The truth is, it never occurred to Gerri to do anything different. Art is what Gerri does and will continue to do. She loves art history, she enjoys the challenges of creating and surprises even herself when a ‘working’ piece of art ‘begins to fall in place’.
Throughout her life, she always wanted to be a teacher and after some time, she knew she wanted to specialize in the teaching of art. Her dream finally became a reality, in 1991. After some time in the Parma school system, Gerri’s’ life took a few turns. The last of the kids left. She and her husband decided to travel, she had time to create. This is where Gerri’s Circle of Interest story begins…and it is the continuation of her life long journey. She is interested in genealogy, (is in fact a Daughter of the American Revolution), history and she enjoys creating. She welcomes the challenge using a variety of different media presents.
Gerri’s art has taken on a variety of forms over the years. Her first real rendering (a perspective drawing her grandmother ‘saved’ that someone discovered in some of her papers) surfaced. She had saved it since 1962. In college she created an old car using a variety of papers, a diffused light bulb using small coffee creamer cups, cut up wood (her father’s yard tools were the perfect circles once sliced) to create a wall hanging.‘ Out of clay she has created a likeness of her husbands’ hunting boot, she sculpted her own likeness (which her kids hide in different places outside), recently she has created outhouses, miniature (to scale) doll-house figures, etc. Some of those early creations were kept by her professors, some were given away, some are in the basement and the location of the rest are unknown.
Regardless of where her art ends up we know she will continue to create. She will continue to challenge herself, she will continue to grow artistically and she will continue to promote art.
