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Show Carol Harding Shines as Local Artist . i . r ' . Yj ; - - (x ' " .'V i -- v ... !( I, ) ; I . - j . ; ; y ; , ' .., Z?y Gen Taylor With a paint brush in hand, Carol Harding of Pleasant Grove can transform any surface sur-face into a thing of beauty. From a young age she knew she was destined to be an artist. Her earliest memory was studying study-ing how clowns were drawn on a new dress, and she remembers thinking, "This is what I will do, this will be my job." Years later art has not only been her job, but her passion and gift as well. Carol was only two when she had this epiphany, and as a normal nor-mal toddler, she used the walls as her canvas. After several spankings most children stop the naughty behavior, but Carol had work to do and retired behind be-hind the couch where she was sure to go unnoticed. Eventually Eventu-ally she discovered the magic of an unfolded envelope and waited anxiously each day for the post man to bring her supply of paper. Throughout her school years, Carol received encouragement and guidance from instructors who recognized her talent as more than just a hobby. A junior high teacher saw her potential as a leader and would occasion ally let her instruct the class. Another teacher took an interest in her abilities and counseled her to begin thinking of college and work towards a scholarship. As Carol began her senior year and the prospects of furthering fur-thering her education were near, a tragedy struck her family, changing her path and focus. A drunk driver killed her 15-year-old sister and threw the young family into total disorder. Her father left and her mother became be-came inconsolable which left the care of two younger brothers broth-ers in her hands. Even though Carol's dreams were put on hold, she never gave them up. Night classes and reading everything she could get her hands on, helped pacify her intense in-tense desi.e to Icarii , and though giving up her dream of an exciting excit-ing education, she would not give up her dream of becoming becom-ing an artist. Instead she took jobs dealing with visual arts and learned much with hands-on experience. ex-perience. At various jobs she learned sculpturing, how to decorate ceramics, ce-ramics, advertising and window displays - all training she used to improve her art skills. While working for Christensen's in Pleasant Grove, she met her husband and settled in town to begin their family. Carol began doing freelance advertising work and soon gained a reputation in that field. She had also started doing portraits por-traits and as word got out, she had commissions for her work. Not wanting to leave her family, she worked from home, always with her children close by. Her yearning for more education edu-cation finally led her to the Famous Fa-mous Artist course of Connecticut Connecti-cut which was a correspondence school she could work on in her own time. The three-year course took four years to complete, com-plete, but Carol finally felt she had a solid foundation from which to proceed. She paid for the classes from her side jobs which gave her a feeling of accomplishment. ac-complishment. When she and good friend, Jane Robinson, decided to take an art class at the high school, she had no idea how her life would change. The friends were excited to learn a different method meth-od of painting and attended the classes with great hopes. Jane convinced Carol to let her show the teacher some of her portraits and soon the teacher and several Carol Harding at her studio behind her residence which she designed and built. Photo courtesy of Geri taylor students were asking Carol to teach them. Carol objected that she had no place to instruct and when it was suggested she do it in her home, a new era began -one that has brought much joy and satisfaction. The art classes began in her front room and after advertising to teach children, she held classes class-es in the kitchen. It wasn't long before they outgrew their home which necessitated a move to a larger house. It wasn't long before be-fore she had students all over the basement, library and models in the front room. She was selling paints in the kitchen and had supplies under the beds. When her house began smelling like turpentine, the Harding's knew it was time for another change. During these years it was difficult dif-ficult for a woman to get a loan on her own merits, but Carol was determined to design, finance fi-nance and build her new studio. With the same tenacity that had served her through the years, she was able to get the financing and help she needed. A cousin brought logs from the Uinta mountains and helped rough in the structure. From there, she was on her own. Carol traded artwork for electrical and rock work services ser-vices and her husband helped when he could. But for the most part, this was her project and she completed it with finesse. fi-nesse. She overheard a young boy say, "Did you know a crazy lady lives here? She built this place all by herself." Carol just laughed. She knew it was a crazy idea, but she now had her own studio and her dreams were coming to fruition. During this time , she and Jane Robinson helped each other with their projects - Carol with her studio and Jane with The Bungalow. Bun-galow. Carol would draw Jane's . , , , , . v f I in v 1 1 1 " I ' ' j '; : H i , ' , i 1 ; ' r .:, - . r , " 7 '' ' ' ; :- !.. " - ; ' ' - ' y ' - "Artist" Continued on page 4 Carol painting a scene from Zions Canyon. Photo courtesy ot Geri taylor "Artist" Continued from page 1 vision of the reception area and together they fleshed out the details. The PG Garden Club noticed their work and submitted submit-ted the drawings to the paper. The club eventually submitted the two women's names for the, Outstanding Young Women ' of America, award which they were awarded. As it became harder for Carol Car-ol to teach, paint and raise her family, she was only painting one or two pieces a year. Her interest had turned to American Ameri-can Indians and after completing complet-ing two portraits, her framer suggested she take them to the Death Valley Western Art Show. This experience led to putting her art in a small gallery gal-lery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Wyo-ming, which in turn led to her meeting John Clymer, a nationally acclaimed western artist. Clymer's priceless advice was "if you want to do anything any-thing with your work, you've got to do it now, because it is so draining.". Carol was now in her early 40's and when Clymer told her to stop teaching and concentrate on painting, her first thought was how to supplement sup-plement this income. The artist told her not to worry about it but to paint and find artists who were serious about their work and would give the encouragement encourage-ment to move forward. Giving up her students was difficult, but Carol was determined deter-mined to follow her heart and begin showing and selling her work. This was a turning point in her career and as she painted what was in her heart, it showed in her artwork. She found her education everywhere she could, including studying for a month under the famous portrait por-trait artist, Daniel Greene. The friendships made during these years have opened doors she never imagined existed, and in turn, she opens doors for others. oth-ers. Carol has remained an eager ea-ger student and has always been willing to share her talents tal-ents with all. Her mission call in 2008 to help paint the murals for the Oquirrh Mountain temple in South Jordan is evidence of this enthusiasm en-thusiasm to share. She had no idea that her wall drawings draw-ings would one day lead to painting murals on sacred walls for which she would be blessed, not scolded. |