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Brenda Greenwood Stephenson Bogart
“You're always trying to
get things to come out perfectly in art ‘cause it’s a little bit
different in life.”
Annie Hall
My
daughter Stephanie sent me this quote recently after a conversation
we had musing about my desire to control and the trouble it gets me
in (maybe that’s one reason I have so many last names). The talent
to create was planted in me by God, which I have used to craft some
good things; like interior environments, clothing and art.
But it’s that little dark side of me, that part that gets
such pleasure out of controlling something or someone that really
gets me going.
When life gets real, I know how to escape the pain for a
secret moment, create something of beauty, and therefore control how
someone feels. It could be the way I set the lighting and music
just right for when my husband walks in the door at night….the way I
want the house to smell like a real tree when my family comes home
for Christmas (even though it gives me a headache)….the happy
designs I created in my children’s clothing line….. the way I can
put words together to teach what Jesus is doing my life……the way I
sometimes want to cry when I am mixing colors for a painting.
But this art thing, maybe this is the thing that has control of
me. I don’t paint and draw to bring pleasure to someone else, to
earn a paycheck, or to fulfill an assignment. I do it because of
that feeling I get, that feeling of enjoying God and His
pleasure….the pleasure He must get in knowing I am so enjoying this
gift He gave me!
I hope you enjoy this exhibition of Inner Sections. Tonight,
February 22, 2008 is my first time to participate in an art
exhibition; it is also my son Bradley’s 20th birthday. As I
celebrate his two decades of life, I am so happy to be celebrating
my first art show with each of you!
Brenda Bogart
Biography
Brenda Bogart
Warning: Since anyone reading this certainly takes me less
seriously than I take myself, please enjoy the informality of this
bio:
ART
Awards and Encouragements (what I can recall)
Age 9 won Mr. Peppermint “draw your favorite circus animal” contest
Age 10 won school contest to illustrate “school safety”
Age 11 won award for vacation Bible school illustration at church
I spent all my elective choices in high school and college on
business classes. In college I had to minor in art in order to
receive my degree in interior design and took several drawing
classes. My professor encouraged me to earnestly consider switching
my major to art but I told myself he must be crazy! Did he not know
I had to pay for my own manicures when I got out of here? He was
the professor who started each semester with a little speech
declaring only one student would earn
an A. I never had the guts to find out from my classmates if that
was true or not, however I always got an A. By the way, I don’t
recall receiving many A’s in all those business electives.
CAREER
I spent the next 27 years working as an interior designer. I had
some success and yes I was able to pay for my own manicures AND
pedicures. But I wasn’t very happy with my career choice. I never
felt like a “real designer” even though I profitably produced for my
employers and then myself when I had my own companies. I also spent
10 years owning an accomplished children’s clothing business. In
1993 I had a really, really tough year. It threw me right into the
lap of Jesus and I experienced an amazing time of spiritual growth.
I began studying and teaching and exercising my spiritual muscles.
Little did I know how this time of tremendous growth was preparing
me for another tough phase in the future.
Places I worked: ABV, Wilson & Associates, B’s T’s, Brenda
Stephenson Interiors Inc, Bogart Design Group Inc.
BACK TO ART
When my daughter Stephanie decided to pursue a college career at
Parsons school of Design, she had to develop a portfolio. She was
encouraged to take figure drawing and painting at SMU Meadows School
of the Arts to supplement her work. I decided to take those classes
with her. The first day we actually painted a little painting I
came home and told my family, “This was the happiest day of my
life.” Then I thought to myself, “Why did I just say that...how
rude...I hope they didn’t actually hear me!” When crunch time came
for Stephanie’s portfolio review and interview at Parson’s, I helped
her out by doing some of her high school art assignments. My artwork
was even displayed in the high school cafeteria. I can’t tell you
how thrilled I was even though we had completely cheated!
Then in 2004 I had a period of major transition when one husband
decided to exit and very quickly, another arrived. The extremity of
highs and lows during this phase left me exhausted physically,
spiritually, emotionally, creatively. It felt like I was walking
through mud. Months later when I was still mud walking, my husband
Bill and I decided I should lay down my business. He calls 2007 my
“Selah”, or my pause. I have never done anything so selfish nor
have I ever received such an expensive gift. Bill bought me some
painting classes at a disease ball auction. I cried the first two
classes even though I was just learning to mix colors. I had this
sensation of being at “home” within myself, like slipping a cold
body into a warm bath. So here I am still not earning a paycheck,
but enjoying the process of giving back, being more than doing,
figuring out who I am as an artist. I am actually afraid of her,
the artist inside me. It reminds me of each time I was pregnant,
wondering, “Who is this person inside me? Will we even like each
other?” I don’t know what the artist in me is going to look like as
I am in the early stages of labor, but I fear she will be
irrepressible. One thing I do know, is that suffering has taught me
a lesson God is still perfecting in me – that suffering poorly only
produces more pain, but suffering well…well that is when God
produces his best fruit!
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