Greg Jaklewicz, Abilene Reporter-News Published 3:00 p.m. CT Jan. 2, 2019

An art teacher for more than 50 years

When Katy Presswood retired from teaching 40 years in Abilene public schools — eight at the former Franklin Middle School and 32 at Abilene High, she finally had time to paint.

"It has been fun," she said. "Teaching is a full-time job, and I had lived vicariously through my students."

Oh, but she did not stop teaching after retiring in 2004. She taught for 10 years in a juvenile justice system program and a woman's class at the Taylor County Jail for the about the same amount of time. Those efforts overlapped but curtailed when she took a teaching position with Kenley School.

"Fifty-four years now," she said.

She got a studio at CCA in 2002 to begin her retirement transition. She has been a member "longer. A long time."

She described herself as a "master of all trades" when it comes to painting, even digital art that she had to teach but didn't enjoy as much as abstract works.

"I'm an expressionist. I am more nuts and bolts, and it's about composition and color," she said. "I work fast. I don't plan."

Her work on display is titled "Ice," which is two canvases presented side by side

She grew up "in the country" and thrilled at wintry settings that left ice on barns and coating tree limbs.

Her work is about those "little slivers of ice like glass" and coat an object and then slide off.

She painted on canvas and blotted it with another to create a mirror-like image, then filled the negative space, she said. Nothing was planned but she built on her idea, step by step.

Busy with teaching and keeping grandchildren, "I didn't have much time" to get a piece ready for the show. "I just got it done."