Women of Talent

My mother has a milestone birthday coming up in November, but she still gets up every day to drive to downtown Cleveland to Peerless Metal Products, the company she owns with her business partner, Tom.

Today is the 25th anniversary of the company.

I can still picture the day she called to tell me that she and Tom were starting Peerless. I was sitting at the table in the kitchen of the mobile home we lived in before we built our house. “I’m taking your inheritance and starting a metal stamping plant,” she said. And I remember thinking, “Good, take it and make more.” She and Tom had met when both were working at a different metal stamping company in Avon Lake, Ohio. Tom was the plant manager and my mother was the bookkeeper. The owner was in absentia most of the time. She and Tom increased that company’s bottom line significantly. They recognized that they could do better running their own business, and Peerless Metal Products was born. The business started in one location in Cleveland, quickly outgrew the space, and moved to its current location.

My mother very much wanted to go to college, but things didn’t work out that way. She worked at Prudential Insurance while my father was in college getting his engineering degree. Once my sister and I were old enough to be in school, she went back to work as a waitress and bookkeeper at my grandparents’ restaurant. (For you Ohio folks, that was Mary’s Ice Cream Parlor on Rt 254 across from the Sheffield Center.) My grandmother closed the restaurant when I was a senior in high school. When I say that people in my family have a hard time sitting still, I’m not kidding. I think my father would have preferred for my mother to stay home. She tried, but she’s always been happier running a business. And she has been a great role model for her two granddaughters. Like most companies, Peerless Metal Products has had its share of ups and downs, but with my mother at the helm, it has weathered all of the challenges. Happy Anniversary!

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My friend, Sunnie LeBlanc, has an art show at a local gallery. Sunnie is part of our Mountain Brook community, although we have to share her with her friends and family in Texas during the winter. She lives next door to our pastor. I got to know her under less-than-happy circumstances, as I played for her husband’s funeral at our church. Sunnie is as cheerful as her name, though, and every year, I look forward to the day in spring when she returns to Mountain Brook.

Her show opened this week. She is doing “Easel Talks” every Thursday from 3-5 pm at the Bigfork Art and Cultural Center. I stopped in yesterday afternoon. Our pastor, Jeryl, came in shortly after I did, so the two of us were treated to a personal tour and discussion of both Sunnie’s paintings and those of her friend, Marnell Brown.

I find it fascinating to learn how other designers and artists approach their work. Sunnie says she gets most of her inspiration from the Montana landscape. Indeed, the work of both artists showcases the beauty around us, although they have very different styles. Sunnie described how she’ll go up to Glacier Park and make a small plein air painting on canvas to capture the essence of the landscape.

That small painting, along with a photograph, help to keep the image fresh in her mind while she paints the larger piece.

This one happens to be of Wild Goose Island, up in Glacier Park. Your piece of trivia today: Wild Goose Island is the second most photographed spot in the park. The first?—the “Welcome to Glacier Park” sign. Who knew?

I also chatted for a bit with Karen Straight, a fiber artist who has two large pieces hanging in the gallery, both done in needle felting. I wish you could see the one of the grizzly bear—the needle felting provides a realistic 3-D texture.

I am hoping to attend the artists’ reception this evening. Our Mountain Brook Ladies Club is providing the food “There will be shrimp! And wine!” Sunnie told us. LOL.