Mom’s Memories Page 25 AKA Arts and Crafts
Page from book my mom wrote in when her memory was failing. This page talks about some of the arts and crafts shows she participated in during the 1980s.
The other day I noticed that I hadn’t done a “Mom’s Memories” in a while. I also had a photo that I wanted to share of my mom in 1978. Since the photo shows her in the beginning stages of transferring a pattern onto a piece of wood to paint, I thought this post could include both of my ideas. I guess this could also be considered a continuation of the post I wrote last year that was called “Betty Lou the Artist.”
The post from last year was about her landscape paintings, which I prefer. This post is about some of her craftier things she did. I think it was the mid-70s when she learned tole painting. It was a method of painting where you put two different colors on the paint brush and then apply them to the surface you are painting. And in my mom’s case, she liked to paint them on crafted wood items – like ovals, boxes, cannisters – pretty much any flat surface she could get her crafty little hands on.
Betty Lou Bucklin Landry in Jennings, Louisiana, on Dec. 26, 1978.
She would find pictures in different magazines or books and save them for painting. She had a huge collection of those. When the time was right, she’d take a prepared wood item and match it with the image that she thought fit it the best. She’d transfer the image onto the base with tracing paper. That’s what she was doing in the 1978 photo at the kitchen table at our house on Lucy Street in Jennings, Louisiana. It was the day after Christmas.
Betty Lou Bucklin at Zigler Museum in Jennings on May 19, 1979.
With the landscape paintings that she did, she mostly kept them. But with these smaller paintings on wood, she started selling them at different art (and craft) shows. One of those shows was at the old Zigler Museum in Jennings just a few days after I graduated from Jennings High School in 1979. She and my sister Jodie had several items that they made and put up for sale. All of the paintings on wood were by my mom. Jodie made pottery and you can see some of that on the table as well. I know they sold quite a bit, because there were some pieces of pottery that Jodie made that I would have liked to have.
Henry and Irma Hetzel Phenice at Zigler museum in 1979.
Since I’m talking about that day and this is a family history blog, I’d better mention the other family members that were there that day. Right next to Mama and Jodie’s table was my mom’s maternal uncle Henry Phenice and his wife Irma Hetzel Phenice. Henry was a lapidarist and he made jewelry from his stone carvings. He was very generous with me that day. He said that I could pick anything from the table as a graduation gift. I looked at the items on his table and decided on the cube that he had sitting in front of him. It was made from moss agate and he said it had taken him a while to carve it and get the surfaces smooth. I don’t even know if he had it for sale. But he was willing to let me have it and I still treasure it to this day. My mom had a road runner pin of his that she wore all of the time.
Florence Devall, Betty Bucklin Landry and her daughters Jodie, Jamie, and Karen at Zigler museum in May 1979.
I also have this picture of Mama, Jodie, Jamie, and Karen. To the left of mom is her paternal aunt Edna Bucklin Keys. At least that’s who I think it is. I remember it was confusing because she was my grandfather Fred Bucklin’s sister, but she had the Keys last name. That’s because she was married to my grandmother Myrtle Phenice’s first cousin Frank Keys from their common Keys family. Now the confusion comes because my grandfather’s sisters resemble each other in their old age. I’ve found enough photos of them when they were young that I can tell them apart back then. If I’m wrong about this, I’m hoping someone in the family will let me know.
I think I’m done now. I’ve shared the photo I wanted to – plus a few more – and I’ve shared some of Mom’s Memories. I’ve even added a bit of family history. Mission accomplished.
Sept. 24, 2023 Correction
The woman in the green shirt posing with my mom and sisters was not my mom’s aunt. She isn’t even related to us! But there are some family connections. My sister’s good friend from junior high and high school was Stella Devall. Well, this photo is of Stella’s mom Florence Rosannah Minnix Devall. Come to find out, Florence’s first cousin (by their Miller mothers) Wilma May Hylton was married to my mom’s uncle Warren Phenice (brother of the above Henry Phenice and father of Julie).