I Painted a Wall When I Was Three (1973-1977)

Beginning in 1970 in East Carolina University’s School of Art, I studied under some fine teachers. Those that I remember most were Ed Reep, Elizabeth Ross, Paul Hartley, and Ray Elmore. My first studio art class featured a WWII vet artist, in his 50s, who was the most joyous, demanding, scary, room-filling human being I’ve ever encountered. Edward Arnold Reep (1918-2013) was to be my biggest challenge- a truly grand human being addressing this 18-year-old’s grandiosity. Over two degrees (BFA ‘75/MFA ’78) Ed became The Mentor, and, over a lifetime, a great friend. His teaching, over 40 years, overlapped my 40 years in higher education by about 8 years; that’s a continuity I honor and claim- an eight-decade continuity that continues, in our students, and theirs- a legacy.

The work created in college shows experimentation with mixed media and watermedia. I risked extravagantly and failed foolishly and frequently. “Hitting the wall” often, I’d loudly ask, “WHERE IS MY VOICE? “. One of the paintings was based on painting the exterior brick wall of my family’s house at the age of three. I thought that the sky blue on the wall would help me get through to Somewhere. It earned a spanking, while I smiled. Finally, in 1976, a passing butterfly flittered by and led to the paintings that would Voice this eternal 3-year-old. That unchosen, flutter by moment became a metaphor for my own spiritual pilgrimage through the wall, and, “Afterglow- the Life Cycle of a Butterfly” emerged as an MFA thesis exhibition in 1977.

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