arts
Cuddy survives bad luck’s blow
By Leanne Lally
Of The Print
In this day and age,, women
are
blossoming.
They’re
discovering their talents and
using them. The ’70s will be
remembered for the rise of the
women. ERA and other
women’s movements will be a
significant force in years to
come. This does not mean that
every woman in the world will
be out burning her bras
tomorrow, but it does mean
that women are no longer
afraid to display their talents for
others to see. And they are no
longer being supressed by
others when they stand up and
say they have something to of
fer.
One who is very active in
developing her talent is student
Mary Cuddy. Cuddy, who will
be graduating this June, is an
artist with a knack for zest, and
a thing she calls the “artist
sprit.” Cuddy is a very versatile
artist with her talents ranging
from oil painting to clay,
characatures, cartooning, pen
and ink drawing, and typeset
ting. Cuddy has been attending
the College for three years and
says the educational experien
ce has helped her discover and
reach her goal.
“Most kids quit school and
then go back,” said Cuddy. “I
quit school to get married. I did
all my family raising first, and
now I’m getting my education.”
Cuddy, now 36, recieved her
high school diploma when she
was 33. “I’m working for
something now, I have a goal
and college has really helped
me.”
Cuddy says Clackamas helps
because it doesn’t make a per
son feel uncomfortable about
his or her age. “You go to
school with people who range
in age from the high school 18-
year-old to the 52-year-old
who just got finished raising a
family,” she said.
Another goal for Cuddy is to
have a one-person art show.
“When you have an art show,”
said Cuddy, “you are saying,
‘Here’s a part of myself.
They’re hanging on the
wall —my personality, my
emotions, what I felt at the
time. Now come in and enjoy
me or take me home.’ ” Cuddy
doesn’t agree with the process
of selling or “hawking” her
talents at a fair or flea market.
“To me that’s a form of
prostitution,” said Cuddy.
“When you’re trying to push
your paintings on to the public,
to me that’s like pushing your
feelings onto them,” said Cud
dy. “Paintings are like a
possesion to me,” she said.
.“They’re like a child. If
somebody comes up and says
‘Gee, I really like that,’ I think
that person is really going to
appreciate my work like a pet,
and you don’t want to give one
of your pets to someone who’s
going to abuse it or stick it in a
corner,” she said.
“If someone comes along
and really appreciates the work
they see, I’m more than happy
to sell it to them,” Cuddy ad
ded. “But if someone comes
along and says, ‘Well, that’s a
good price and it’s got the right
colors/ I won’t sell it.” In that
type of situation, not only is the
artist’s painting up for sale, but
so is the artist, Cuddy said.
When looking for a job in the
art world, Cuddy says an artist
really has to sell himself. “You
have got to make people
realize they need you and that
you are talented,” she said.
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“You’ve also got to show them
where you can do them pood.”
Cuddy feels that her talents
are “inborn. ” Her parents gave
her some encouragement, she
said, but not as much as a per
son should get. “I was way
ahead of my time,” said Cud
dy. “I used to do things 20 to
25 years ago that are just now
being acceptable.” Cuddy was
hitch-hiking, riding in cars with
boys, and smoking in the
cemetery when she was 15.
“But I don’t smoke now,” she
said.
“My father was very strict,”
she recalled. “His strictness
restricted my ability both
creatively and artisticly.”
Cuddy now has two children
of her own, a daughter, Shan
non, 12, and a son, Rich, 11.
Both her children are creative.
“Parents need to encourage
their children at a young age or
they drift away,” said Cuddy.
“My parents encouraged me in
a way they thought was right,”
she said.
“You have to be so careful
with a child because you’re
responsible for another per
son’s life; and you can screw it
up by either sending them one
direction or another.” Cuddy
said she can’t “condem” her
parents because she sees that
they did what they thought was
right for her. “But I have to
stop and consider,” said Cud
dy, “how many creative people
are stifled because their parents
mistakenly directed them
wrongly.”
Cuddy has raised her
children alone for six years
now. “I w'as in a very unhappy
marriage,” said Cuddy, “1 used
to paint to get away from it. I
can lose myself in my pain
tings.” She said it was hard to
be on her own after seven
years of marriage. “You get in
a rut, and you lose such a
sense of self-worth that you
think that’s all you deserve.”
Tragedy has had more than
its share in Cuddy’s life. She
was a battered wife during
much of her seven-year
marriage. Later she met and
“fell in love with” a man who
was involved in a fatal car ac
cident. “I was going through a
terrible grief period,” said Cud
dy, “but I had to keep it
together because of my kids.”
She looks at graduation as a
“symbol of all my hard times
and the agonies.” Agony
comes in the thought of what
she would be doing had she
not gone to college. “I would
still be waitressing,” she stated,
“and on welfare. What kind of
legacy would I be leaving for
my children?”
“Kids take for granted the
gown and the pomp and
ceremony, but there’s a real
symbol there,” she believes.
With all the bad things life
has dished out to Cuddy, to
look at her one would not
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March 23rd.
a.m.
The dance, sponsored by
Phi Beta Lambda, student
business club, will be in the
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“I’ve literally taken thi
one day at a time,” said G
dy, “even at times an hour:
time.” But she says, “you:
vive. You make it beca
there are survivors out th
and if you can take a loot
what life has handed you
come out on top, then you
a survivor.”
Business club sponsors dance
Disc Jockey Bustin Loose
will be featured at a disco dan
ce to be held at the College
March 16, from 8 p.m. to 1
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believe that she has had tho
hard times. “If someone h
come up to me 20 years
and told me what was goinj
happen I would say, ‘You
crazy, I’ll never make it.”’
she has, “because you have
What has helped is the a
spirit, which makes you
beauty in all things, includi
the pain and agony.”
(Let Us Be The One You Turn To)
Community Center build]
and is open to the public, j
Also featured will be a da
contest and a light show.
Students working on
dance include: Brian Md
den, Della Riggs, GinnyRi
Jan Loiodici, and Joanne]
ne, Oregon City; Ted Moi
and Norma Lamar, Milwai
Jerry Frey, Dorothy ®
and Ace Wehus, Cai
Elizabeth Hayton, Coltora
McKeever, Gladstone; f>
Ferguson, West Linn
Donna Laizure. Beavercrd
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