still life BRUSH HOUR: In his home studio, Eddie Filer concentrates on a study for his latest commissioned portrait. Part of the 80 hours that goes into each of Filer’s portraits includes a painted study and, for larger pieces, a sculpted, three-dimensional study. Eddie Filer wants to paint the president’s picture. One day, he would like to sit in a room with the president of the United States and translate his, or her as the case may be, likeness into a masterpiece of canvas and oil, a portrait that will hang in the White House for generations. This dream has grown from Filer’s first commission as a sophomore in high school, when a friend’s mother paid him $20 for a picture he had painted of her, to his most recent accomplishment, a solo show of his portraits at the UHCL Art Gallery. In May, Filer received a master’s degree in art from UHCL after six years at the university, during which he also earned a bachelor’s degree in art. Now, he says, his formal art education is over. For him to continue to grow as an artist and achieve his life’s dream, there’s no substitute for on-the-job training. “Now it’s about doing the work,” he says. “I’m 40 years old, so if I want to one day paint the president, I’ve got to do the work.” “The work” consists of 80 hours for each of the portraits Filer paints, usually scheduling three separate sittings with the subjects. He spends that time taking notes on skin tone, expressions, clothing and primary color palette, how formal or informal the work will be, lighting and the location where the finished portrait will hang. Then he sits with his subject and shoots five or six rolls of film. After that, Filer is ready to begin color sketching. Sometimes, especially for larger pieces, sketching isn’t enough, so he sculpts the subject, creating three-dimensional studies to help him “get a feeling of mass and store a memory of form.” Finally, Filer turns up the jazz in his home studio, Duke Ellington or Count Basie maybe, and begins to paint. “It’s personal,” he says. “It’s deep. You start from this blank canvas, and then suddenly you’ve made something where you can just reach out and touch this person.” Becoming a portrait painter wasn’t a straight path for Filer. He grew up in a home where art was considered a waste of time, certainly not an occupation that would put food on the table. “You want to be an artist?” Filer remembers his father saying once when he was young. “Boy, artists starve.” Even if Filer didn’t believe this, there were still times when he felt like giving up on art, but opportunities to paint portraits kept appearing. Eventually, he realized, “I didn’t pick portraiture, it picked me. And for the past 10 years I haven’t stopped.” Now, his father is one of his biggest fans. Filer isn’t a full-time artist yet. For 13 years, he has worked for the Transitional Learning Center in Galveston. He fits in his portrait painting between time on the job and time with his family. He married his high school sweetheart, and, after 18 years together, they have two children, a 13-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter. Raising and supporting his children remains Filer’s greatest and most difficult accomplishment, he says. In his household, there are not any careers that are considered a waste of time. “It’s great for them to see me work so hard,” he says. “I tell them to do whatever they want, just work hard.”

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1970s
Norman King, ’79 BS, is a branch manager with the Texas Department of Transportation in Austin.

1980s
Patsy Juaneece Gant, ’88 BA, is a technical writer, editor and CRM support provider in the civil engineering division of Bentley Systems Inc., in Huntsville, Ala.

Stephanie Hawley, ’83 MS, is vice president of academic affairs at Morton College in Austin.

Timothy B. Jones, ’89 MS, is chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at Texas A&M University-Commerce.

David Kester, ’89 MA, ’86 BBA, is director of risk management for Harris County and was named 2006 Public Risk Manager of the Year by the Public Risk Management Association.

William “Bill” Peters, ’84 MA, is a systems engineering manager for COLSA Corporation in Huntsville, Ala. He was named Engineer/Scientist of the Year in 2005 for his leadership in the construction of the U.S. Army Aviation Systems Integration Facility at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.

Donna Zemanek, ’86 BS, is an internal auditor for Waco ISD. She received the designation Certified Texas School Business Official from the Texas Association of School Business Officials in 2005.

1990s
Stacey Baxter, ’93 Secondary Teaching Certificate, ’90 BS, instructional designer for ExxonMobil, received a doctoral degree in instructional technology from UH.

Fred Berry, ’90 MA, published “Ozark Blood: Kin and Kind in the Civil War.”

Brian Bruce, ’96 MA, wrote “Thomas Boyd: Lost Author of the ‘Lost Generation,’” published by University of Akron Press.

Rachel Rote Burnside, ’98 BS, earned a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the University of Kentucky. She also received a postdoctoral clinical cytogenetics fellowship at UAB Health System in Birmingham, Ala.

Sandra McCaulley Chapa, ’97 MS, ’93 Elementary Teaching Certificate, ’91 BS, has been named principal of Ball High School, Galveston ISD.

Lynne Cleveland, ’91 Professional Teaching Certificate, ’90 MS, ’83 BS, has been appointed superintendent of Galveston ISD.

Craig Cordola, ’98 MHBA, has been named CEO of Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Russell Doolittle, ’96 BS, is the director of internal audit for TETRA Technologies.

Chris Fally, ’94 MA, was named clinic director for the Counseling Center at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Ind.

Stephanie Hale, ’98 BS, is the minister to children at Village Baptist Church. She resides in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Bernard A. Harris Jr., ’99 MBA, has been elected to the board of directors for Sterling Bancshares Inc.

Jana Orr, ’95 BS, teaches accelerated reading at West Brazos Junior High in Brazoria.

Robert Porter, ’96 BS, and Patricia “Pattie” Porter, ’95 BS, reside in San Antonio. He is a quality assurance scientist at Southwest Research Institute, and she is president of Conflict Connections Inc.

Heather Rarick, ’92 MBA, has been selected as flight director in Mission Control at NASA.

2000s
Stephen Antley, ’05 BS, and Trishelle Connell, ’05 BS, were married May 6. A police cadet at the Pasadena Police Academy, he plans to work as a League City police officer. She is employed by Whittington Insurance Agency.

Michelle Ann Blank, ’06 BS, married Richard Grassmuck on June 10. She teaches in Santa Fe ISD.

Chris Bolyard, ’00 MS, is the principal at Pasadena High School.

Barbara Burgess, ’03 MA, ’89 BBA, is a teacher at Our Lady of Fatima School in Galena Park.

Kelly Giberson, ’03 BS, is the human resources lead for Assisted Healthcare Services in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Rebecca Jacobs-Pollez, ’00 BS, has entered the doctoral program in history at University of Missouri.

Robert O. Marlin, ’03 MA, wrote “What does Al-Qaeda Want?: Unedited Communiqués,” published by North Atlantic Books.

Megan Matlage, ’06 BBA, married Dustin Crumby on June 3. She is the office manager at Scribbles Embroidery.

Lori Melendez, ’00 BBA, married Michael Lopez Jr. on Aug. 12. She is an enrollment management counselor in the Office of Admissions at UHCL.

Dana Daley Pelata, ’04 BS, is support team lead for Marshal Inc. She gave birth to a baby boy in June 2005.

Veronica Ramirez, ’01 MA, was promoted to director of planning, assessment and EEO officer for Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, La.

Allan James Rasmussen Jr., ’02 MBA, married Aimee Douglas on May 6. He is vice president of Hometown Bank of Friendswood.

Maria Teran-Sanchez, ’00 BA, has been admitted to the American Bar Association.

In Memory
Thomas Terry Williams, ’80 BBA, passed away in June.

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