The Sattler Series: The Caricature That Was Hidden Away

Second Post of the Day

After my mother had passed away, I was going through her things when I came across this:

A caricature of my mother?! I didn't need to see the artist's signature; I knew that that had been drawn by Dave Sattler! But why was it hidden away? Why had she not framed it and hung it in her home? 

Dave had done a great job of including things that were important to her.

On the floor by her chair was one of the many books she had authored.

A basket of apples represented our orchard.

And her work in the television industry of writing scripts and press releases was included.

She's even wearing her 18th century hat to represent her work at The Feast of the Hunters' Moon.

This was so cool, but why was it hidden away?

I was already pretty sure I knew the reason, but I still showed it to Leslie and asked her.

"Mom disliked that picture because it made her look so old."

And it did. I can understand her feelings in that regard.

My mother was well known in our community and when she retired, Dave was asked to draw a caricature of her as a thank you gift. It was a big gift and a thoughtful one, and I am sad that she didn't like how she was portrayed. But I do understand how she felt about it.

Currently it is in a stack of things I plan to have framed and then I will hang it in our home. I'll have the framers put a little history on the back, too, so whichever of my kids ends up with the picture knows the story behind it.

Tomorrow we will get to the Dave Sattler worms story.

It even made the national news. 

And I inadvertently played a big part in it.

Stay 'tooned!

The Sattler Series: An Introduction

First Post of the Day

Dave Sattler is an artist who drew editorial cartoons for Indiana as well as many other news outlets across the country for 50 years. He is still drawing now.

I am lucky to have been "Sattler-ized" and this caricature of me hangs in my bedroom. It was drawn from a school photo of me, one I did not know he had access to, so it was quite a surprise when I received it.

Dave signed his work and he also added Boo, the cat that appears in most of his art.

He was kind enough to also give me the digital file of the artwork and permission to use the picture as I wished. What a gift!!

Dave's picture of me graces my original blog, Teachinmama.  

And, I used the digital file to create post-its and notepads to use in my classroom. 

The notepads included the classroom motto that a student had coined, "Flying high with Mrs. I!"

I even have some spiral bound journals that I used both when I was teaching and here at home.

As you might imagine, I treasure that picture that Dave drew of me. It has great meaning to me and is even more unusual since Dave only very rarely will do a portrait of someone. All the more reason why I was so surprised when he gifted the caricature to me.

So, how did all this come about? Well, this is the kick-off post for a new short blog series titled, The Sattler Series. (I know, imaginative title, right?) I'll explain how I became Sattler-ized and also share the story of Boo the kitty that I mentioned in this blog post.

I think you will enjoy the stories. (Teaser: Worms, anyone?) A second blog post is coming this morning so...

Stay 'tooned!