marvin olasky
Marvin Olasky is editor in chief of WORLD, provost of The King's College-New York City, and a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of 20 books including Compassionate Conservatism and The American Leadership Tradition.
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Artful journey

Karelyn Siegler has trod down some unusual paths in finding her calling as a painter and entrepreneur | by Marvin Olasky

Hardly anyone's artistic career is a straight line from schooling to success. I recently interviewed Karelyn Siegler, 52, an internationally recognized painter and professor at two schools in Manhattan, Parsons and The King's College. Below are excerpts about how she found her calling.

Did you study art in college? I went to Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia, where I majored in art and minored in dance.

Then you became a dancer. I came to New York with a scholarship and studied for about five or six years with Martha Graham. But when you get to be about 28 in New York and all the baby ballerinas are coming up, you're starting to feel old—at 28, when most careers are just beginning, you're realizing that you have to begin thinking of other options.

Where did that realization lead you? Before I went to New York, I had worked one summer for an art teacher who hired me to do cobalt pencil drawings on his porcelain pots. He would sell them at craft fairs and make a mint; I worked for $10 an hour, he sold the pots for $100. So when I was in New York, I rented a studio with a kiln and put together a portfolio of some vases with my drawings on them. I made the rounds showing my work to retailers and boutique flower stores and ended up having clients like Bergdorf Goodman. Sales were good. I began to realize that to take the business to the next level I would have to begin outsourcing internationally to be priced competitively. So I thought I should get an MBA and learn more about business.

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