Glenpool Artist Featured In Time Magazine

By Lori Fullbright, News On 6

GLENPOOL, OK -- A Glenpool man's drawing on a napkin is featured in the Time magazine year-end issue that showcases Barack Obama as "Person of the Year."

What started as a way to encourage and inspire Marty Coleman's children has turned into a book.

Marty Coleman is an artist. As he puts it, his brain doesn't have many stop signs so his creative thoughts are free to race around at full speed.

During a time of unemployment, while his daughters were in junior high and high school, he made their lunch each day.

On their napkin, he would write a thought-provoking or funny quote, doodle a picture and pack it with their sandwich. He picked topics like peer pressure, racism and self esteem.

"There are some things you just can't sit down and talk to them about, cause, boring dad, sorry. But if you draw something, it's a way for them to and I found out their friends were sitting around the lunch table enjoying them. It was just great," said Marty Coleman, artist.

He figured they got tossed, but a few years ago on Father's day, he learned just how special those little squares of artistic inspiration had been.

"I found in this drawer, a napkin, this napkin that said ‘happy dad's day.' Underneath it, all the napkins from the year, she'd saved all of them," said Coleman.

His girls are grown, but Marty still does napkin art.

He even did one the day after the election, expressing his joy at the outcome.

When Time magazine editors were looking for artwork from Americans to go in its Obama Person of the Year edition, they saw Marty's napkin on a website and included it.

"To allow me to be a little part of something big, so many people live on the sidelines, including me, we watch it on TV, but now I have a little square in a big magazine. It's kinda cool," said Coleman.

Marty is creating a book of his napkins and hopes they will be used to wipe away old ideas and inspire new ones.

The Napkin Dad's book of absorbent ideas can be ordered on Coleman's website.

Check out Coleman's napkin blog.