Famous Faces Painted On NMS Stage

By Eliza Hallabeck

Albert Einstein and other historical figures graced the stage at Newtown Middle School for a brief time Wednesday, October 8, and glowed under the florescent lighting of their portrait artist, Rob Surette.

As celebrity portrait artist, Mr Surette travels the world, painting celebrities, but he also travels to give his “Be Somebody!” presentation to schools and other venues. He visited Newtown Middle school last week, and created recognizable images of famous faces before the students.

“I love this school,” said Mr Surette. “I have been here before.”

There are paintings in the cafeteria from a previous visit he made the school. Since then, Mr Surette has been showing his Amazing Hero Art show “Be Somebody!” around the world.

The presentation was sponsored by the Cultural Arts Committee at NMS. During the show, which was given to multiple groups of students during the day in the auditorium, Mr Surette created portraits of famous heroes in less than eight minutes. Each painting was timed to the second with a slideshow and music. As he created his paintings, the names, faces, and sometimes suggestions of the person he was painting flashed before the NMS audience.

“I do schools sort of as my way of giving back,” said Mr Surette, before the second presentation of the day.

Mr Surette uses his presentation to inspire students to use their talents to make the world a better place, he said. According to Mr Surette’s website, his name is included on the Wall of Tolerance Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala., in recognition for his work toward a more tolerant America.

The beginning of the presentation introduced Mr Surette with clips from shows he has been on and news programs that have aired about him across the country. Repeatedly the audience heard him proclaimed as the “fastest portrait artist in the world” by these broadcasts.

Then the words “Be Somebody!” flashed on the screen, and Mr Surette began to paint thin lines on a black canvas. In a few short minutes, while patriotic music played, Mr Surette presented a painting of the United States of America as it would appear on a map.

After painting the country, Mr Surette moved on to paint a famous lady in quick strokes of thick paint. While Celine Dion sang “God Bless America” and images combined for the audience, Mr Surette began to bring the image of the Statue of Liberty to life.

The Statue of Liberty and the map of the country served as the opening for the next image. In what started as quick strokes of paint again, the image of Abraham Lincoln formed on the stage.

“What I love about him is he stood up for what’s right,” said Mr Surette.

During the performance Mr Surette took a break from painting to do a slight of hand performance. He created a rose out of plastic bags, then as if by magic brought it through a tube, and that same white plastic rose came out red. He then played with it to make it levitate in the air far away from him.

Other portraits the students were treated to included Beethoven, Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, and Mother Teresa.

Mr Surette encouraged the students to “be somebody” like these famous historical figures.

“You don’t have to be the number one humanitarian, like Mother Teresa was,” said Mr Surette. “You can help people.”