poems (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780615931791)

Norine Spurling was born in the semi-tropical islands of Bermuda. As a child she attended painting classes with a local watercolor artist who encouraged her to look at art as a career choice. Her parents sent her to Philadelphia where she studied at Moore College of Art, and later at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. Two prominent women artists, whose work has been an influence and who studied at these institutions, are Mary Cassatt and Alice Neal. After having lived in California for several years and raising a family, she moved to Western New York, where she completed her formal education at the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB), and went on to teach drawing there for several years. While teaching a class in the Black Mountain program at UB she met Jimmie Gilliam, who was teaching a writing class there. At this time she began to reflect on her youthful interest in creative writing and was inspired to enroll in a writing workshop with Jimmie. She then took workshops with other Buffalo poets, like Anne Goldsmith and Jorge Guitart. Norine is one of the founding members of Women of the Crooked Circle writing group.