Eighteen years ago this summer I sat at my mother’s house with a baby in my arms wondering how I would do my life.  How was I supposed to be a mother and find a calling in life aside from mothering?  It seemed to me that being a mother was overwhelming enough. How did women do both?  At the time I did not think I could.  I quit my job and stayed home to care for my first-born. We were living with my parents in order to save money to move to Wisconsin so that my husband could go to grad school, but what was I going to do?

I made a plan that summer.  I knew as a young mother that a career would have to wait, but what I needed was a purpose.  It was not enough for me to be a mother alone. . . I needed more.  I figured out that I desired three things in life that would offer me happiness.  I wrote them down in my planner and rewrote them every year to remind me what I was working toward.

I wished to have a life filled with love and to love my life.  I wanted to be healthy and help my family be healthy.  And finally, I wanted to make art and I wanted to have art around me.

Love is as easy or difficult as you want it to be. . .it’s freely given, you make it and you take it.  It’s a lot like Amish Friendship Bread.  It’s delicious, it takes time, but it takes less time when someone gives you the starter dough.

Health is a bit trickier as there is some fate involved.  Good health is more than a state of mind, but it very much starts in your head.  As I age I realize more and more how it is a never-ending process that sometimes takes hard work, determination, a strong will and some prayer.

I was not one of those kids who knew what she wanted to be when she grew up.  The people I admired most were my teachers.  I suppose if I ever aspired to be anything as a child, it was to teach.  Teaching young people seemed like a good calling in life, but teaching young people art seemed like a dream.  After moving to Wisconsin I began that process.  Seven years and two kids later I got my credential.  I taught art to middle school kids and it was heavenly, like a dream come true. 

Teaching art doesn’t mean I have time to make art, but I tried to take the time.  Much of the art work I have hanging in my home started as demonstrations in my classroom.  As I became more comfortable in the classroom, the need to grow as an artist kept nudging me. I moved to teaching high school in part so that my own art would mature, and it did.  Working with other art teachers who create art worked to sharpen, encourage and inspire me.

This week I am holding my first solo art show here in Madison.  It opens on Thursday, July 2nd at the Ebling Library, 3rd Floor Gallery.  Although the show is all recent artwork I have created this year, it has been an eighteen-year process of getting there.  And like the love and good health in my life, my artwork is not perfect and will never feel finished.

If you are interested in meeting me I will be at the Ebling Library from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. for the opening of the show on July 2.  All are welcome to come take a look at the art work on display any time until August 20.