“The number-one thing people say about people’s art is it makes them feel happy,” Arla Foster told the Bennington Banner about her son Josh Gray. “That is his purpose.”
“Josh’s Fantastical Menagerie” at Left Bank Gallery in North Bennington, Vermont, presents 127 of his watercolor pen drawings from Sept. 1 to 30. “Gray is a 49 year old Down Syndrome person who appreciates life in every moment, spreading smiles, love, and hugs wherever he goes. His passions include music and dancing, food, family and friends, hiking and biking, animals and nature. Josh likes making art because ‘it makes people feel happy,'” according to the gallery. He was born and grew up in Bennington, and now resides on Amelia Island, Florida.
“When asked where he gets his ideas from,” the Bennington Banner reports, “Josh gestures to a book of animals on a table at Left Bank Gallery, where he and his mother have been meeting gallery visitors a few days each week. Arla said he also looks at pictures of animals from the internet, and gets inspired by visits to the zoo. ‘I like to draw monkeys. I like to draw cows. I like to draw birds, horses, pigs,’ Josh said. His mother added, ‘Josh loves animals, don’t you? Any kind of animal. I mean, there are so many animals. He’ll probably never draw them all. Themes get repeated. He’s done quite a few owls and quite a few cats and a bunch of different birds.'”
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