Last Dance Painting

Drawing on the wallpaper behind my parent’s bed with the babysitter’s lipstick to sprawling on the living room floor with my pad of newsprint and a new box of crayons extend to my present delight in approaching a fresh canvas or block of clay. My early memories of complete immersion in materials and making continue to this day. I always said that I was going to be an artist when I grew up, silently wondering what exactly, that entailed. Throughout achievement of degrees from the University of Georgia (BFA 1974) and University of West Georgia (MA 1995), and a long career teaching visual art in a variety of settings, I consistently maintained a home studio. My sons, who grew up in a maker’s home, were puzzled when their friends did not have studios in their homes. They both have since established their own creative practices. I have previously exhibited only sporadically and occasionally sold a few pieces preferring the making to marketing. Upon retirement from public education in 2015, I was excited by the promise of dedicating my days to painting and ceramics. Isolation during the Covid quarantine afforded me permission to dive even deeper. I was content at home with my husband and dog and art supplies. Until a stroke, suffered in late 2021, rendered me nonverbal and unable to use the right side of my body. As extensive speech, occupational and physical therapy slowly restored language and movement, I began to long for art making. The realization of the importance of art as therapy propelled my recovery and solidified my resolve. I now know that the daily practice of making is all that is required in declaring oneself an artist. Engaging in the immersive process of creating is what satisfies and sustains me. I work on several paintings at a time, in a series, based on some vague idea of color or subject. Each painting slowly emerges as a unique, one of a kind, manifestation of the original idea. I am realizing that a vital part of the process is to finally release these objects, both for physical practicality and observer’s reaction, feedback and enjoyment.