Art has been my constant companion throughout life helping express things that words could not. Picking up a paintbrush, drawing simple shapes, taking photos to capture a moment, making books, experimenting and learning new techniques were explorations that allowed me to carry on a dialogue with the world around me.
Growing up the youngest in a large family, in a small Middle Tennessee town, afforded me the luxury of disappearing into a crowd so that I could be an observer. I watched nature and the world around me revolve in that age old rhythm that we all feel as time passes us by. As a teen, working in the family dry cleaning business, wonderful lessons were gained that built the strong work ethic that guided me throughout my career. But dry cleaning was not my future. Creating became my sanctuary in my early years that stewarded me through youth and into adulthood.
I studied art through junior high (as it was called in the day) then high school and on to college where I was an art major. College began for me at a community college in my hometown and then I decided to take the leap and transfer to Memphis College of Art in 1987. MCA was a private, four year art college that focused only on art, which was dreamy for young me. Majoring in Graphic Design was not my dream (I wanted to be a painter) but knowing those student loans needed to be paid, I picked something that would give me the skills to feed me.
After art school, I stayed in Midtown Memphis because I fell in love with the city and all that it offered. My first job was working in the art department designing catalogs for a factory that made wrapping paper. From there I moved on to work in a small boutique design firm as the print production manager. Next I did a short part-time stint working for Memphis College of Art as Director of Career Services. During that same time, I also started a freelance Graphic Design business that I went on to do for several years. Life threw some twists in my path that landed me back working for that same wrapping paper company as the Manager of Creative Services. That job was my favorite and it was the hardest.
Throughout my entire professional creative career, I dabbled at making my own art. That drive to create has always been inside me and now that my years of doing a “desk job” are behind me, finally I can just create.
Making this website is a way that I can share my own art with whoever is out there in the world that wants to see it. Always a daunting thought, really. But here I am.
Thanks for dropping by and I do hope you will take a moment to say hello.
Sincerely,
Carrie Lee Bartlett
Carrie Lee Bartlett Art 