By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

Cash donations made during the Arts Council’s exhibit of Douglas Rankin’s paintings early this year are expected to generate more money, and her children plan to use it to reproduce some of their father’s artwork and exhibit it at the Flame Tree Arts Festival in April.
The Arts Council plans to dedicate the arts festival to the late artist and his wife, Bernie.
Arts Council executive director Cecil Taitano Celes yesterday handed the donation box to the artist’s daughters Berna and Joy Rankin and daughter-in-law, Amanda.
The amount of the donations was not disclosed.
Douglas Rankin, known for his unique use of banana stalks in his painting, passed away on Feb. 10 after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 61.
His wife Bernie, also an artist, died in November last year.
The exhibit of Rankin’s artwork opened on January 28 at the CNMI gallery of Arts and Culture on Capital Hill.
Celes said it was online commentator Ruth Tighe who came up with the idea for the exhibit.
The donations, Celes added, were a a way of “giving back to someone who helped us promote the arts.”
Berna Rankin, who is also an artist, said she plans to use the donations to print some of her father’s paintings and sell them during the Flame Tree Arts Festival which will take place from April 26 to 30.