Hansen: Second chance at an artful life

It’s fitting that Donna Morin’s art gallery, DM Studio, sits squarely across the street from a drug recovery center where people are trying to rebuild their lives.

Morin, 74, found herself at a crossroads about 30 years ago, bitterly divorced, heartbroken and a stay-at-home mom with few options.

“All of a sudden I was on my own,” she said. “Here I was 45, and thinking, ‘OK, I have as much life in front of me as I’ve already had behind me. Now what is that going to look like?’ ”

Morin did not want to be another victim of her generation. She was not going to wither passively, despite the circumstances. Instead, she had to reach inside herself because outside she was only hearing “no.”

“I came up as a young girl, where there really weren’t too many options,” she said. “I went to an all-girls Catholic school, and you were expected to grow up and get married and have a family. And maybe there was the possibility that you could become a teacher or a nurse or something like that. But the opportunities in the 1950s were limited.”

And so she got married, had three kids, lived in the suburbs and set aside any hopes of a career.

“I was typical of that era: made spaghetti, took the children to football and gymnastics,” she said.

But when her marriage ended, she had to make a choice.

“When I was all alone standing in the kitchen — crying, crying, crying — it occurred to me that how was I going to handle this? I knew I needed to make money.”

She dusted herself off and got a bachelor’s degree in painting but knew it wasn’t going to be enough.

“I was determined to get an MFA, so I went to Claremont, put a mortgage on the house … and decided I would be on an adventure. I didn’t know where I was going or what I was doing, but I was determined to get this graduate degree. And if nothing happened from that, that would be OK.”

But something did start happening. She earned the master’s in fine arts, and her new life came into focus. She got a job, but it was only by being herself.

“So what I did — and I was very naive about this — I just wrote a simple little letter to the L.A. County Art Museum and told them that I had this MFA in painting, and I had a background in retail, and would there be a place for me in the museum.”

She was hired almost immediately and worked there for nine years. She also landed a teaching job at San Bernardino Valley College, from which she retired two years ago.

Her transformation did not come easy, but she doesn’t regret it. She thinks such forced change is more common than people think.

“I actually think that most people go through this. They go through it in many different ways. It could be through a death, a betrayal, a loss of a loved one. It comes at different times in one’s life.

“So it really happens to everyone, and I don’t think we know that when we are young, or people haven’t said that to us. Most people hold that sadness or loss to themselves, and it’s only recently that people have come out and spoken about it.”

When she taught, Morin used her life as an example to her students, trying to make meaningful connections and encourage them to apply the hard lessons they learn in life to their art.

“When a person is going through all of this stuff, that seems like the whole world has changed, but really nothing has changed except inside one’s head. It does a number on your confidence. It kills your self-esteem.

“I did tell them about going through sadness and hard times. Some of them did understand. Some of them have been through those experiences because their parents might be drug addicts or they might have a mother or father in jail. Of course they’re young. All of this stuff really only comes when you’ve lived a lot of different experiences.”

Morin’s life has shifted again. A year ago, she opened her Laguna Beach gallery, at 1294 S. Coast Hwy. She primarily wanted to see what her work would look like in a bigger space.

She’s not interested in becoming a big, fancy gallery owner. She likes simpler things.

“This young lady came to me last week, and she wanted to know, ‘How do I get started and what is art?’”

Morin put her index finger in some paint and smeared it on a blank canvas.

“I told her, ‘It doesn’t have to be what it looks like. It just has to be you.’ We learned this in kindergarten. It’s all about you. I don’t care if you make a dot or if you make a line. That’s a sign of your energy. That is you, and that’s OK. That has to be OK. What more can a person ask of themselves?”

Invariably, people don’t understand at first, Morin said.

“They’re practically in shock. It’s that simple. It’s funny that we need to have permission. We need to have permission to understand that we’re OK.”

Morin gives herself permission every day. She knows no other way.

“I think my story is an adventure. I did try a lot of different things that a normal suburban woman wouldn’t have tried from my era. I’m going to see where it goes. I’m in the unknown. It’s been really wonderful for me.”

To see Morin’s art, visit https://www.donnamorin.com.

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at davidhansen@yahoo.com.