George Dover Crayon Drawings

 George Dover cannot remember a time when he wasn’t trying to do art, but he

remembers clearly in 1967, when a grocery bag filled with broken crayons was

sent to him by his third grade art teacher. George was trying to fit oil painting in

on the weekends, so the crayons went into the closet. However, between start up

and clean up of the oils, he had little time for actual painting, out of frustration, he

pulled out the crayons and immediately started to work. There was no clean up

time. Soon afterward he rigged up an easel in the living room where he could

pick up the crayons anytime of the week increasing his art time exponentially.

Since then, he has completed over 2,600 - 20 x 40 crayon drawings.

George quickly realized the feel, smell and sound of the crayons evoked fond

memories of youthful, carefree crayoning and it helped to discourage work stress.

He wondered if crayoning would help his mother deal with her depression after

retiring. He sent her base drawings for her to fill in, very much like a large

coloring book. She sent the drawings back and he finished them.

The collaborative process had dramatic results, his mother emerged from

depression and he increased his productivity.

Realizing the healing value of this process George has offered it to several others

needing a positive focus in their lives and in every case it nurtured improvements.

Based on their results and successful pilot projects, George established the

Cranory, a non-profit organization with the following mission: to develop and

implement therapeutic aspects of a collaborative art making process using

crayons to help veterans in need to better engage recovery.

George does not sell any of his art. However, with a donation of $1,200 or more

to the Cranory, George will invite you to select any drawing as a gift.

cranory.org

georgedoverart.com