CDPL Gallery: Teachers Become Artists in Retirement

It may be snowing, cold or dreary outside but the month of January, in its brightest wisdom, presents each of us with a fresh opportunity to begin again, unfettered and free of the past. Unfettered and free of classroom routine, retired lifetime teachers June Gourley and Jan Sieferman, in their brightest wisdom, let their latent talents free to pursue exciting experimental experiences in pencil, pastel, oil paint, watercolor and quilting. The fruition of these joy-filled journeys awaits you in the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery during the entire month of January, 2008. Come see what they did.

When June Gourley was approached to display her work in what she described as "this beautiful facility where such wonderful works of established artists have been shown", she was reluctant to respond positively. After active pursuit, she agreed that sharing her hobby would be an honor, most especially if doing so might encourage others to pursue experimentations of their own heart's desire.

Always an admirer of local Crawfordsville artists, June's desire to take up pencil and brush remained under cover until her retirement in 2001 when a four-year move to Fairfield Glade, TN presented an opportunity to frequent art galleries and watch artists working in watercolor, pastels, colored pencils, oil, and acrylics. She began taking an occasional workshop in 2002, audited drawing and watercolor classes at Roane State, joined their Art Guild and even displayed a few paintings in their art gallery.

In the beginning, June didn't know about alizarin crimson, sap green or any of the magic colors that could be combined together to form even more beautiful colors. She had yet to learn about paper weights, types of brushes, techniques and the processes for using the new equipment her husband began gifting her with. Dear husband Tom even gave up his favorite fishing tackle box, just so June could have a convenient way to store and carry her art supplies. WOW! WHAT A GUY!

June believes those who begin expressing themselves creatively in high school or before have a decided advantage over those who begin later. But it's never too late to begin, her husband reminds her, as he speaks to and of her with endearment, as his very own "Grandma Moses"!

In 2002, June finally mustered the courage to take a workshop from local artist Jerry Smith and gained some self-confidence. Later workshops with Rob O'Dell gave her further opportunities to learn, grow and take risks without "hyperventilating". She began seeing her work more acceptably; realizing that artists whom she most admires have been working at it for a long time and as a neophyte she was just beginning.

June still refers to her work as a "hobby" but three paintings of her daughter and granddaughter may be found in Thailand, another in a gallery in Michigan. A portrait painted from a photo of her grandson may be found in their home in Kyrgyzstan (by China). She hopes to paint portraits of her twelve grandchildren. A lofty goal indeed! June also enjoys painting and giving away greeting cards which recipients enjoy and love to frame.

As a child June was often found sketching, no TV in those days! As a fifth grader, she was chosen to attend Saturday classes in art at Ball State. She remembered how important those early art experiences were to her as a child, thus she always tried to include as many art projects as possible in her own kindergarten and first grade classrooms.

"My life has been blessed", she says, "having a career that I loved, a wonderful family and now having the time and zest to pursue multiple art adventures in retirement".

Retired Art teacher, Jan Sieferman, was born and educated in Evansville, Indiana. She remembers winning a drawing contest in the fourth grade without benefit of artistic training. She and her best friend were the artists for the Memorial School Newspaper and designed and built sets for plays and productions at the school. One of her favorite Christmas gifts was an oil painting set.

After high school, Jan attended Marian College in Indianapolis, but graduated from the University of Evansville with a degree in Elementary Education. When a very special young man entered her life, Jan became engaged, married and finished college in the evening while teaching in Parochial schools during the day. Must have been love!!

She and her husband, Ed, moved to Crawfordsville in 1967 so he could attend Purdue/Butler Universities. She began teaching at Hose School, had two small children at home and completed a Master's Degree in Education at Indiana State. After child number three came along, Jan took a semester off. After that way-to-short maternity leave ended, Jan returned to the classroom, but this time as a K-12 art teacher.

Jan's interest in and desire to create her own art suddenly burst forth at this time, so she began taking art classes from Jill Stockwell, and a whole other career was born for Jan. There wasn't a craft or technique available that Jan didn't tackle, but with three small children and all of their activities, there was little time to pursue individual projects.

Shortly before retirement, Jan was inspired by her daughter's quilting ability and began taking basic quilting classes at The Sewing Connection, where she discovered a whole new, glorious color palette in FABRIC! For the last seven years she has collected, studied and developed a whole new area of creativity using fabric. She joined the Sugar Creek Quilt Guild and met new friends with like pursuits to enjoy.

One quilt, even a small wall hanging, takes months to complete, so Jan forces herself to continue taking watercolor classes from Rob O'Dell where she can continue growing in that medium also and can see quicker results.

Jan substitute teaches when called, is caregiver to her husband and 93-year old father who lives with them, has six grandchildren, four of whom are talented teenage athletes whom she enjoys following. She loves to read anything and everything of interest and quickly quotes the phrase, "SOOO many books to read, SOOO many quilts to quilt, SOOO many paintings to paint, oh where oh where have all those free retirement hours I looked forward to gone"? Blowing in the wind, I suspect!

Written for the Journal Review
By Diane Hammill, Coordinator
Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery
Crawfordsville Public Library
Dhammill1306@accelplus.net