Mrs. Janet Ellis
b.
Thomas Jefferson High School
Richmond Professional Institute
College of William and Mary: A.B. in Fine Arts
Art and Advanced Art
|
|
Mrs. Janet Ellis b.
Thomas Jefferson High School Art and Advanced Art |
|
 |
 |
|
"'Let me help,' says Mrs.
Ellis to Kit Thomas ('64) as he sculpts in art class." |
|
| 1964 Anchor, p. 62 | Friday, December 20, 1963 Issue of the Beacon - p. 2 |
| 02/10/07 |
Courtesy of Dave Spriggs ('64) of
VA - 04/04/08 Thanks, Dave! |
..... Your
mention of glue-sniffing reminded me of an incident from my junior year of high
school. My art teacher, the
very wonderful and beautiful Mrs. Janet Ellis, had assigned a fall
semester project of designing and constructing a miniature
house. Perhaps you've noticed how I tend to go a bit overboard, and always
find the difficult path to anything....
So I decided my dream home
was a Georgian mansion. Being the obsessive perfectionist that I am, I
therefore rabidly
immersed myself in research. I wanted the brick walls set in English over
Flemish bond one foot thick. I wanted a slate roof.
I wanted carved pediments above the doorways. I wanted two dependent
outbuildings (the kitchen and the office) connected
by lovely passageways. I drew blueprints. I was involved! My
final design was very reminiscent of Col. William Byrd's
Westover
on
the James, which I so loved. (Years later I was to learn that he was my
7th great-grandfather, but I digress.)
 |
 |
||
|
"Westover",
Charles City Co., VA Built in 1730 |
Col. William Byrd, II (28 Mar 1674 - 26 Aug 1744) |
||
After so much initial
preparation, it was time to build. For the purposes of my project I only
built the main house, but I
knew that when the time came I'd have it all. We bought massive quantities
of those lock-together red plastic toy building
bricks (their name escapes me) - and what a toy I built! We bought a 16" x
20" cork bulletin board as a carrying base, and
painted it green, and added "boxwood" bushes sold in the model train section of
hobby shops (where we came to spend
much time). We bought balsa wood and paneled the walls and carved moldings
and constructed "stone" steps. We bought
and mixed paint in authentic colonial colors. It took weeks and weeks, and
we spent the cost of what would have been my
winter coat that year, but it was a sacrifice willingly made. It was all
in perfect scale and gloriously beautiful!
And it was all held together
with plastic model glue. And it was winter. And in our excitement,
we somehow must have
missed the instructions about using only with adequate ventilation. And
did we get SICK!!! In 1963, if anyone was using
glue for a recreational drug, I certainly never heard of it. But it's a
grand wonder my momma and I didn't die from the fumes
in our tiny one-bedroom
Stuart Gardens
apartment!
I did love that Georgian
mansion, though. I kept it for years and years and moved it around the
country with me. Eventually
it fell into ruin. Sigh.
- Carol Buckley Harty ('65) of NC - 08/16/05
Artist's Supplies clip art courtesy of http://www.artsuppliesdirect.ca/ - 04/21/07