Page 22 - DPM4_Winter_2021_Flipbook

sdp foundation PRISCILLA...
Priscilla Hauser mda
Priscilla... that is all you need. A first name only recognition, like Oprah or Cher, Priscilla tells you immediately we are talking about the Society of Decorative Painters. In 1972, Priscilla Hauser organized a meeting of twenty-two women and a lawyer and founded the Society of Decorative Painters. With little more than some self- confidence, determination and about two hundred dollars the Society of Decorative Painters came to be.
But this is the middle of the story! How did Priscilla’s painting career begin?
When Priscilla was twelve, her best friend received a suite of hand painted furniture, including an antique camelback trunk covered with roses. Well, this was the most beautiful thing Priscilla had ever seen! When her parents inquired, they learned it was covered with Tole painting, and out of their price range! However when Christmas arrived they had bought an antique camelback trunk for her and said, now you can learn to paint it yourself.
Priscilla was unable to find Tole classes at the time. She completed high school and married the love of her life, Jerry Hauser at 19. They soon moved to Independence, Missouri where the YWCA offered a Tole class! Priscilla signed up immediately but was only able to complete eight classes due to the birth of her new baby.
But, she kept painting. On returning to Tulsa, she began to paint and sell small antique pieces. Word began to spread among friends and neighbors and they began asking for painting classes. So, of course, even now with two babies, just thirteen months apart, she launched painting classes in her garage.
Neighborhood classes led to (the same neighbors complaining about parking) a move to the back room of a Sherwin-Williams paint store... a career was launched!
Priscilla soon realized even with classes and painting to sell, and with the help of friends, she could not produce enough painted items to become profitable. So, she decided to publish her first book!
Who does this? She soon produced her first book in a series of four, For Whom the Brush Toles. To this day, it is one of the largest selling books in the industry.
This led to renting here first space, and The Little Red Tole House was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Was Priscilla content? You, by now, know the answer to that-
of course not! She wanted a national organization for Decorative Painting. She began talking about it to all of her classes and collecting $5, which she deposited in the bank to start a nest egg that would grow into the National Society of Tole and Decorative Painters.
Her teacher friends all over the country joined her and the planning meeting in 1972 was held!
20 TheDecorativePainter • WINTER 2021