ArtsLIVE in Ventura County

Op-Ed / Essay Submitted by Rich Burlingham

Art … ignites

Back in 1999, my wife introduced me to her grandmother, Gertrude Smith, an eighty-something visual artist from a small town deep in the middle of Mississippi. Gertrude, the epitome of Southern belle charm, had spent her life in the countryside raising four kids, working hard and being the dutiful wife who catered to her husband’s needs.

Gertrude she had begun a lifelong love of visual art as a young girl when her grandmother bribed her with a box of crayons to milk the cows. Being resourceful, she took those crayons to school and sold them to friends and earned enough to buy two boxes. She then drew on anything she could get her hands on and never stopped.

Her artistry had to be suspended since Southern girls in the ‘30s weren’t able to seek careers in the arts or careers in anything, for that matter; they married a handsome boy in town and followed him on HIS journey.

Working in factories on both coasts during World War II, Gertrude did get a taste of the world outside Mississippi but returned with her husband, Percy, to start a simple life back in their hometown of Collins. She never abandoned her artistry totally. It was just inside her to replicate what she saw and felt onto paper, canvas, mason board or anything that she could find around the house.

It wasn’t until the kids all left home and her husband loosened the reins that she became more serious with her art and began spending more time painting. Percy even converted their cow barn into an artist studio for her. She began attending art colonies and selling her work, mostly to friends and neighbors.

My wife had always wanted to help promote and market Gertrude’s work.  When I came along, it became a reality, and we took on the challenge of inventorying and photographing her works (over 1,000 filled her studio). We created marketing materials, placed articles in publications, got her on TV, flew in a gallery owner from New York to evaluate and offer advice. She received honors and she and her art were beginning to gain a reputation around the country – all in her 80s. 

By helping Gertrude blossom as an artist so late in life, I became more introspective about my own creativity.

I have been involved with creative endeavors all of my life but never really thought of myself as an artist or creative person, mainly because my creativity was part of what I did to make a living. I wrote, produced and directed while working for an advertising agency. I also wrote screenplays, newspaper columns, speeches –  you name it – but it was just something that I did because it came easily..

I realized I had not allowed myself to “blossom” as I should have.  Sometimes when a talent or skill is so innate or natural its importance goes unnoticed by the very person who possesses it. 
Gertrude passed on a few years ago, but her art lives on. I look at it every day as a reminder that I not only need to realize that the arts are a part of me but that I need to let people help me gain deserved recognition. This help comes from all of you who can help promote the artists in our communities. Through patronizing galleries and attending performances or simply by appreciating the artists who reside here in Ventura County, you can spread the word on how they enrich our lives. 

Gertrude never forgot the smell of those first crayons she received from her grandmother. I’ll never forget the first book I wrote in second grade. For Gertrude and myself, art doesn’t imitate anything. Life is art and hopefully, with a little help, we can give others the same thrill we get when creating our art as when it is experienced.

Rich Burlingham, of Moorpark, is a member of the ArtsLIVE Advisory Council of the Ventura County Community Foundation.  This Op-Ed is one of a series celebrating the arts and their impact on leaders in Ventura County.

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