Professor Stacy Gresell values her work as a teacher, but also considers herself to be lifelong student. The lessons she’s learned have opened doors to a whole new world ‒ or at least a new exhibit.
Gresell is a professor of speech, communications and rhetoric at Lone Star College. Being a teacher hasn’t stopped her from also being a student. Gresell has taken many art classes over the past ten years from glass blowing to working with jewelry and painting. Her art hobby has turned into something more that she never expected.
Gresell’s artwork is currently on display at Lone Star College’s Bosque Gallery until September 18th.
“I always considered [painting] to be a hobby,” Gresell said. Her “hobby” of painting began when she and her husband gave birth to their daughter, Maryn. Gresell decided she wanted to paint a mural for Maryn’s room without much prior experience. “How hard can it be?” Gresell recalls thinking at the time. “It took me 120 hours, but it turned out exactly the way I wanted.”
That mural launched an impressive art career for Gresell. Friends started asking for paintings and she eventually turned her hobby into a business.
Five months ago, Laura Fisher, an art teacher and colleague of Gresell’s at Lone Star College, suggested Gresell do her own show. After a little coaxing, Gresell agreed. And after many more hours with a brush in her hand, she had created enough art for her own exhibit at the Bosque Gallery.
Gresell’s exhibit is entitled Mostly Mixed Messages and is comprised of mixed media and encaustic paintings. For more information on her exhibit, visit the Bosque Gallery website or the exhibit’s listing on artshound.com.
