This is one of my very favorite books ... it is the first "real" book I ever bought! Forty years have passed now and it's cover is torn and tattered ... but, even today, when I hold it in my hands ... it can still transport me back to a magical time in my life!
In 1970, when this book was published, I was a 19 year old aspiring artist. The year before, 1969, Gloria Vanderbilt and her wildly colorful collages of Elizabethan ladies ... made out of bits of tinfoil, paper doilies, gingham and pen and ink ... were introduced to the world on The Johnny Carson Show! Somewhere out in West Texas ... I was watching ... in utter amazement ... and became a lifelong admirer of Gloria Vanderbilt and her art!
Over the next decade, her artwork evolved into fabrics, paper products, sheets, china, housewares and more books ... a mini empire! She became a "rock star" of the art/design world! Her artistic journey was well publicized over the years in magazines and newspapers ... and her generous spirit shared it all ... the good, the bad and the ugly ... she was a real person living an artistic life. Today, she might be more recognizable as the mother of CNN's Anderson Cooper ... but for over forty years ... her own artistic star has been blazing across the sky!
Now in her 80's ... it appears that star is still going strong! I recently read online, that she visits her studio daily to create the wildly colorful, spirit lifting collages that she is still known for today ... and much, much more! Her artistic life will always amaze and inspire me! After a lifetime of following her star ... I am so very grateful for this opportunity to finally say ... thank you, Gloria Vanderbilt!
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