When I was 12 years old, I went to Natchitoches, La.; it was summer vacation with my family. We visited a plantation, Melrose. And I met an Afro-American woman who was a painter. I already had some idea of what I wanted to do in life, and one of the things that interested me was painting.

There were never any doctors in my family. But my grandparents and my mother had a strong social conscience that was formative.

My father died when I was nine, but I came from a stable family environment, which I think does contribute to being well-behaved.

Family Quotes