Improbably and almost unbelievably, I took time in my late 20’s and 30’s to get a second degree, this time in engineering drafting. Essentially, it consisted of about half the courses for a full engineering degree. I like to point out that as many of my relatives were engineers as I have that are artists. I seemed to have picked up both sides of that kind of thinking.

I became a high-voltage Substation Designer for Power Engineers, Inc. for about 8 years after achieving my degree and that is where I met my husband Ken who was the Transmission Line Design Engineer. Conveniently, our desks faced each other.

We became friends working together. On our first ‘date’, so to speak, we discussed the modulus of elasticity of aluminum one evening when we had been working late and gone out for pizza. I was designing some curved aluminum rigid conductor and wanted to make sure I was using the right formula for my calculations.

Our firm had been asked to make environmentally pleasing structures for several High voltage electrical projects in the sensitive Salmon River area to serve a new mine. So another engineer and I came up structure designs using curved and welded A-Frames that were painted with colors fitting with the surrounding countryside. I figured out how to make the aluminum conductor into curved shapes as shown in these photos.

It is significant that all the structures in both of these stations withstood a 7.3 earthquake in 1983 with no damage, even though a large crack in the ground traveled right through the yard of the massive Spar Canyon Switchyard. Nearby Borah Peak, the tallest mountain in Idaho, changed several feet in height during that event.

I am grateful for all the skills I developed during this time and the things that I learned from my studies in physics and math. These skills have transferred directly to my work as an artist. My interest in physics is increasing with new knowledge of Quantum Physics that I feel is a key to understanding the connectivity of energy in the real world, as I mention in my Artist’s Statement.

 I still use algebra to figure spaces and scale transpositions for my complex paintings. I organize my notes and files in a strict manor, as I was taught to do at the engineering firm, which is especially helpful for all the commissioned paintings I do. I keep time card records of big paintings, whether for a commission or just my own information. I guess it is the ‘right and left brain thing’ that works for me in whatever I do. – G.P.L.