Karen Maier
My love of art began in Marstons Mills Elementary School. Vernon Coleman was the art teacher who taught in each elementary school once a month. (He would later become quite famous for his murals around Barnstable.) My mother encouraged my art by buying an oil paint case and supplies for me when I was 14. I took one semester of art at the University of Massachusetts, but it was extremely limited. The professor gave assignments and graded them but never taught me how to do the assignment.
I spent 37 years teaching Title I reading in Colorful Colorado. There I was surrounded by majestic mountains which provided beautiful subjects for painting. I took several classes from artists in adult education classes and art stores. I explored oil, watercolor, and acrylic.
I retired from teaching in 2010, and my husband and I returned to the Cape in 2011. I took acrylic painting classes at the Barnstable Senior Center and at the Cape Cod Art Center.
In recent years I have sold paintings, painted wood ornaments, note cards, and small paintings at a local café, church Christmas Fairs, and Yarmouth Art Guild summer tent sales.