As a child growing up in Fresno, California, I lived near the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I could see the magnificent snowcapped mountains from my swing in the back yard. I fell in love with patterns in the shapes, form and line in the mountains. The patterns of light and details that exist in trees, the forest floor, cascades of water sliding down granite rock, and the rock itself were exciting to me. I was curious for more understanding of not only the design and science of nature, but also the meanings people attach to it.
Growing up in the country was an education of its own. I learned to be self sufficient and willing to explore, spending many hours alone every day, creating and playing with design. I knew I was different from my family members and that was alright. I saw the world as an artist and as a poet. My life was shaped as I built houses in giant stands of Johnson grass, designing rooms and sculpturing figures to complete my village. I created elaborate narratives of imaginary play. I was always designing. There was plenty of work to do on a small farm but always time for alone creative play. We had huge gardens filled with flowers and vegetables. Creating designs in gardens was also part of my learning. And I drew: mountains, lakes, rocks and trees.
My grammar school teachers always included art classes. In third grade I learned to draw with perspective, which made a significant impression on me. In seventh grade we were taught art history. My love of art exploded. I was taught to design a book cover and that act of design shaped my experience, in that, my desire to create interesting and elegant design was electrified. In high school I took a prep college course filled with science but devoid of art instruction. I found design in Botany and Physics, learning how nature employs design to sustain life. I learned about the connections between science, design and beauty in nature. I learned that by design there is no separation between all natural elements of our world.
My first area of study in college was Nursing and I became a Nurse Practitioner. When I started my MSN program, I began a painting career. I studied painting with a private teacher. I left the science nursing world and became a Marriage and Family Therapist and an Addiction Counselor. I worked as a Military and Family Life Counselor from 2008-2018 and maintained a private practice at the same time. I fell and broke my left knee in 2014. This created a two year window of rehabilitation, where I slowed down and refocused. I then attended TN Tech University and began art classes in earnest. Art had always been my love and my friend. Through the years, I have had wonderful private teachers who helped me develop skills. Perry Johnson MFA (TN Tech University) was my painting teacher who saw me as a painter and recognized my ideas as novel and worthwhile.
A story: During a therapy session with Judith Yeager-Spitaleri LCSW in 1999, I was engaged in a Jungian sand tray therapy project. The creation of the scene was revelatory. I had placed a small enameled cloisonné metal purse in the center of the tray. It was tightly closed. The center of the sand tray is the self and/or the soul. Judy asked, “What is in the purse?” I replied, “ My paintings”. She asked, “How many are in the purse?” I responded, “There are so many that they cannot be counted.” Judy summed this up by saying, “You need to start painting.” It took several years, but I began painting in earnest and with joy, as if I had opened the purse.
Currently, I live in the high desert of Central Oregon, the land of the Tenino people, including the Tygh, Weyamiama, Tinainu and the Dock-Spus. The Northern Paiutes searched for obsidian from the volcanic rock here and created arrowheads. This is the world of a mighty Ponderosa Pine forest, the Great Grey Owl and an occasional wolf.
Here in this beautiful world of nature I paint, garden and continue with a practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist.
I live six miles SW of La Pine, Oregon in the forest with my kind and gentle husband, Robert Coogan MFA, Metal Designer and my son Erik BFA, Metalsmith. My family also includes a talented daughter, creative son-in-law and a gifted and talented grand daughter. My brother, Jim Bedgood MSTCM and his lovely wife Yi-Chun Hsieh Bedgood MA, Professor of Mandarin Chinese at the Monterey Defense Language Institute, have supported my art and also collected it. My artist support group includes my heart sisters: Ilene Hart LPC, Rev. Barbara Taylor, RN, and Renee De Bryn. Both Lisa Stewart LPC and Beverly Sandquist BSN have been collectors of my art. I also thank many cousins and friends for their support and in particular two high school friends, Jeannette Seebohm Kowalczyk and Adrienne S. Both of these women have supported me through many challenges. Jeannette prayed for me for 40 years that I would remember my voice and my soul’s desire.