Dialogue by Mark:

Today's Masters' Gallery features some pretty hot lettering in a painting called "Military." It was created by the American artist Marsden Hartley, and collected for Imagination Station by our own neon art historian, Kim Solga at KidsArt.

"Military" was painted by Hartley in 1915, right at the beginning of the first World War. The picture is packed with the images of flags and targets. Hartley had lived in Germany before the war. He was impressed by the power and strength of the imperial German government, and the military pageantry of many nations just before the war. It seemed like every country was waving a flag! In Hartley's painting, though, the flags work together to make a beautiful design, while in history, the flags led to a terrible war.

Hartley lived in a world that changed dramatically! He was born in 1877, and lived to 1943. When Hartley was a boy, people traveled mainly on horseback. By the time he was an old man, cars and jet airplanes were much like they are today. Hartley's style of art changed as he kept up with the times, and he is known today as a "modern artist."

The designs in this painting are beautiful and simple. Hartley filled the canvas with strips and checkerboards, circles and diamonds. Can you see his "glowing" number 2's? You can make a design like this yourself. Just divide a sheet of drawing paper into big geometric shapes, like half circles and rectangles. Then fill these shapes with patterns like Hartley's. Finally, color or paint your designs with simple colors. Hartley mainly used black and white in this painting, with red, blue, green and gold....plain, strong colors that create a powerful picture.