Getting ready for our art show in November

 Things are a bit messed up in our house as we pull things out of closets, bags and off the walls in preparation for our combined art show November 13 - December 31 at UALC Lytham Rd. in Upper Arlington. I get to do the computer stuff like figuring out how to make little descriptive cards for the wall (nothing is for sale) and a sheet describing our "history" in art.  Here's what I've got so far--although it's a draft.

 

". . . this show is a story of our lives together with about 50 samples of our watercolors and acrylics. Both of us were interested in art as children, but only Bob pursued it as a career and avocation. He became an architect with a lot of fine arts and design classes in high school and college, plus some classes at an art institute as a child. Norma had the family dining room table with a lot of art supplies and paper, but no classes. Her teachers in kindergarten and first grade “featured” her art of a May pole dance, and drawings of horses were always scribbled in the margins of school papers. The Bruces met at the University of Illinois, dated and married in 1960, but art really wasn’t a focus. Bob’s interest in painting was rekindled by his friend Ned Moore in 1972, so he dug out his old brushes from college art classes. That piqued Norma’s interest so she began taking a few workshops.

We’ve chosen paintings that tell about our lives. In the Library Lounge is time we spent in Illinois where Norma grew up and where we vacationed with our children in the 1970s-80s. Included are some paintings of family—two of our son Phil who died in 2020--Norma’s childhood friends and siblings from the 1940s, and her grandmother in her wedding dress. Norma’s mother renovated her parents’ farm home near Franklin Grove, Illinois, as a religious retreat and we spent a lot of time roaming northern Illinois looking for farms for Bob to paint. In keeping with the farm theme we’ve added some flowers and vegetables, although we don’t garden. These are usually from a workshop at Lakeside or an artist “how to” book.

In the Hall of the administrative wing we’ve included paintings of our retirement travels in Ireland, Israel, Egypt, Alaska, and Spain—some borrowed from the current owners for this show. Bob went with the UALC mission group to Haiti for 10 years and taught architecture there and has offered art instruction for years. At the library door we’ve hung a painting of three children who were our neighbors at Lakeside reading their Bible together. They are homeschooled and Bob helped with their art instruction. Also you’ll see paintings of two of our pastors who’ve had a big place in our lives as Christians. In the Hall we’ve hung paintings of animals—Norma particularly likes to paint horses, and owned one as a youngster (no paintings of him).

We began vacationing at Lakeside on Lake Erie in 1974 and owned a home there from 1988 to 2022. Bob taught many classes at the Rhein Center for the Arts in Lakeside and we both took advantage of the classes in watercolor, acrylic, pastel, pen and ink, jewelry making, silk painting, fiction writing, guitar, trombone and pottery. Bob has been in the Lakeside summer art show for over 40 years. The Lakeside paintings are in the Fireside Lounge and are mostly by Bob.