MyWikiBiz: From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marla_Olmstead&oldid=190546900 per CC-by-SA

2014-04-30T17:05:50Z

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marla_Olmstead&oldid=190546900 per CC-by-SA

OmniMediaGroup: Marla Olmstead

2009-10-21T20:42:53Z

Marla Olmstead

New page

{{OMG250}}<feed url="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch_feeds?hl=en&q=Marla+Olmstead&ie=utf-8&num=10&output=atom" entries="10">
'''[{PERMALINK} {TITLE}]'''
{DESCRIPTION}
{DATE} {AUTHOR}
<br>
</feed>
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Marla Olmstead}}

{{OMG250}}<br>
{{QuickAdd
| Address =
| City =
| State =
| Zip =
| Country =
| Phone =
| Email =
| Web =
| Contact =
| Title =
}}
=== Share this page ===
<sharethis />

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{OMG250}}<feed url="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch_feeds?hl=en&q=Marla+Olmstead&ie=utf-8&num=10&output=atom" entries="10">
+'''Marla Olmstead''' (born [[2000]] in [[Binghamton]], [[New York]]) is an [[artist]], considered by some to be a  [[child prodigy]] of [[abstract art]]. According to her family, Olmstead began painting before her second birthday. By 2004 she had attracted international media attention. Her abstract pieces have been as large as five feet (1.52 m) square, hailed by critics as impressively complex, and have sold for tens of thousands of US dollars.
-'''[{PERMALINK} {TITLE}]'''
+==Early stages==
-{DESCRIPTION}
+According to her family—Olmstead began painting just before her second birthday in early 2002 when her father, Mark, gave her paint to divert her from distracting him from his own painting. Mark painted for a very brief period after his father died, and has no proclamations of being an artist of any variety.<ref name=BBC>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3701484.stm Child art prodigy wows New York] ''[[BBC News]]'', 29 September, 2004.</ref> Eventually, her work was on display at a local [[coffee shop]]. Soon after a customer bought one of the paintings for $250, a local gallery owner was shown one of her works and eventually organized a show at his gallery. From that point forward, paintings attributed to Olmstead began to sell frequently.<ref name=NYT>[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70E16FA3C5C0C7B8EDDA00894DC404482 ''A Portrait Of the Artist As a Young Girl; Early Ability on Abstracts: 4-Year-Old Paints With Flair''] ''[[The New York Times]]'' Michelle York. September 28, 2004.</ref>
-{{OMG250}}<br>
+==Success and media attention==
-{{QuickAdd
+The popularity of work attributed to her took off after her first gallery showing, with many of the paintings selling for tens of thousands of [[US dollars]].
-| Address =
-| City =
+To many critics, what is most impressive about her work is her ability to paint in layers and to fill the canvas, instead of painting in one layer and leaving most of the canvas blank, like other four-year olds. Her skill is so great that critics and media alike have drawn comparisons to abstract artists [[Wassily Kandinsky]] and [[Jackson Pollock]].<ref name=BBC /> She has attracted media attention from ''The New York Times'', ''Time'' magazine, CBS news, and [[BBC News]].
-| State =
-| Zip =
+==Controversy==
-| Country =
+In February 2005, a report by [[CBS News]]' ''[[60 Minutes II]]'' raised questions. ''60 Minutes'' enlisted the help of Ellen Winner, a child [[psychologist]] who studies cognition in the arts and gifted children. Winner was impressed with Marla's work and indicated that Marla was the first child prodigy she'd seen paint abstractly. The Olmsteads agreed to permit CBS crews to set-up a hidden camera in their home to tape their daughter painting a single piece in five hours over the course of a month.  When Winner reviewed the tapes, the psychologist said, "I saw no evidence that she was a child prodigy in painting. I saw a normal, charming, adorable child painting the way preschool children paint, except that she had a coach that kept her going." Winner also indicated that the painting created before CBS's hidden camera looked  "less polished than some of Marla's previous works."<ref name=60Minutes>[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/22/60II/main675522.shtml New Questions About Child Prodigy] from ''[[60 Minutes II]]''</ref>
-| Phone =
-| Email =
+The 2007 documentary ''[[My Kid Could Paint That]],'' by director Amir Bar-Lev, examines Marla Olmstead, her family, and the controversy surrounding the art attributed to her. Bar-Lev's documentary is intentionally left open-ended. It includes excerpts from start-to-finish videos of two of Marla's works and questions whether the two works, the ''60 Minutes'' painting and ''Ocean,'' are of the same quality as other works attributed to her.
-| Web =
-| Contact =
+==Present==
-| Title =
+Despite the negative publicity, Olmstead's work remains in demand and the same painting that Marla unwittingly created before a hidden camera sold for $9,000. Marla is currently not exhibiting in a gallery, though her paintings can be seen on her website at http://www.marlaolmstead.com.
 }}
-=== Share this page ===
+As of October 2007, the Olmstead's own website offered excerpts from start-to-finish videos of three more works by her, "Fairy Map", "Rabbit" and, "Colorful Rain." According to the website, the full versions of the videos are available to collectors and the press.
-<sharethis />

Directory:Marla Olmstead - Revision history

MyWikiBiz: From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marla_Olmstead&oldid=190546900 per CC-by-SA

OmniMediaGroup: Marla Olmstead