Where to start??? and some of who I am

I come from a strong background ...on both sides I had wonderful glorious grandmothers and one greatgrandmother. And my mom who supported me and still does in almost everything I have done.

When I was 13 I was babysitting and taking care of munchkins...I started making them stuffed toys and that led me to my collectable Teddy Bear business. I have to expalin Patterns and recipes and I have never gotten along. I was a home ec class dropout ...but because I thought and probably did knew more than the teacher. I had to throw away a batch of chocolate chip cookies because everyone in my group told the teacher I never measured the ingredients. Lets not even getting into how I sew and how she thought it was suppose to be done. I started designing stuffies , a blue kangaroo for one of my babysitting charges, a jousting woodchuck for a friend of my dad who had impaled a firefighting jeep on a log sticking out from a creek bank, and claimed he was jousting a woodchuck and lost. A lime green platypus for a friend who thought they were great animals. At this time I was also cutting lawns, doing yard work helping my parents with their antique business, and eventually buying and selling my own antiques....and through it all absorbing every bit of knowledge and information I could. I also spent part of one summer as teacher assistant to a fabulous art teacher Mrs. Bragman (GRYS).

So as you can see I have never backed down from a challenge...and that is because the above named women instilled in me a courage and want of independence that I will attempt to create and survive in any manner possible.

So you can live a life that is safe and protected or you can chose to go forward with Gusto and make your life what you want it to be.

Not saying in between you don't have to encounter and endure things not to your liking but that will only make you smarter and stronger.

In 1971 my mother had been caretakers for a old couple who had no one else..and she inherited their estate ...well we ended up in the antique business working flea markets with their things. From there my father who always loved antiques started dealing in old glass bottles ( I will post stories of some of those endeavors later)
but after awhile we got tired of the weight of the product and aggravating wrapping and unwrapping and wrapping to go to the shows. So we got into Antique books, magazines and Paper Ephemera...We would drive all over the east coast to find our stock sometimes cleaning out entire homes. In 1973 Dad decided it was time to open a store and FROM OUT OF THE PAST was born, and survived in a store front until 1995 when we closed it because of my dad's health. Before this store no one ever sold antique magazines like we did. Looking at them I enjoyed all the amazing art of Rockerfeller, and Lydendecker and Wyeth and so much more. I was intrigued. here again there is so much more and I will do that at another time.

I spent 9 years at a independent Pharmacy in old town Alexandria after Graduating from HS...in that Job I was a counter clerk, pharmacy tech, orthopaedic tech, office manager and delivery person. I started in 1976 and retired in 1985 ...hahahaha was that ever a joke...I wanted to retire to raise my daughter Laureta Leigh who was 2, and continue my teddy bear artist business. Which I did...along with a graphics business, assisting my then husband in his printing company,and a few other things.

Oh guess I really need to add this ...in 1976 to 1978 worked for the Little Theater of Alexandria , in set construction, costuming etc,,,and I discovered there was a professional clown course being offered and I took it( Nov 78) ...and Gizzy was born and well I met my first husband and father of my 3 kids Louis/Lano. We had a clown wedding on April 1, 1979 in the senior center where we took our classes officiated by Fashoo Wisniewski our instructor. We were the hit of the papers and the area for weeks to come. We were married in real people form on April 7th to honor my grandparents Simms.


Ok so are you tired yet .. do you see or are you getting a idea of why I am a Bohemian woman ...

More tomorrow

At the beginning and a condensed version this will be filled out

I was first to find out about the art world when my father, a artist bought me a John Gnagy how to draw kit at age 4, from there I drew pictures of everything on everything and soon found that creating art was much more fun than doing anything else, oh other than being nice to people, animals and the world. I don't remember any Christmas after that there wasn't art supplies of one kind or another under the tree. I loved all kinds of art, from pastel and charcoals to painting in every medium. When I was 10 I borrowed my Mom's 1956 Singer sewing machine to create some doll clothes and found out how amazing it was to put fabric together with this machine. About the same time my Dad's mother started buying jewelry at tag sales and giving me things that were broke and I would recreate them into something else. Hence my love of beads,jewelry and glass. I have always loved old things old china, old books, old linens, lace and fabrics..So it just seemed natural to find a way to use some of my stash, in a way that I use all of this to make my art. Art quilts allow the best of all worlds.. you can paint or dye the fabric, you can print out special panels on computers, include photos, embellish with beads, lace, shells whatever. I spent from 1975 to 1995 creating and selling Collectible Teddy Bears made from my own patterns and the last 5 years teaching the techniques I developed to simply the process. 1981 brought the birth of my first daughter Laureta, and Larisa followed in December 1987 as a Christmas gift for the first, and then in March 1989 the bonus prize Andrew to complete the package.

In 1999 I moved here to the Outer Banks of North Carolina where the Wright Brothers first flew, hoping I guess I could grow wings as a artist, and a person apart from my life in the past of Alexandria, Virgina where I was born and raised. My family goes back to working for George Washington and still worked for the estate until about 8 years ago when the last one passed. So I come from rich history, appreciation for farming and land and FAMILY. My Nanna (mom's mother) was one of 14 children That GreatGranma Janie raised on her 32 acre farm. Her, my Nanna and my Mom's strength and the time I spent taught me how to be a strong woman proving to me I could do anything I wanted. In December 1999 I met the love of my life John and we were married in 2002, he helped my maintain the ideal I could do anything and supported me in 2000 when I opened my first bead store to share the love of creating and imagining the impossible with everyone I met.My daughters Laureta and Larisa followed teaching alongside me in the beadstore and one becoming a professional photographer and the other a metalsmith. I have a son Andrew that lives in Florida, he works in the printing industry.

I shared this dream until September 2005 when we closed due to the shopping center being sold. Before I could reopen John was diagnosed with Cancer and we spent the last 3 years battling it, our many hours spent waiting in clinics for treatments were filled with hand sewing small art quilts, ATCS, etc which brought smiles to all around me, many times giving them away to someone special I met that day. I lost him this April , had it not been my art and creative side during the battle and afterwords they would have packed me off to a padded room. Art allows you to go places where no one else can go, and paint with whatever is available ...from pasta to oils to fabrics and beads...endless possibilities. My Life is firmly based in the Arts now and I am working to educate everyone everywhere to see, feel and understand the creative side of life.