Artist, educator, community activist, and Bolinas resident Harriet Kossman has dedicated her life to nurturing arts education locally and with nationwide leadership. Her own creativity is expressed in many mediums, such as painting, printmaking, collage, and assemblage. The Bolinas Museum’s current exhibition Harriet Kossman: Bead by Bead is an astonishing collection of her meticulously bead-encrusted cups and saucers. She delights in transforming ordinary vintage plastic kitchenware into extraordinary artwork using tweezers, white glue, beads, and inspired patience.

Kossman earned her master’s degree at the University of Miami, then found her way to Bolinas in the early 1970s, during the innovative counter-culture movement. In 1972, she co-founded the outstanding Bolinas-Stinson School Art Shops Program that continues to garner prestigious awards. Each student in the school experiences diverse techniques, tools, and mediums, including wood, ceramics, painting, drawing, and mixed media work. During Kossman’s forty-two-year tenure at the school, she taught nearly every student of two generations. She and the program’s many inspired art teachers stimulated imagination and creative confidence that will serve the students throughout their lives. She has also involved hundreds of community members in projects such as the iconic mural on the side of Bolinas Market.

Kossman’s passion for education led to her national prominence as a multi-award-winning art educator, consultant, and director of many related organizations at state and national levels. She was selected as the lead art teacher for the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, contributing to developing art curriculums and standards that define excellence in K-12 art education nationwide. Yet, through all this, she has always found time to continue her artistic practice.

Inset: Harriet Kossman in her studio, photo by Elia Haworth.

When did art come into your life?

Art has always been in my life, as far back as I can remember. My parents were “makers.” I grew up in a home where there were always projects going on. We were always busy, whether drawing, tooling a leather belt, building a barbecue and a go-cart, or pickling tomatoes.

What role does community play in your art practice?

I have lived in Bolinas for a good portion of my life. Creative expression and using various tools and materials are important lessons for us all. The people in this richly creative community understand the value the arts play in nourishing the complicated patchwork of our lives. I have never encountered an art problem, whether publishing an arts curriculum or painting a giant mural, where there weren’t people ready to help solve problems that might arise in the creative process. I am thankful for our community, which serves as a true resource for creative expression.

What artwork inspires you?

Years ago, someone gave me a book by David Douglas Duncan entitled The Private World of Pablo Picasso: The Intimate Photographic Profile of the World’s Greatest Artist. It was fascinating to see how he gathered new ideas from everywhere and incorporated them into his art, fearless and unafraid to break boundaries set by the art world.

What is one of the lessons you’ve learned from life?

Here’s a poem that I carry with me:

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.

 –John Wesley, 1700’s

The life lesson is simple: be kind and be creative.