Georgie Gigi Hackford

I was born in New Jersey… mother was an artist and dad created the Aviator Sunglasses. At age three, we sailed from Red Bank, N.J. to San Juan, Puerto Rico where Dad had a sunglass factory. We sailed and lived on a boat until I was in the 7th grade.
Living on a three-masted schooner influenced life in many ways. A small bronze plaque that said, “O Lord, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small,” was a daily reminder. Humility and respect for the power of nature were early life lessons. I learned Spanish by age four… and came down hard with mumps, meningitis…according to my mother; I died. Prophetic visions from that experience have stayed with me, and this “near death experience” had taken my thinking and very being into unforeseen directions.
By age twelve I was reading philosophy…The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell launched me into the realm of philosophical thoughts while poetry distilled the ponderousness of most philosophical writers…e.e. cummings was a favorite. Dad gave me a used Royal typewriter and mother gave a big dictionary. I was enamored with words. After graduating from Santa Barbara High School, I attended Sarah Lawrence College where Joseph Campbell gave permission to “follow your bliss”. Reading, writing, playing the harp, and immersion into the visual arts happened at Sarah Lawrence. I actually went to SLC twice eventually earning an Ms.Ed. Degree.
Life is lived in chapters. A few of the most influential chapters are the following: Sarah Lawrence College, Peace Corps Bolivia, natural childbirth, Waldorf Education, life in the Fairhope Artists Gallery in Fair- hope, Alabama, the tragic chapter of experiencing the loss of my only son, Rio, by Uveal Melanom, and most recently the new beginnings where I am now in California.
Artistically I have been influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, the Dutch masters and many of the American masters from the Art Students League in New York City. Actually I admire and am inspired by the art spirit… making art… a purely human impulse…that goes beyond imitation into originality…the ah!ha! experience…pushing paint leading to visual surprises that come from deep within creating something new and unexpected…
My parents lived the creative life, mother the painter and dad the designer, their sense of aesthetics and the actual “doing” was a role model that I continue.
Optimism… playfulness…laughter… the light side of deep meanings…jumping into the deep end and knowing when to get out of the pool…a self-generated curiosity to discover elements of surprise and wonder… continue to spark this life. It’s the doing…the completing of what was started…the beginning again…and all the while remembering what Picasso said…Your muse is there for you… but needs to find you working.