Two artists lead parallel tracks to now

Suzanne Bach

Are there people who seem to follow parallel paths with your life? It seems strange under analysis but sensible and natural during the process, as this happened to two interior designers, Lou Anne Person and I, Suzanne Bach. When I arrived in Alaska in 1972, with a masters degree in Interior Design from Berkeley and ready to go to work, I didn’t know anyone in the design field. This changed immediately. I worked at Nerland’s Home Furnishings in Anchorage and soon knew all the designers and anything new happening in the field.

In the ‘70s and ‘80s, before Anchorage Community College became UAA, among their offerings was a certificate program in Interior Design. We were a tight knit community, and as a designer, you knew who was taking courses and who was teaching. Those who graduated were sought after in local design firms, but many started their own companies. When Lou Anne Person graduated and started her own firm, we were never rivals, but rather corroborated on projects, product knowledge and supply sources. By then I had my own company. Because we were both certified by the National Council of Interior Designers and accepted into the American Society of Interior Designers, we teamed up and submitted proposals for government projects that required two designers. We developed a friendship bond based on mutual admiration within our field.

My change to the fine arts in the ‘90s was mitigated by my involvement with various art organizations, and soon I was teaching watercolor and drawing full time in a studio in Anchorage with other artists. At that time I traveled to Palmer and Wasilla one day a week and taught children’s home school classes. My calling back to interior design came when I was asked to substitute teach at UAA, and that led to several consecutive semesters of teaching. All the while, I continued studying watercolor, oil and oriental painting and would take classes under visiting artists.

While I enjoyed teaching Interior Design at both UAA Anchorage Campus and Eagle River Campus, my focus shifted to Mat-Su College. There, I accepted a full-time faculty position and was assigned to coordinate curriculum for the Fine Arts, and to oversee art events. The vacant interior design teaching position was filled by Lou Anne. Again, we were following the same path, now, both teaching at the college level.

I received an invitation from Lou Anne to see her first art show in Anchorage in 2008, and I was impressed with her lovely large flowers, with a Georgia O’Keefe flare. This spring she had a lovely show at The Red Beet in Palmer and again, I was impressed. So when I was asked to show my art at the new Primrose Retirement Community, and I discovered that there are two Gathering Rooms for art, and I thought of Lou Anne for the second wing. The title of the show “From Interior Design to Exterior Expression” is befitting as we find our parallel paths leading us to the same party.

Suzanne Black is a local artist who teaches at Mat-Su College.

If you go:

“From Interior Design to Exterior Expression”

The opening reception is Aug. 8, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Primrose Retirement Community Gathering Rooms on Wing A and Wing B. Primrose is at 889 N. Elkhorn Dr., in Wasilla (off Lucille). The show will run through August.