Josephine Alexander

There was never a time in my life when I wasn't an artist. I believe I became one as I drew my first breath. Before I could read, I loved thumbing through the pages of picture books. One in particular, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art, was my favorite -- it inspired my dreams of being able to draw and paint like those Renaissance artists one day.  In a park near our house, I loved to play under the massive branches of an old Tulip Poplar tree. For some odd reason, people liked to break bottles on the tree trunk. Finding the peices of colored glass there intrigued me. I carted those bits home and glued them to sheets of card stock that came in the envelopes with  my mother's nylons - my first mosaic! Therein, I had something tangible to show for all the art that danced in my mind. The images dance there still, and they join the memories of that mighty tree, and  colorful sparkly bits of glass, and  they compel me to practice  the sheer joy of making art.