To Honor Betty Edwards' 99th Birthday...
Today, April 19, 2025, is Betty Edwards' 99th Birthday
I cannot believe the profound, lasting influence my 1979 college class, Art for Non-art Majors, had on me.
Although I pursued technical careers... I was a draftsman and tool designer working in several industries: Civil Engineering, Architecture, Electronics/PCB design and then Aerospace. I later transitioned to an Information Technology career as a UNIX Administrator and Security Specialist. It is not obvious how my college art class could have had such a lasting influence on me!
It wasn't until after retirement that I returned to artistic drawing. I always did dabble in various "arts & crafts" and tole painting as hobbies over the years. In my early career--prior to the explosion of Computer Graphics--I was a Draftsman in the old tradition of drawing on paper, velum and mylar with pencil and inking with technical pens. After college, I was lucky enough to be on the leading edge of the development of Computer Aided Drafting, Manufacturing and Engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) in the 80's and early-90's at Northrop, McDonnell Douglas and Boeing; using CADAM, NCAD, Unigraphics, and Autocad; not only 2D drafting, but surface and 3D modeling, and parametric modeling. As I look back, I understand that Betty's art class had a profound influence on honing my visually centric skills during this period of my career.
My involvement in computer graphics led to becoming a CAD trainer, technical documentation and courseware developer, and then moving into computer application and system adminstration support (at IBM, Nestle, Kaiser, and others), spanning a 20+ year Information Technology (IT) career--although the IT career is a story for another day.
In 2018, after retirement I took a series of art classes with Burbank Parks & Rec. Betty's techniques and her 5 basic component skills of drawing--just like riding a bike--those learned skills ever present. I realized I had unconsiously used the skills since my 1979 college Art class with Dr. Edwards. The skills to quiet a busy analytical left-brain and boost my artistic right-brains' abilities--as I like to say--"to see". Betty had taught me "to see."
Once I started drawing again, I emailed Betty to share my re-discovery of drawing and to thank her. To my surprise, she replied. We periodically exchanged emails as I was excited--once again an eager student--to share my drawing progress.
As I started leading my version of Intro to Nature Journaling Workshops, it was NOT unusual for people in my workshops to have had prevous exposure to her books and theories. During a workshop I held on April 8th, 2025, one attendee told me:
"Betty Edwards' right/left brain drawing book (first published in 1979) is still considered the definative guide for learning to draw."
For decades, her theories influenced countless numbers of people to learn to draw! To learn "to see."
In early 2025, I learned from her daughter Anne, Betty's 99th Birthday is April 19. Anne shared her mailing address so I could send Betty a birthday card. This made me so happy.
I am forever grateful for my amazing luck to have had the now famous author as my college teacher, the life-long influence I unknowingly carried through career changes, and her gift to teach me "to see."
My journey of artistic practice continues as I explore nature with the foundational drawing skills taught to me by Dr. Edwards over 40 years ago and the new found curiosity sparked by John Muir Laws--although my Nature Journal journey is also a story for another day...
Thank You Betty!
