When I was small, my friends and I decided to dig a cave. Delightedly, we pulled the earth from an embankment with our bare hands. Suddenly I discovered a spot where the dirt felt different - smooth, pliable, the most wonderful feel - a vein of white clay. I never forgot shaping that clay, and thus began a life-long desire to sculpt.

 

In 1998, one year before I retired as a band director and elementary music teacher, I traveled to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, to study sculpture for the summer at the Instituto Allende. Sculpting fired my imagination. I made up my mind to spend my first years of retirement studying this marvelous form of art. The feel of clay, the touch of bronze and working with fine instructors all combined to give me a new life of creativity.

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After nineteen years, I am so happy for that decision. Each new semester would find me in classes in San Miguel, Dallas or Austin. working hard to become a fine sculptor. I have formed new friendships and alliances with amazingly inspiring artists. I've served proudly on the Board of Directors of the Texas Society of Sculptors, sharing my philosophy:

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"With the right teacher, we can learn anything that we desire."

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Mary Griffin