It’s never too late to follow a dream. I say that with confidence now, after finally listening to my pent-up desires and letting the artist within me come out to play and learn and create.
I grew up on a farm, surrounded by nature and having a penchant for drawing, whether in crayon on my nursery walls or with pen or pencil on any paper that was in reach. I dug shale clay out of the creek bank to see if I could paint with its muted colors (not really). I devoured the art books my mother provided for my sister and me, then flourished under the guidance of a great teacher, Mel Panter, at our small-town high school in Stanberry, MO.
Then, other than doing a couple of oil paintings at the end of college (in 1980, about the time my next art teacher was being born), I stopped. But the desire didn’t stop – any spare hour during a business trip or vacation I would explore art museums and galleries. My collection of art books, supplies and equipment for “some day” grew over the years.
Fast-forward 23 years post-high-school — through college at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO; working as an ag journalist in KC, Chicago, & St. Joseph, MO; then moving from Missouri to Philly for 15 years, where I gained a husband and bore our son –- and in 2000 I ended up back in Columbia, a wonderful place for art and artists. Most importantly, it was home to the teacher who appeared when I was ready, Joel Sager, artist-in-residence and now owner of Sager Reeves Gallery. I loved and admired Joel’s work, not knowing at the time that his parents came from the same rural county I did. I got up the nerve to take the first-ever month-long Workshop Salon he offered in June 2007, and his second a month later.
Then came the turning point, when Joel said he thought I had both the talent and the drive to pursue my art, and invited me to become his first on-going student. His belief in me, his willingness to share his amazing knowledge of art over the next five years of lessons, and sharing a studio for a time, helped me find my voice and footing as an artist in my own right. Ironically, my “voice” came to life while turning my fear/hate relationship with watercolor into understanding/love with Joel’s guidance.
For many years, I called Columbia’s Orr Street Studios my art home, but due to COVID-19 and other issues, in early 2020 I moved to my home studio with its peaceful view of my yard and woods. I encourage you to come visit, virtually or in person, and to pursue your own creative dreams, no matter your age or time in life. There is an invincible summer in each of us.
– Marilyn
The peaceful, serene, edgy, ironic works of Marilyn Cummins. 