Lost Dreams on Canvas: Painting Keeps Memories, Cause Alive

Theresa Sautter and son Shawn with portrait of daughter Marylee Otto by Eliza Auth. Photo for the Philadelphia Daily News by Alejandro A. Alvarez.

In today's Philadelphia Daily News, there's an article by Julie Shaw about a very touching program titled Lost Dreams on Canvas. Here are the first five paragraphs:

HER BIG, BLUE EYES smile and glitter. Her auburn hair is pulled up in a clip, while her straight back and tan arms radiate elegance.

Looking out from an oil portrait, in a dark-blue tank top she borrowed from her mother, Marylee Otto will forever remain young and beautiful.

Marylee Otto, 15, was killed by hit-and-run driver Michelle Johnson, then a registered nurse in the Philadelphia Prison System, when the teen was crossing Rhawn Street at Lexington Avenue in the Northeast about 11 p.m. March 28, 2008.

Marylee's mother, Theresa Sautter, was given the oil portrait by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts on Saturday during its annual holiday event.

The portrait is one of nearly 400 that have been painted by volunteer artists as part of PAFA's Lost Dreams on Canvas program that memorializes the lives of young victims of violence.

The rest of the article is here.