IT IS 1981. I am now married with three daughters, the delights of my life. I love being a wife and mother, owning a home filled with cats and dogs, and my garden, and, maybe, I can ignore the urge to paint. Maybe not.
IT HAS BEEN several years since I painted, not wanting to upset my husband. Crazy that I married someone who did not want me to be an artist, especially since we met as artists in Yosemite. And I was still young and didn't know you can't just deny who you are. So I signed up for a woodshop class at the local junior college. Surely making a bookshelf could not be threatening.
TO FAMILIARIZE myself with electric tools, I started with a simple footstool design, cutting a shape like a violin for the top. I had a pattern. I liked the jigsaw, and it was not too scary. In fact, it was really fun. Soon others in class were asking me to cut out their names, which I was happy to do, using a wood-burning pen to add detail. I never made my bookshelf.
BY THE END of the class, I had created Nadi Co. My husband enjoyed cutting out the pieces and so he joined me in this new endeavor. Over the next 15 years, we would supply 300 stores nationwide with cutout wood art.
No comments:
Post a Comment