This painting, Heirs to You, was started in 2006, and is actually from a sketch done in 1998. It was painted as part of the Rourke Art Museum’s annual Midwestern Invitational Art Exhibit, in Moorhead, MN. Each year, over 100 artists enter one piece based on a different theme each year. The theme in 2006 was “Legacy and Birthright”.

The little girl is the heir to the people in the background, her family. She is their hope for the future, and she is asking for her birthright, with cupped hands. The title says it all, “Heirs to you”. I imagine everyone has a wide variety of family members, as does she, so I tried to portray as many kooky ancestors as I could, including a skeleton (in the closet)! This painting was featured in the Fargo Forum newspaper.