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Cloud Artist
Wed Apr 21, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
While working as an itinerant sign painter in Taos, New Mexico in 1925, a young New
England man received a spiritual awakening as he gazed at the overwhelming
skyscapes around him. "It was there and then I decided to make painting my life work,
and to make the sky my theme," he later wrote.
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is The Weather Notebook.
That man, born Everard Jean Hinrichs, was best known as Eric Sloane. Sloane has
been acclaimed the finest cloud painter of his generation. His largest work, Earth Flight
Environment, measures seven stories high and 58 feet wide, covering an entire wall of
the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
In exchange for art lessons, Sloane learned to fly from famed aviator Wiley Post and
that further sparked his interest in weather and clouds. He took meteorology courses
at MIT to get a fuller understanding of the sky, just as Leonardo da Vinci studied human
physiology to improve his drawing of the human body.
Over his lifetime, Sloane created nearly 15,000 paintings, many of cloud formations
which he christened "cloudscapes." Famed aviator Amelia Erhardt bought his first
cloud painting. He also wrote 38 illustrated books -- seven focused on weather -- plus
several pilot instruction manuals for the US Navy during World War II.
Sloane is still considered among the best sources for American weather lore. His
fascination with the New England farmers' ability to interpret weather signs led to his
interest in early American rural life and craftsmanship. He eventually became widely
known for his books and paintings on early American tools and barns.
Thanks today to contributing writer Keith Heidorn of Victoria, British Columbia. The
Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and is
supported in part by the National Science Foundation.
Today's Links
Eric Sloane Website
http://www.ericsloane.com">http://www.ericsloane.com
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