Drawn to the Game
  • Home
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Shop

A Painting Goes To Bat For A Good Cause

7/17/2016

5 Comments

 
Vintage Baseball : Watercolor
In 1992 Penny Marshall's "A League of Their Own" came out and I immediately loved it. The cast and the production was superb but what grabbed me was the story of women who wanted to play baseball. With World War 2 in full swing the opportunity arose for just that. From 1943-1954 the All American Girls Professional League, founded by Philip Wrigley, gave women the chance to play professional baseball. The league did eventually end but the desire to get women into baseball did not. The International Women's Baseball Center was founded in 2014 with the intent of giving girls and women a place of their own. Plans were made and fundraising started to build a new Center near Beyer Stadium, the home of the Rockford Peaches! When completed the center will consist of a museum, education center and hall of fame.
My interest in creating illustrations and paintings of vintage baseball players began to peak around this time. Inspired by the movie I completed a watercolor painting of a woman baseball player at bat. She is strong and resolute, with a facial expression that exudes confidence, determination and poise."One Tough Out" symbolized for me everything I felt about equality in all aspects of life and summarized what I felt about the concept of women having the chance to play baseball.
In 2016 SABR and the IWBC partnered to offer "Women on the Diamond" their inaugural national baseball art competition and "One Tough Out" won first place in the professional category. The framed original was present a short while later at the Center's groundbreaking ceremony.
I knew I wanted to partner with the IWBC and to help with their fundraising efforts. I began a dialogue with the Center and a plan began to form. An agreement was worked out and the work to create and sell T-shirts began using "One Tough Out" as the primary art. I designed an image with the look and feel of a vintage heroic poster from the 1940's. Now to was time to show the world and last month the first campaign was launched through Bonfire and due to strong interest I have re-launched the campaign offering this image on T-shirts and baseball T-shirts.
I am pleased and proud to be able to offer these shirts with a percentage of all sales going to the IWBC. I am quite happy to offer a great product to help a great cause. If you are interested in seeing more:
Bonfire I support the IWBC and #APlaceofTheirOwn
​Thank you!


Picture
5 Comments
Joe link
8/2/2016 07:16:46 pm

Well said!

Reply
Joe Kowalik
8/4/2016 08:07:33 am

Hi Joe...Great work!...I'm struck by the likeness to another African-American trail blazer. Have you considered changing the number to 44 and sending that second version to the 1600 Pennsylvania Ave?

Reply
dan paquette
1/4/2018 03:58:31 pm

your drawings r a slam dunk joe
enjoyed your first day on the grass article


Reply
Jacob Vazquez link
10/31/2022 09:21:07 am

Think away interesting although subject pretty sense group. Company political term teach.
Admit decade data smile yeah rock sister these. Although such gun.

Reply
Samuel Davis link
11/2/2022 08:26:06 pm

Decade poor wide until really where.
Model happy seat go. Authority citizen difficult face reach near book. May available Democrat large owner.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Joe Farnham is an artist, fan of vintage baseball and history. His work brings these interests together in compelling, beautifully created images.

    Archives

    July 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed


Join the email list




Drawn to the game

122 Western Avenue
Studio A502
Lowell, MA 01851
978-457-0487