Beyond the Bars

Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail Inmate Programs

“My Little Munchkins”

I believe I was born with a crayon in one hand and finger-paint on the other.  Sister Gracilda of the Order of Saint Casimir, Chicago, provided my early training in art.  I met her in 1961, age 11, at St. Clements School in Wilton Manors, FL.  My teacher, mentor and friend, Sister was my instructor for over three years, from art to social justice issues.  In the fall of 1964, my family moved to N.J.  In 1968, while attending a Bergen County Public H.S., the art teacher looked over my painting and informed me “the colors in your sky are wrong. Redo.”   I walked to the window, opened it, and threw the unframed painting out, to fall two stories below.  No one was outside; I was suspended and given an F for the entire year.  I continued with art and when my babies came, I would draw tiny little animals and make up stories about them.  I called my children and the little animals “My Little Munchkins.” Family and friends were recipients of my art whether they wanted it or not.  In 1977 Merrill Harvey, a well known artist in Morristown, N.J. saw one of my small primitive landscapes in town for sale, and took me under his tutelage till 1992, even representing my pieces for sale.  In 2008 I restarted “My Little Munchkins” to entertain my beloved first granddaughter.  I use HWC and W & N watercolors and archival pens on watercolor 90lb paper; I make the small gift card envelopes by hand. All work is donated to non-profit programs, such as JABA’s “Twice is Nice” shop, CASPCA, Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail’s “Beyond The Bars Art Program” and in 2012, Charlottesville City Schools fund raising projects.

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