Through multiple moves following her father’s job, new Anderson Artists Guild member Teresa Anderson always kept a paper and pencil close by. “Being able to draw was a way to express myself,” she said. She earned a degree in ceramics and pottery at Western Carolina University as well as a teaching certification but never used it since the traveling continued for her late husband’s job. However, she did work as a substitute teacher. She also later worked in data research in th

New Anderson Artists Guild member Dania Zahlouk attended college in her native Syria to become an elementary school art teacher, but she never worked in that field. Instead, she and her husband, a physician, came to the U.S, 17 years ago, living in Cleveland and Charleston before settling in Anderson in 2009. After immigrating, Zahlouk focused on improving her English language skills and on raising her four children. She also continued to sew, a skill learned from her mother

When a former student (Leigh Ann Buckner) asked Anderson Artists Guild member Mary McAlister to illustrate the children’s book she was writing, McAlister said yes. Even though the book was about two cats who lived on a farm full of animals, McAlister didn’t hesitate. Yet she wondered if she could do it. “I’d never drawn a cat before,” she said. “I’d never drawn animals.” A watercolor painter, she has created plenty of landscapes full of trees and flowers. But animals required

New Anderson Artists Guild member Den Latham is a man of many talents. He studied at Oxford University in England and has a master’s degree in English from Middlebury College in Vermont. He taught at Tamassee-Salem High School and the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science & Mathematics before taking a position in Hartsville to manage three historical buildings, including a museum, performing arts theater, and fine arts center. “It gave me a lot of freedom to write,” he