Crayon history - Congresswoman Pat Schroeder & Oleo Strut

I have a history with Crayola Crayon paintings. It started back in the day when Binney & Smith owned them and Liquitex acrylic paints which I used for all my 'cut-out' paintings on Masonite. I almost let slip by the 40th anniversary of the sale of one of my Crayon paintings to Congresswoman Patricia 'Pat' Schroeder in 1976.
(See her letter to me at top.) She was the first woman elected to congress from Colorado, and served from 1973-1997. I was showing my work at the Capitol Hill People's Fair back when it was at East High School, before moveing to Civic Center. And lucky me, that year I was right next to the beer pavillion and got plenty of exposure, to people as well as occasional spray when they tapped a keg! Pat came by, looked my display over and bought the Crayola Crayon painting, saying she liked the Big Crayons for Little Fingers quote and was going to hang it under her congressional seal in her office. It was quite the day, getting to meet Pat, and I sold all my paintings! The bulk of them going to Chester Johnson who owned Maudie's Flea Markets, which was last in the Zook Building on W. Colfax across from the Rocky Mountain News, before moving to Kansas City. The first place to show my work was Oleo Strut - Famous for being Well Known, a resale vintage clothing and curio shop that was at 716 E. 17th Ave, on the alley between Washington and Clarkson. Back then, the building had several separate store fronts, and has since been home to Dante Bichette's, Cliff Young's, Hamburger Mary's and now M Uptown. One of the few surviving photos of the Crayon paintings (I did seven in all), above is a photo of a photo from a 110 film camera. Shown with the painting is Oleo Strut's proprietor Ed Flack. To learn more about the era, check out this short video about Pat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcm_OO4kEgs  Thanks Pat... And yep, I'm still painting!

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