Looms to Watercolors
Virginia’s story as told to Laura Buchan
Portland, OR
I had a chance to sit down with Virginia Krull recently and talk a little about her life. Virginia is nearly 92 years old and has been residing at Providence ElderPlace in SE Portland for the past five years. She is originally from the Midwest, born and raised in Kansas. Her parents both died when she was very young, and she was raised in a Masonic home from ages eight to18. After graduating from high school, Virginia moved to Brownsville, Oregon, where her sister lived. She got a job working at Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, now the Mission Mill Museum in Salem, where she weaved blankets using large manual looms. Eventually she moved to Portland and attended Business College. She spent her career doing office work, but her real passion was, and continues to be, the creative arts.
Virginia has quite a background in creative art. As a child, she played the piano and performed in morning chapel. In 11th grade, she began to play the cello and played for about three years. She also took voice lessons and sang in various choirs throughout her life. Virginia was a ballet dancer as well. Despite all her talents, Virginia always had a bit of stage fright and performing was never her favorite part of these activities. She simply loved the creative act itself and pursued these things because they made her happy. She has also always loved to draw, but more recently in her life she has begun actively pursuing painting. Her paintings can be seen in the hallways of ElderPlace where she lives. She is currently writing and illustrating her own children’s story, titled Annie at the Symphony of Musical Flavors. She is extremely modest, but her work is beautiful, utilizing bright colors and cheerful themes. She is working with watercolors right now, and as a fellow artist, we discussed both the joys and frustrations of different mediums. Virginia uses what she sees around her in everyday life to help her paint; she notices shadows and the way light falls and then draws upon those visual cues to help her when she paints.
Virginia enjoys living at ElderPlace. She takes watercolor lessons every week, works on her art daily, and enjoys keeping up on current events. She considers herself lucky to be in good health and happy. I really enjoyed meeting her.
