There’s No Time to Waste
Feedback from Barbara Straley
I can remember drawing from about age four. All through school, drawing was the thing I did best. Other than drawing, I wasn’t much of a student because I just wasn’t interested.
I dreamed of going to the Kansas City Art Institute where my high school art teacher trained. It didn’t occur to me that one needed money to go to art school or college and of course I didn’t have any.
I did see that most artists had trouble making a living unless they taught school. It was 1952. I watched how people in small town Iowa watched teachers. I didn’t think I could be the paragon of virtue that teachers were expected to be and I was enough of a rebel that I didn’t want to try.
I didn’t plan life. It just sort of happened. I found a few art jobs along the way but none that paid well. I spent a lot of time doing yard work, waiting tables, and working in offices. Along the way I picked up a few college classes. I married thoughtlessly a couple of times. Had some great kids and spent the first forty plus years just trying to figure out how to grow up. Art was a fine vehicle for absorbing life’s frustrations. …