“City Park Piper” by Robert Maniscalco

This past weekend we took a ghost tour on top of a hearse and stayed at “the most haunted” Bed & Breakfast in Savannah (17hundred90).  Didn’t see any ghosts so we went to the local museums and toured a couple homes. 

We spent a lovely afternoon at the Telfair Museum, napping among the art and wondering what the artists may have been thinking and feeling or drinking when they made these amazing works. This is where we found the real ghosts, captured in paint, trapped on canvas, trying to escape into our minds.

I believe a piece of the artist lives in the paint itself, that an original work of art is not a dead thing, but a piece of living history, passion and skill, put there by the artist, deliberately.  The image of the painting is not enough to experience this paranormal effect.  No, one must confront the original in person.

At one of the homes we toured I noticed the walls were full of giclees.  I asked the docent why no originals and he said, “we didn’t want to gussy up the walls or distract from the beautiful woodwork and period architecture with original art.”   Right, like they had giclees back in 1820.

There are a million reasons peop0le give for not buying and showing original art.  Frankly, I don’t accept a one of them.   So, if you want ghosts, buy original art from an artist, living or dead.  There be ghosts in them.