You know how sometimes you look up at the clouds and see shapes? Maybe one resembles an elephant, and your mind begins to wander remembering a favorite childhood story illustration? THAT is the kind of artist I am. Left to my own devices, I am prone to daydream and easily follow my imagination.
Like many artists, I returned to my passion later in life. After my children were grown I went back to art school, which allowed me the experience of bonding with artists half my age. I believe learning alongside my younger friends taught me to be more innovative in my approach to art making; it expanded my ability to adapt to ever-changing methods in technology and media. I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Drawing & Painting from Northern Illinois University in 1989. I then began to pour out my heart – creating and exhibiting one series after another.
But in 2014 I was presented with the opportunity to train with the Alzheimers Association of Milwaukee to learn how to facilitate their “Memories in the Making” program. I was assigned to a memory care activities group and spent Friday afternoons painting with the residents until the Covid 19 pandemic needed to shut the program down. I was very sad, because I’d made such good friends there over the years.
This experience made a profound adjustment to my thoughts about art-making. It had been wonderful to witness how painting with simple watercolor could help people with failing memories express so much when their words alluded them. And it was fascinating to observe the innate styles displayed in their paintings – their individual unique preferences of color, brush size, type of strokes and application. I began to learn from THEM! I became more experimental and inventive in my own creative problem solving, an ever-evolving process.
BARBARA GRANT, 2026
I believe the art that graces our surroundings speaks to our hearts.
