Are there people who seem to follow parallel paths with your life? It seems strange under analysis but sensible and natural during the process, as this happened to two interior designers, Lou Anne Person and I, Suzanne Bach. When I arrived in Alaska in 1972, with a masters degree in Interior Design from Berkeley and ready to go to work, I didn’t know anyone in the design field. This changed immediately. I worked at Nerland’s Home Furnishings in Anchorage and soon knew all the designers and anything new happening in the field.
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, before Anchorage Community College became UAA, among their offerings was a certificate program in Interior Design. We were a tight knit community, and as a designer, you knew who was taking courses and who was teaching. Those who graduated were sought after in local design firms, but many started their own companies. When Lou Anne Person graduated and started her own firm, we were never rivals, but rather corroborated on projects, product knowledge and supply sources. By then I had my own company. Because we were both certified by the National Council of Interior Designers and accepted into the American Society of Interior Designers, we teamed up and submitted proposals for government projects that required two designers. We developed a friendship bond based on mutual admiration within our field.
  
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While I enjoyed teaching Interior Design at both UAA Anchorage Campus and Eagle River Campus, my focus shifted to Mat-Su College. There, I accepted a full-time faculty position and was assigned to coordinate curriculum for the Fine Arts, and to oversee art events. The vacant interior design teaching position was filled by Lou Anne. Again, we were following the same path, now, both teaching at the college level.
I received an invitation from Lou Anne to see her first art show in Anchorage in 2008, and I was impressed with her lovely large flowers, with a Georgia O’Keefe flare. This spring she had a lovely show at The Red Beet in Palmer and again, I was impressed. So when I was asked to show my art at the new Primrose Retirement Community, and I discovered that there are two Gathering Rooms for art, and I thought of Lou Anne for the second wing. The title of the show “From Interior Design to Exterior Expression” is befitting as we find our parallel paths leading us to the same party.
Suzanne Black is a local artist who teaches at Mat-Su College.
If you go:
“From Interior Design to Exterior Expression”
The opening reception is Aug. 8, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Primrose Retirement Community Gathering Rooms on Wing A and Wing B. Primrose is at 889 N. Elkhorn Dr., in Wasilla (off Lucille). The show will run through August.
Comments
10 comment(s)ken olson wrote on Sep 2, 2009 4:27 PM:
Peggy Tessema Compton wrote on Aug 29, 2009 3:26 PM:
I am looking forward to more articles from you. "
Pat Jones wrote on Aug 26, 2009 9:26 PM:
Jean Slate wrote on Aug 26, 2009 5:41 PM:
Suzanne is a talented artist and gifted individual.
I wish that it were possiblefor me to see the show.
Jean Slate "
Judy Vars wrote on Aug 15, 2009 12:01 PM:
NANCI BACH wrote on Aug 14, 2009 6:55 AM:
Tucker Hurn wrote on Aug 13, 2009 10:36 AM:
Happy Schneider wrote on Aug 4, 2009 3:55 PM:
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Janine Weber- Baumgartner wrote on Aug 2, 2009 8:46 AM: