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Here's looking at you, "Kid"
Is 4-year-old Marla Olmstead a painting prodigy or the instrument of a hoax? "My Kid Could Paint That" asks fascinating questions about art, family and journalistic ethics.
By Andrew O'Hehir [2007-10-06]

  • Good art, she might be coached but hey, she is only four

    Here are some pics

    http://www.marlaolmstead.com/availablework.html

    Her art looks like the work of a preschool age child with a lot of natural talent. My son did stuff a lot like this (except with markers) when he was that age. I am glad her family is encouraging her. Lots of families nowadays treat the arts as frivolous. I hope they give her some formal training, so that she can grow as an artist. There is no need to remain "self taught" just because she is selling a lot of work in that style now.

    And if her dad is coaching her, so what? Young musicians are taught to play their instruments. Almost none of them sit down at a piano like Mozart.

    If her dad is painting her pictures, he needs to stop being shy and come forward. They are still good pictures. And it takes talent to do "naive" so well.

    -- McCamyTaylor
    [Read McCamyTaylor's other letters]
    Friday, October 5, 2007 10:14 PM
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