About the Artist
As a child I only wanted to color and play with cut-outs. I never played much with dolls. Snipping ladies from the Sears catalog and pasting them onto paper bags (with flour and water paste, I might add) was the thing for me, and unbeknownst to me at the time, but was certainly the earliest form of training for Barbara Tease® . Miss Kitty from “Gunsmoke” was my idol. I adored her glamour and much later when Barbara Tease® was “born”, I adopted her beauty mark and discreet style.
Born in Tiffin, Ohio, the middle child of 5, I was busy creating at an early age. My mother provided me with materials and enthusiasm before her premature death of leukemia at age 34 when I was 9. And as I look back today, I realize that was the foundation for Barbara Tease®
The next chapter of my life found me in Germany where my dad took a position at a satellite plant for his company. And what an time was to follow... Learning a new language in 6 weeks to make new friendships and going from a strict Catholic school to one for Army dependents (B.R.A.T.S.).. was an adventure to say the least! But all in all, my seven year stint left me with fond memories of my European travels, and leaves me chuckling to this day of dodging spitballs in German class. (grin)
Today I have my two lovely daughters; Heidi and Holly and two adorable grandchildren; Zach and Ella who love to putz around my drawing room. Who knows, they may be the new generation of Barbara Tease® designers.
With no formal art training, other than tole painting when the girls were little, Barbara Tease® was a powerful inspirational call when I saw some abstract faces on t-shirts while vacationing in 1986. I was drawn to them and wanted to expand on the idea immediately. After living with the idea for about 6 months, I finally got busy going about the business of creating Barbara Tease® hand painted T-shirts. Little did I know, some painful “birth pangs” were about to follow...
As the creative process began, numerous partnership offers were all part of the roller coaster ride at attempts to market Barbara Tease® . Yet to date, “we” remain independent. Obstacles such as “They're wonderful but don't fit into our line”, or “You need to be BIG before we'll take you on” have held me back. Hmm...how does one achieve that, I thought, if no one will give you a chance? So on I went selling my hand painted T's to boutiques and events, with enough rejection letters to paper the walls . However, all's well that ends well, and had I brought Barbara Tease® to market when I thought she was ready, I would not have the 500 plus designs I have today., for not only Tees but hundreds of Greeting Cards and other products as well!
Presently Barbara Tease® products are sold internationally on my online shop at CafePress where a multitude of products are sold with Barbara Tease®'s image splashed across them.
...So now,just what do you think is so special about Barbara Tease® ? Is it her silly wit, glamour, or little girl innocence? Just maybe it's all of these things. Hey, it's a SILLY business...but somebody's got to do it! No TEASING!!
I hope you enjoy my creations. I love my work and have enjoyed successes and suffered failures over the 20 yr period of 'birth pangs”. But like the song goes...”Only the Strong survive”.