MAY 1995___PRESS RELEASE__East County Magazine_____East County History Corner
Art of Former East County Resident, Margret E. (Fuller) Short, on Display at Mt. Hood Community College
By Jeanette Crockett McDermid___________Historical Society Member
GRESHAM, OREGON _____In the 1940s and early 1950s, living on Glisan between 182nd and 188th was still a "country" style life. There was not any television, and we did not have telephones. Your friends were the people who lived close by because the world was contained in a very small area. Our entertainment as children was also contained in a very small area and virtually created by ourselves.
Imagination was the key to making the little world enjoyable and exciting. There were no Nintendo or television character plastic people to play with. We did play little cars in the dirt, even the girls, and played wild cowboys, and with paper dolls, cutting out the clothes ourselves coloring and sometimes getting lucky enough to get some plain paper and getting to draw your very own picture.
I was fortunate; I got a chalk board to use. It had two sides that you could use, one as though it were on an easel and the other folded down flat. Therefore, I drew and finally started painting on whatever I could find with whatever I could find to paint with.
Little did I know that one of my friends down te street on the corner of 188th and Glisan had the same feeling about drawing and painting that I had. The difference is I still just dabble in art, write about and hang art shows, but she has become a very fine artist. Her name is Margret E. (Fuller) Short. She has a one-person exhibit now at Mt. Hood Community college in the Fireplace Gallery.
I spoke with Margret this week and she told me how she loves looking at the sunrises and sunsets and even as a child felt the need to capture that beauty in a timeless way., She spoke about the early morning times we got on our bikes to ride to the berry fields in the summer to earn a bit of money and being outside getting to see the wonders, beauty, and color that possibly not everyone noticed.
Margret listened constantly to the radio, mostly with her grandmother, and created and imagined her way through the programs she just listened to and never saw except in her mind's eye. Now, we get to peek into this creative spirit through her paintings.
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Jeanette's article continues with descriptions of my current studio, my working methods, and such.
Shown here is the first painting completed in my new studio. After so many months of not painting, it is splendid to be back to work, specifically experimenting with the natural pigments again. Initially, I felt very rusty but after just a little while it all seems familiar again. I had to review my drying charts from last year to see which pigments were the most desirable. The green in the leaves is vagone green which is one that has excellent drying properties. In my previous experiments I found other greens such as terra verde and celadonite to be poor driers. Another benefit to this pigment is the natural muted tone. Just a slight augmentation with a darkener for a shadow tone or white or lead tin yellow for a lighter passage gets the value where I want it to be. The fewer the pigments, the less confusing and muddy looking the mixtures are.
