My City May 2022

MYARTS

Painting to Inspire eWatercolor Artist

and on a whim decid ed to draw “Dennis the Menace.” “And, I did!” she exclaims. “I amazed myself. I just kept doing it. It is a God-given talent, I believe.” Willing-Booher grew up in Mundy Township and attended Ainsworth High School (now Car man-Ainsworth). “I had a great art teacher there,” she shares, adding that she was also editor of the school’s yearbook. She

took art classes at Mott Community College and attended University of Michigan-Flint. She then transferred to the Uni versity of Michigan-Ann Arbor, graduating from the School of Arts with a Bach elor of Fine Arts degree. When Willing-Booher ‹nished college, it was during the recession and she ended up working as a waitress. Œe artist decided to visit a couple of her friends in New Jersey and took her portfolio with her. She also visited friends in Texas and Chicago, sleeping on their couches and spending days knocking on doors with her portfolio in search of work in her chosen ‹eld. She ‹nally got a job in New York City creating ads for Rolls Royce. 

S he became interested in art at a young age, watching her grandfather and father create art with cut glass and stained glass. “I saw creative work being done,” she remembers. One day, while in elementary school, Willing-Booher was reading the comics BY CHERYL DENNISON PHOTOS PROVIDED BY DENISE WILLING-BOOHER

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