Marie C. Cook

Twin Oaks, College Square Mall, Cedar Falls, Iowa
Art Colony, 321 Main, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Beginning

My mother’s sister Hazel was good at drawing of things, and she used to draw for us and show us what she’d learned to do. So that’s probably the beginning of a little bit of art. We didn’t have much in school. Once a week, we had a teacher that came in with her materials, and we did whatever she wanted done, I guess. I did find as I went back through my report cards, that my best grades were in art and deportment.

My first art instruction came when I took a two-year course at the college for kindergarten and primary—you could get a certificate after two years and whatever art we had for the course of kindergarten and primary was what I got. I remember I built an elephant that you could ride.

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Watercolor class

After we returned to Cedar Falls after Herman’s service, I signed up for a watercolor class. And the reason I did was because one of my friends decided I could paint a picture for a frame that she’d bought—it was a little larger than what most prints were and so forth. It was an antique frame. So she decided to have me paint a picture for it. So I signed up for a class about that time. And I painted one before I went to the class, and then I painted another one afterwards. And I had a friend whose husband was at the college at that time, and they were having an art show and if you had gone to college there, you could enter it. And so he urged me to enter. So I had entered this one painting—the second one—and got an honorable mention on it. I guess that did things for me.

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Dab and Gab

I got acquainted with some of the other ladies that were attending the classes. We’d taken several classes from Jesse Loomis who was a watercolor painter from Waterloo. She undoubtedly had quite a bit of influence on all of us that had started there. But this time, after we got there the class was canceled, so here we were. I said, “Why don’t you come down to my house and we’ll paint.” So I think there were maybe four of us that came here and started painting, and that’s when we started our Dab and Gab, which at that point met once every month. We’d all go, tired from the day, start drinking coffee, start painting—didn’t have sense enough to go home after that. After a year or so of painting, we started having shows every year, which went on for about six or seven years. We put our paintings up and we listen to the critiques. I mean, that’s the important thing about the group together, because you put your painting up and they’ll tell you.

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Teaching

I suppose what had a great influence on me was that we had several [shows] at the Cedar Falls Recreation Center. The director wanted to know if I would teach some children’s classes, and I didn’t think I should do that, you know. I didn’t have a degree in art or anything. He said, “I just want them to enjoy it.” And he was familiar with my work. So then for the next ten years, I was [teaching] classes at the Recreation Center, and I probably did my greatest learning during that time—and learning from the children. I learned a lot of things from them, in their use of materials and things. Then I ended up with adult classes, and then I ended up with senior citizen classes. And probably still would have been doing it, except that I started cutting silhouettes in ’69.

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Silhouettes

Our Waterloo Art Association was having a Christmas sale. I knew that Mrs. Deal, who was a silhouette lady, was going to be there. She was all set up, and over here in the corner was an empty space. So I was setting my things up in the corner, and she was talking to the president of the group, and she said, “You know, Mr. Smith, somebody from this group should be learning to cut silhouettes.” So I said, “I would like to learn.” So every time she would cut a silhouette that afternoon, why, I would get behind her and I’d cut the same person, and then she would tell me how I could improve upon them.

And then she said, “You’re going to have to get a lot of experience.” So I went down to see the people at the Head Start and asked them if I could cut the children’s silhouettes for Mother’s Day. Then I took those back over to show her. I would go back every once in awhile and show her what I was doing, and she’d tell me how I might be able to improve upon them.

I’ve just now taught three more people. I’ve taught a lot of people through the years, but I don’t think anybody stuck with it. But I think two of these are going to stick with it.

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Iowa

I would say that I’m just a regional artist. I probably do more flowers these days, because they’re handy to do. I used to go on sketch trips and things, and really don’t get around to doing that much anymore. I do a lot of houses for people.

We have a cabin in Minnesota, and in the later years, when we didn’t have the children to be watching for, I’d always take up a supply of things to work on. But I never did do much for Minnesota. I eventually painted a few buildings and stuff, but it never inspired me like the Iowa farms.

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