Why I became an artist

My earliest memory of drawing and coloring as a young girl was such a fond memory. Growing up, after dinner, my mom would wipe down the kitchen table and me and my two younger sisters would grab our crayons and clean sheets of 8.5 x 11 paper or coloring books and just color and chit chat. Looking back on that time I see that it was a clever way of my mom keeping tabs on what was happening in our busy lives in the 70’s. I can still smell the paper, crayons, kool-aid and dish soap as we talked about our day. Sometimes my dad would sit and draw funny caricatures with us, making us giggle. Mostly though he was watching Hogan’s Heroes, All in the Family or Sandford and Son or reading the newspaper from the living room.

In the summer, we would go to northern Maine (the prettiest place on earth) to visit our grandparents, aunts and uncles. Both my parents grew up in families of nine children. So, our visits were full of lots of cousins to play with, mini golf and go kart rides, all night sleepovers, plenty of hugs, wild strawberry picking and long walks in the potato fields. It was a magical time! My father’s dad worked in a paper mill and would gift us rolls of paper. Bright orange and yellow rolls accompanied us home while I dreamed of all the possibilities of what to draw on them. I thought I’d hit the lottery. I was soooo rich. Fun times drawing on long sheets on rainy days for hours and hours.

Fast forward to high school. I loved art and my art teacher, Miss Seriani. She was perhaps the most generous person I knew. I learned drawing, watercolors, acrylics, ceramics, print making, silk screening, 3D fiber art, batiks and weaving. I was in heaven. The art room smelled of tempera, paper and clay. It was my oasis from the anxiety of being a teen in the 80s (yes I had big hair, who didn’t lol). In this small space I was allowed to explore techniques, marvel at the what ifs and I thrived. It was a such a great program and I decided early on in high school this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Draw, paint and through my art bring beauty and joy to others.