Page 136 - South Mississippi Living - November, 2024

GOLDEN YEARS
Is art for all ages? Two local artists say it absolutely is. Cissy McCabe Quinn of Gulfport and Dave Marshall of Long Beach are busy creating and teaching art in their retirement years.
“I started on a whim in November 1998 at Bodine Pottery (since destroyed by Katrina),” Marshall says. “They had a sign in the doorway saying Classes Starting Soon so I wandered in and got started. There is also the theory that the movie ‘Ghost’ was an inspiration. As you may recall, Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze seemed to enjoy pottery.”
Art has always been a part of Quinn’s life. “I don’t remember a time that I did not do art. This was verified to me when I was cleaning out my family home,” she says. “I found my kindergarten report card among mother’s papers. Every grading period the teacher’s comment was, ‘we enjoy seeing Cissy’s
drawings.’”
A retired public school art teacher, Quinn has always
been drawn to watercolor and art history but was trained to teach all media. “With watercolor you learn patience and perseverance. There was just the fluidness of it that kept me coming back to it,” she says. “So after years of painting, I made a decision to concentrate solely on watercolor. There is enough about it to keep me challenged and to always have something new to learn and work towards.”
Marshall works on the pottery wheel making and altering pots, bowls and plates and occasionally does some limited hand building pottery.
136 | November 2024
www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living
story by Lynn Lofton
photos courtesy of Cissy Quinn and Dave Marshall