don't know come up and say, 'Look at this' and it looks like my work! So to hear them say I inspire them, mission accomplished."
The Chain of Parks Art Festival, ranked as one of the nation's best, takes place April 20th and 21st in downtown Tallahassee.
