Alan Bean NASA astronaut and artist died on May 26, 2018
I am a teaching artist with the MD State Arts Council. In 2016 I created a mural with the fourth grade at an Ellicott City school, to honor the men and women in science. I told the children about Mr. Bean and how he walked on the moon and then decided he wanted to become an artist and make paintings of his experience on the moon.
I sent a photo of his image on the mural to Mr. Bean and asked for letter that I could read at the mural unveiling. This is what he sent:
Hello Kristin:
Talk about amazing! What a great project to inspire young (and older) minds.
Thanks for putting me near Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.
I was fortunate to be the first artist with the opportunity to be in the center of the action to capture what I saw and felt and bring it back to earth to share with generations to come. It is my dream that on the wings of my paintbrush many people will see what I saw and feel what I felt, walking on another world some 240,000 miles from my studio here on planet earth.
Our generation will be remembered for many achievements, and one of the greatest will be our movement off the earth, from its gravitational pull, to begin our future generations’ exploration of the universe. My paintings record the beginnings of a quest never to end, our journey out among the stars.
All the best wishes and congratulations,
Alan