Staff Bio & Interview
Name: Arlene Morrison
Position: Art Teacher
Number of Years @ IDCS: 3
Family, Pets, Home:
I have been teaching art since 1995 and live in Old Lyme. I’ve been married to my husband John for 25 years. We have two daughters: Julia and Hannah, and a grandbaby on the way. We also have three dogs: Chadwick, Phoebe, and Shadow, and a cat named Nala. All of our pets love to play together, including the cat.
Hobbies, Skills, Talents OR what do you like to do when you are not working?
In my spare time, my favorite thing to do is work in my art studio. I make lots of fiber art, but I particularly enjoy upcycling and making things out of found objects. I also like to design and create photo books of special family memories. In the summers, my husband and I take our dogs out on our boat, and I love to make delicious foods for friends and family that join us.
If time travel and long distance space travel were possible and all fictional worlds were real. What place and/or time would you visit and what would you do while you were there?
There are so many places and times that I’d love to take part in that it’s so hard to choose, but I think I would most like to travel back to the time of Vincent Van Gogh and witness his painting techniques. I’d also love to share some self-care, mindfulness, yoga, and meditation techniques and medicine with him to counter the unmanageable mental health issues he experienced at that time. If Van Gogh had been able to cope with his depression, he may have lived to an old age and created many more paintings for us all to enjoy. This also may have allowed him to earn some financial success while he lived.
If you were a new addition to the crayon box, what color would you be and why?
If I was to add a new color to the crayon box, it would be a clear color and call it “missing you”. It would be a magical color with which people could draw loved ones that have passed on. It would have the power to heal loss and sorrow and replace it with joy by perfectly depicting memories of people who have passed on. The crayon would be able to show the presence of the person even if they can not be seen.
