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Lew Wallace, Artist.
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Lew Wallace was an excellent artist. He loved to draw, but he also painted and made small sculptures from clay. You can see four of his paintings, two of his sculptures, and many of his sketches at the Museum.

When Lew Wallace was 10 years old, he learned to mix oil paints from an artist named Jacob Cox. One day, Lew Wallace stole a little bit of paint from Mr. Cox. Lew Wallace didn’t have a paint brush, so he made his own. He tied hair from a dog to a stick to make a brush. He decided to paint a portrait of an Native American called Chief Blackhawk. When Lew Wallace's father discovered his painting, he told his son that being an artist was not a good job for him. He said that there were not enough people who wanted paintings in Indiana.

Artists in the past used clay, oil paints, pencils, pen & ink, and other to create art. Today, artist use many of the same things, but they might also use computers for graphic design and animation.

Many artists today are called "graphic artists" and they design advertisements for magazines and web sites like this one. Other artists today are painters like Lew Wallace was. In the 1850s, very few people could make a living working as an artist in the United States. Like Lew Wallace, most artists had other jobs which paid more money.

What kind of art do you like to do?

Would you like to be an artist?

Interesting Links:

National Gallery of Art

Hoosier Artists

Renaissance Man: Leonardo da Vinci

Definition:

Oil Paints: Oil paints did not come in tubes or bottles like they do today. You had to grind up a hard block of color into a powder and mix it with an oil to make the paint every day.