About the Author:

Alice Bertels was born and raised in Winchester, Kansas, the same farm community that influenced the art of John Steuart Curry.  Her great-grandparents, the Pences, were farm neighbors of the Curry family and Bertels grew up gazing at a print of “The Line Storm” that her mother hung above the living room sofa. 

Mrs. Bertels now teaches school in Topeka, Kansas.  She is a graduate of Kansas State University and the University of Kansas.  She received the National Milken Award for teaching excellence and the Topeka YWCA Women of Excellence Award.  She has been awarded many grants to pursue creative ideas for her classroom and often speaks to groups about her classroom experiences.  With no formal art training and no art program in her school.  Mrs. Bertels set out to implement an art curriculum in her classroom that would bring a love of art to her students by highlighting the lives of famous artist.  This book grew out of her desire to share the life of this famous Kansas artist with her students.

Mrs. Bertels lives in Topeka, Kansas with her husband and two daughters.  And, just as John Steuart Curry did, she often makes the trip home to visit her loved ones and to gain renewed inspiration for her journey through life.