Arts Festival – “Why is Mona Lisa Smiling?”

October 2, 2004 – Hollywood: As part of the Artists For A Better World 4th annual Arts Festival, a group of visual artists seated themselves outside around café tables overlooking a waterfall in the beautiful Celebrity Center International gardens. They had gathered to listen to the founder and leader of the New Renaissance Academy, School of Living Oils, in Washington State who has personally trained over 400 visual artists, many of who are now working full-time as artists throughout the world: Ms. Libby Berry.

Ms. Berry has spent over 25 years teaching her students an awareness of the qualities that make up a great work of art. Her research into the golden ages of art, such as the Renaissance, the Impressionists, and the Hudson River artists led her to discover an entire body of lost technology which she has generously forwarded to the young artists and all students who come to her workshops.

There was much anticipation in the air as they waited to hear the answer to the title of Ms. Berry’s workshop “Why is the Mona Lisa smiling?” Shortly after her arrival to the garden workshop, Ms. Berry handed them a card picturing the ‘Mona Lisa’ which said, “She’s smiling because she knows Leonardo’s secrets.”

The fast-paced workshop addressed just one of Leonardo’s secrets which has also been alluded to in the book, ‘ The daVinci Code’, by author Dan Brown. The Natural Laws that Ms. Berry covered with the artists, both in theory and in application, govern the balance and flows not only in the artists minds that they use to create on their canvas’s, but in the real physical world as well. She gave them a ruler and pencil and had them checking on pictures in magazines, looking at the proportions and composition, cutting up papers until they too could use the secrets she gave them.

Before they knew it, the workshop was over – but not before Ms. Berry received a resounding applause from all the grateful and very happy attendees. They were all smiling now because they found out the real reason that Mona Lisa smiling.

That evening, Ms. Berry received the Artists for a Better World International Lifetime Achievement Award, “For a lifetime of dedication towards the creation of a better world through aesthetics. For elevating the understanding and importance of the arts within our culture.”

Artists For A Better World International is dedicated to building a worldwide network of artists who share a vision of creating a better world through aesthetics. AFABW Int is open to artists and art enthusiasts of all religions, nationalities, creeds, races and cultures. In short, any and all who desire to help in the creation of a better world.