Baltimore's Screen Painter

When asked if she believes screen painting is getting more popular in other cities, Dee thought it seemed to be. She mentioned that one of her paintings is in a home in Australia, and one of a Lautrec poster is in Paris.

I asked Dee if it were a dream come true for her to be creating artwork full-time and to be able to work at home. She said yes indeed. She has so much fun, too, introducing herself on the elderhostel trips she and her husband, Carl, like to take. People will ask one another what they do for a living. Typical answers are, "I'm a teacher," or "I'm retired." And when Dee says, "I'm a screen painter," people are always surprised and curious.

Indeed, Dee has revived the art of screen painting. It was on the verge of extinction. It wasn't so much that the art was dying out, but that the artists themselves were dying. When she found retired screen painter, Ben Richardson, she had him show her everything he knew about screen painting. It took two years for Baltimore to realize there was a producing screen painter in town. Since then, Dee has worked with a Baltimore historian to revive and document the art form, and has created the Painted Screen Society. Dee said the art form certainly has not died out; in fact every year more and more people sign up at Baltimore adult education centers to learn the tradition. I wonder if at some point she'll be looking for someone to mentor and to pass her knowledge of the art along to. Dee?

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic