

Life Has Been a Journey for Laurie King
Anderson Artists Guild member Laurie King has the heart of a servant. The desire to help others is no doubt what led her to earn a degree in psychology with an emphasis in counseling from Limestone College. Her employment history started in the Athletic Department at Anderson Junior College, where she had also studied for two years before transferring. One of her favorite jobs was at Bookland Bookstore in the Anderson Mall as assistant manager. “I loved working there,” she sa


Curiosity Drives Debbie Shaw
Curiosity has always driven Anderson Artists Guild member Debbie Shaw. That was evident from childhood in Cleveland, Ohio, when she and her sisters regularly got into trouble for capturing bees from dandelions and shaking them in a jar to hear them buzz. After high school, Shaw worked for Southern Bell in Miami as a long-distance operator. She mostly enjoyed the job though she carries a particular memory of Henny Youngman, a comedian who became famous in the 1940s and was bes


Joan Calhoun Took the Scenic Route
Anderson Artists Guild member Joan Calhoun now has a job she loves as an instructional aide in a special-needs high school classroom. It’s a self-contained class, usually for students with moderate to severe disabilities, though the pandemic has created a broader group. “It’s challenging but rewarding,” she said. “I enjoy it.” To get to this point, Calhoun says she took “the scenic route.” One step in that journey was managing a video store. “It was okay, but everybody said I


Craig Johnson: Artist and Explorer
Anderson Artists Guild member Craig Johnson is a man of many talents and interests. He grew up in Los Angeles dreaming of a career in aerospace medicine. He majored in cytogenetics at Northwestern University in Chicago. He later slogged through master’s degrees in hospital administration and industrial engineering at the University of Missouri before attending dental school in Alabama and then medical school in Oklahoma, Vermont, and Alabama. He also completed coursework for