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Jul 29, 2008

"Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us." --Wilma Rudolph

The 112 Year-Old Artist

Frank Calloway spends his days turning visions from his youth into lively murals -- and at 112 years old, the images of his childhood are a window to another time. Drawn on sheets of butcher paper and sometimes stretching to more than 30 feet long, his scenes give a glimpse into the early 20th century. Calloway, diagnosed with schizophrenia, lived about half his life in state mental health centers, where his talent lay dormant until he took an art class in the 1980s and began to draw again, and never looked back. "There’s a presence with him, I’m telling you, that feels angelic," said Rebecca Hoffberger, founder and director of the American Visionary Art Museum, which will feature his works in an exhibit in Baltimore -- his first airplane trip and likely the first time he’s left Alabama.