Creating Freedom Rocks

"Creating Freedom Rocks" is a children's book that was published in 2010 to establish the Alyce "Sandy" Nash Memorial Scholarship Fund. The story was originally an oral presentation Michelle Finnegan was asked to give to the children of Grace Place after she donated boxes of books that were given to her by Houghton Mifflin while they were pursuing her to publish her first book, " Hung Jury." Michelle was asked to speak to the children about what it is like to be a "working artist".  

After Sandy died, Michelle illustrated the oral presentation in memory of Alyce "Sandy" Nash who was one of the first female officers in the US military serving during WWII before studying art in London and running art galleries in NYC with Tony Perkins. Sandy was Secretary to the Board of the MacDowell Colony and curator of the Naples Philharmonic Galleries before ultimately becoming the founding curator of the Baker Museum at Artis-Naples. Sandy was the second friend Michelle made when she moved to Naples Sandy cultivated her artistic talent and introduced her to many Vips including Dale Chihuly, Myra Daniels, J Carter Brown, Robert Rauschenberg, and more. "Creating Freedom Rocks" original cover art won "Best in Show" at Naples Art Association in 2016.