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My Two-Year Art Career, by Beth Stuerman: published cover with patterned burgundy background and gold lettering

My Two-Year Art Career

A Memoir from an Accidental Artist

After losing my husband, I stepped out of school administration and into an elementary art room. This is the story of the two years that followed—and the small, unexpected joys that helped me feel like myself again.

There are paper feathers, paint spills, a very unfortunate clay turtle, and a creative life that kept growing beyond the classroom.

Find the book on Amazon

First edition, 2026. Published by Elizabeth’s Press.

Inside the memoir

The art room was only the beginning.

Nine months after losing my husband, I asked to leave school administration and become the art teacher. It was an unexpected turn after twenty-six years in education. It also felt like breathing again.

This book holds the projects, the laughter, and the small moments that helped me find my footing: a wall of paper feathers, a kindergarten clay turtle, quiet afternoons painting flowers. Along the way, art began turning up everywhere—in restaurants, on vacation, and around the family table.

I began writing after retirement. The stories had been in my head for so long that they seemed to be asking to be put on paper.

I

Becoming

A change of direction, and a return to the connection and creativity I had missed.

II

Creating

Wings, waterlilies, wonderfully imperfect clay turtles, and the students who brought color to my days.

III

Becoming more

Life in downtown Macon, art beyond the classroom, and the possibilities after retirement.

Beth standing before the collaborative black-and-white wings mural made by her third-grade students
The wings project · One set of wings, made from many individual feathers.
“Somewhere along the way, the art room gave me wings.”
— Beth Stuerman