elementary school
i'm still unsure which came first. i was given extra special treatment from my art teacher in elementary school.i recall being the only one in class allowed to use the paint one time. it so happens my mother was the president of the PTA for all of the years my siblings and i went to that school and very good friends with the principal and the teachers, and i wonder if we reaped the benefits or my sister and i just loved making stuff and it showed either way i'm certainly not complaining. it was awesome and of course from extra encourangement stems great outcomes. and i can never remember a time that i wanted to be anything else when i "grew up" than an artist.

high school
my high school guidence counselor would repeatedly tell me that you dont make much money from art
but what does that really mean when you're only 16 ? the art i arted most at this time was writing.

college
i then went on to study psychology at purchase college, while all my art major friends were getting college credit for things i was doing anyway.
eventually i applied to the visual arts program at my school. i find it oddly pleasing that i was not accepted at first but i applied again.
and got in. most of my classes were photograpghy and video art, and that became my major in the visual arts program. its fascinating that art gets judged and graded. it seems strange, but you fall in love with the teachers who fall in love with you and again from encouragement comes greatness and since i could do no wrong in my video teacher's eyes i was endlessly carrying deja vu (my video camera) around with me, while my color photgrapghy teacher failed me. she taught me a lot about dislike regarding my art. fortunately i was already a strong willed student and artist because after classes people would come up to me and say "wow if i were you i'd be crying" but i slightly enjoyed the teachers harsh and unkind comments, i liked my stuff, so what matter what she thinks ? besides i didnt like her stuff so it seemed fitting, and i still had my video teacher and my book making teacher who only had smiles when they saw my stuff.

england
all in all a beatles fan i spent a semester of college in liverpool. there the classes were very unstructured, some classes werent actual classes, you just had to show finished work at the end to be graded. one class was painting, and without knowing much about technicals i painted my projects. the "no classes" situation left lots of room for fun and travel where i met neato folks and had homesick thoughts. i came back to the states and painted my first portrait. i used a photo i had taken of a pal and painted it, it was so silly and fun and for some reason i was able to paint the person very similar to their actual likeness, and to this day i am unable to do that with any other drawing utencil. i knew there was a new great love for painting and i didnt want to risk it by taking any painting classes, with the chance of a yucky teacher, or learning things that might take away from the joy of exploring it all on my own with no rules or wrongs

new paltz
i moved to new paltz,ny, finding myself in a college town while being out of college left little room for thriving, two months and a couple of portraits later i found myself moving back to brooklyn

brooklyn
realizing living at home wasnt so grand either i then moved to ithaca,ny where some college pals were.

ithaca
there i met a whole new group of smarty pants and an idea started to grow. there many amazing personal relationships happened and i met a friend when i was playing at an open mic. she wanted to feature me on her website of up and comers and some time later i thought 'hey i want a website too!'
it was then that barb became my first web mistress and www.adeeart.com was born. ithaca is a great place for starting artists to have shows. there is a coffee shop every two inches that book shows monthly, and i booked them. my favorite time was when i had accidentally booked a show at three different places. it was exciting to have to push out much art to fill every wall well. i had started making art for many friends and on someones birthday i always made a painting specified for them. one friend's birthday was coming up and it happened to be my birthday too, feeling as though she deserved an extra special gift sharing my birthday i thought i'd make her a doll. it was made out of a tube sock, and was kinda weird. but i loved it and decided to keep it and make her another. now with my new doll making skills i was able to make her a great little doll. and it was all up hill from there.

2nd doll & 1st doll

erie
i happened on living in erie, pa. there weren't many places to have shows, (without having to pay a bunch of money) and the art scene seemed very grown up and elite. i never really attempted my break in to that scene, perhaps its my fear of success, fear of unacceptance, or perhaps i just knew better.after making many dolls by hand i started feeling like i'd benefit from the joys of a sewing machine. then for my 28th birthday about ten friends had chipped in to get me my very own brand new
super duper sewing machine. it was love at first sight.

back in brooklyn
and now again i am living in brooklyn, and still after many years, trying to keep an open positive feeling torwards being an artist in a very competitive often overlooked unappreciated field.

business in brooklyn
currently i have 2 jobs which still allow for much of my time teeming with art. i teach art
and i care for an autistic girl, (who is awesome!) both fantastically full of fascination and fun. i still am a full time starving artist though. brooklyn is a bit expensive and a lot dirty. i am constantly sorting peoples trash in to the appropriate garbage bins and marveling at what nature still exists here.
why brooklyn? plain and simple its where the family is.

my new nephew arlo ~7 weeks

 

 

arlo ~ 9 months