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"Dear Katherine Smith,
    ...I would like to express my appreciation to you and all who have made this possible for me. I am now able to participate in the National Academy's program.
    
This scholarship grant has enabled me to pursue my life long goal. Becoming a professional artist is serious business for me and those who are supporting me along the way will not be forgotten.

    I am truly, truly, grateful for this gift that was given to me. Thank you so very much."

Sincerely yours,
Erin Beth Hughes
National Academy
of Design


Who was Stanley R. Wright?

Stanley R. WrightHe was born in a log house in Breezewood, PA on July 4, 1901 the fourth of eight children to Lewis E. Wright, Jr. and Mary Thomas Wright. He died at the age of seventy-four on February 10, 1976.

During his lifetime he received less than one year of formal education. When he was twelve years old his father died. His mother, unable to sustain the family, indentured him to another family where he worked for his keep.

Later he drove horse and mule teams in logging camps, in the coal mines and eventually a milk wagon for the Sanitary Dairy in Johnston, PA. After twenty odd years he rose to the position of Credit Manager. An accident in which his hip was broken forced him into retirement after thirty years of service.

Although he had little to give he did so willingly. His heroes were Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon. He was enormously impressed, not by their wealth, but by their generosity. He spoke of it often.

His own generosity was private in nature and rarely did he mention it. When he did, I was his only audience. He was a compassionate man. During World War II, when food was rationed, he made it a point to see that on his route, no woman with children went without milk and butter. If they could not afford it he would either pay for it out of his own pocket or bring them day-old products that legally were supposed to have been discarded.

It is to honor the memory of my father that I have created this foundation.


Robert E. Wright

Robert E. Wright artistRobert E. Wright began his career in 1942 while still in high school. During these years he worked as a freelance sign painter, cameraman for a newspaper engraving shop and show card writer for a grocery chain.

After finishing high school he apprenticed with the Chevrolet Chart & Art Dept. of Detroit. He then served as a department store display artist preceding entry into the School of Illustration and Design at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y.

After graduating from R.I.T., he worked as a staff artist with a lithographic firm and following this as an art director/illustrator for a commercial studio. As his reputation spread he was able to begin a free-lance career, which lasted until 1966. He then opened a full-service studio which grew to be the largest in New York State outside of Buffalo and New York City.

The studio's client base became nationwide. An audio/visual division opened in Dallas, TX. A phototypesetting house as well as a film processing service were opened in Rochester. Visit Bob Wright Creative.

The pressure of the studio kept him from his easel for twenty years. He retired early and moved west to Sedona, AZ to pursue his love of landscape painting. Visit Bob Wright Fine Art to view paintings.

"It has long been my belief that the primary purpose of Art, in any of its various forms, is to enhance the quality of life. I recall a quote from George Bernard Shaw that goes something like this 'You use a mirror of glass to see your face, you use works of art to see your soul'. If through art, or this foundation, I am able to help one person get a glimpse of their soul I will consider my lifetime of work a resounding success".

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