Shelley Ingram:  

My family lived on Decatur Island, part of the San Juans off the coast of Washington State, my first three years. My great-grandparents homesteaded there in 1867, after leaving Wrangell, AK and Victoria, BC. My family moved to Anacortes and then Seattle, WA, moving to Portland in 1967. Art, gymnastics, dance, music and reading were my interests growing up. In 1973 I graduated from Parkrose, where I was part of the art and drama crowd. That summer my sister, Lynne, and I worked in Switzerland and visited family in Sweden. In college I studied graphic design, fine art and communication, went to work full-time and eventually graduated from Marylhurst University in 1986. Whitewater kayaking, downhill skiing and sailing were my hobbies during and after college. Later, a Yugoslavian (as it was at the time) neighbor introduced me to mushroom hunting. I worked as a graphic designer and/or communications manager for over 20 years. My most interesting (and stressful!) job was as director of shareholder relations for an Alaska Native corporation—a mix of Tlingits, Haidas, Tsimshians, Athabascans and Inuits—of which I'm a member through my dad's side of the family. After trying for years to find more information about my great-grandmother, Tahce, her uncle, Chief Shakesh V (Shakes V), and their village of Wrangell, AK, I discovered that Wrangell was bombarded, over a legal dispute, by the US Navy on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas morning, 1869. The villagers left with what little they could salvage, and many of them starved that winter. Wrangell didn't come together again for years. I served a two-year term as co-treasurer of the PTC at my son's high school, and last year was treasurer of the Class of 2016's fundraising for graduation. Three years ago I received my first teaching certificate in ikebana, the art of Japanese flower arranging. My second certificate arrived in May, 2016 and was presented to me by my sensei (teacher) of 12 years, Hideko Hearn. She's a wonderful woman whose husband was a great-nephew of Lafcadio Hearn (often credited with opening Japan to the West). Ikebana is a chance to be creative and acts as meditation for me. So far, I've taken part in a number of exhibitions at the Japanese Garden, the Art Museum and the Geezer Gallery in the Pearl District (artists 60 and over), all in Portland. in May, 2016, my classmate, Megan, and I did a combination of lessons and demonstrations for Portland State University's (PSU's) Japanese Culture Festival. For the Sogetsu Chapter's 2016 Rose Festival Exhibit, "Wild & Crazy," we'll be setting up at the Oregon Historical Society the weekend of June 5-6.The Sogetsu School has the fewest rules of any of the ikebana schools, which appeals to the artist in me. In 1984, Allan E. Ingram and I married. He's an engineer who takes great pride in being an atypical engineer. His family came to Oregon from Arkansas in 1852, and eventually h...Expand for more