Meet Marcia Boone

I needed a ‘Hobby’ after retiring from 40 years as a University Professor and Business Woman and owning my own Consulting Company. 

I took my first painting class from Lou Ann Iller in 1995 in the upstairs Studio at the Water Tower. I just loved it and could not believe how relaxing painting was. I went into a mindset I had not experienced when I picked up that brush. John Begley was the Executive Director of the Louisville Visual Art Association that housed the art classes and gallery at the Water Tower. He came up one day and offered to give me a tour of the Joyce Garner show that had just been hung in the lovely primary gallery there. He explained her painting techniques and showed me those little signs beside each painting that helped me understand what was going on in the paintings. John introduced me to the wonderful ‘World of Art’. Shortly after that John invited me to join the board of the Louisville Visual Art Association. 

I continued painting and became very involved in all of the great activities of LVAA. I eventually worked on and/or chaired several of their big events. I became friends with so many of the Louisville artists and followed them around town to the many galleries that I never knew existed.  My husband Chris and I even  spent a week entertaining a group of Irish Artists that artist Susan Gorsen had invited as part of a Louisville- Irish Exchange Program.  We had our local artists and the group of seven ‘Rowdy’ Irish artists at our home for a dinner party one night. We decided that we had gone through more bourbon that night than even after our many annual Derby Parties!  

John left LVAA to teach and run the Gallery at U of L. When the new executive director retired suddenly in 2007, I was asked to serve as ‘Interim Executive Director’ of the Board.  The organization had some financial issues and Linda Cowan, President of the Board and I took on a big job of keeping the doors open. We started writing grants and applied to every national and Louisville or Kentucky foundation that we could find. We had great support from the board and finally had a more stable financial standing. I was most grateful after a year to hand off my ‘temporary’ position to the newly hired Executive Director. 

I retired from the board but returned a few years later to chair two really fun events for what had by then become LVA:

1. ‘The One Hundredth Anniversary’ at the Water Tower, which was the night of a snow storm. We still had several hundred people show up. 

2.The hugely successful ORANGE GALA during which I worked with a fantastic group of mostly former board members. This event ended the LVA era at the Water Tower.  Shortly afterwards they moved to the Portland neighborhood. 

I have continued oil painting for the past 25 years and took art classes from three local studios along with classes in Maine. Like many of the Anchorage gals, I migrated to the wonderful Mudpies Studio in Middletown and have grown as an artist under the tutelage of the remarkably talented Susan Howe. I still love painting flowers and have sold these at the annual AGA art show.  Susan has helped me do many portraits of my two grandchildren as they have grown. They are now 17 and 21 and my daughter says that these portraits are my ‘legacy’ for them.  I am so grateful for the many friends and experiences that I have had in my ‘World of Art’, and hope to continue that journey.