Calder is my favorite artist. I am an art student, and when i lose my direction, i often look to his work for guidance. i love his art because it conveys a message about the inherant goodness of life. it has an appeal to all ages, and it is something i would feel comfortable sharing with my 2 year old cousin. that is one of my major problems with art today, it has essentially become artistic masturbation. many artists do things for shock value alone, forgetting the true meaning of art. I feel that, as an artist, i have complete creative control of my product. why would i choose to do something that is dark, scary, or has an air of fear? I feel that art should be used to reaffirm the good, and that is what calder did. he truly saw the goodness in life, and it is visible in all of his art. he enjoyed what he was doing, and he enjoyed seeing others enjoy what he had done. his favorite peice was one that he maintained for his entire life. it was a circus made of individual wire sculptures, and each one had its own action. the styles of the little sculptures changed and his artistic style progressed, but he continued to make circus figures till he died. his favorite was a wire and yarn lion, and he would often imitate the lion's roar. he would put on shows of his circus for his own amusment and the enjoyment of others. he especially like to show his circus to children. I hope that his infleunce will continue to be felt not only in my life, but i hope that art as a whole will learn to enjoy itself and to not take itself so seriously.