From her earliest days as a little girl, the power of drawing on a page fascinated and inspired Sally Tiska Rice. Coming down late at night to learn the tricks of the trade from her father who drew blueprints for a living, there was a magic at the end of the pencil. Her love of the process was interwoven into her 25-year career on the team at Crane & Co., which created its legendary stationery. Part of the work, which included custom stationery for the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, the Kennedy family, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Ozzy Osbourne, was done with handmade brushes painting ink on 100 percent cotton paper - impossible to be replicated by a printer or press. After years of involvement in the local arts community, including NUarts downtown, Sally is now a part of the burgeoning Clocktower Artists. The group is growing with the support of landlord David Carver, who is building out more space in the Clocktower building on S. Church St. in Pittsfield to accommodate demand for more artists. Sally says she's not an extrovert by nature, but she's seen a lot of great results by "putting herself out there" to support this project and her own artwork. We're glad she has! Also in this episode, we cover: Sally's mentorship of fellow students with art projects at a young age, her own early mentors at North Junior High, Pittsfield High School and at Berkshire Community College, working in several media and a recent focus in water colors, overcoming health challenges and multiple spine surgeries, her work doing commissioned pieces, connecting with Mary McGinnis and other artists in the early days of the First Fridays Art Walk, her spirituality and what inspires her own work, and much more.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Sally Tiska Rice.