Pi Beta Phi - University of Colorado

Angel Update 2 VISIT US ONLINE It was during her senior year that Barbara "Barbie" Lane Volpe '65 and Marilyn Mayo '65 helped alter the course of her life in a profound way. K. K. was interested in pursuing scholarship opportunities, and they encouraged her to apply for two scholarships: Miss Colorado University, which she won in 1966, and a Pi Beta Phi Sponsored Scholarship at Arrowmont, a craft school in Gatlinburg. Arrowmont was founded initially as a settlement school by the Fraternity in 1912. By the mid-1960s, Arrowmont ® had evolved into an arts and crafts school with year-round workshops and artists-in-residence programs. K. K. won the Southern California Area Council Scholarship to attend Arrowmont for the full session. The time K. K. spent at Arrowmont was a formative experience for her. "I took classes in textile design and jewelry making. When I arrived, I didn't even know what silk screening was, but I learned. We lived in a barn, which was a really lovely experience, and we worked all the time, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on various projects. I still have the textile design project I made while I was there. I made this bracelet with the phrase 'I will lift up mine eyes, unto the hills, from whence cometh my strength' inscribed on it. Many years later I gave it to my daughter as a 60th birthday gift, and she wore it while running the Chicago Marathon," she recalled. "I have mountains in my bones having grown up near the Rocky Mountains, but the Smoky Mountains are so different; they have a sort of charismatic charm. There was also something really special about being there in Gatlinburg, up in the Great Smokies, where you wake up in the morning to these low-hanging clouds rolling in, and the way they carpet the mountains," she said. K. K. returned to Colorado and continued a lifetime in the arts through her work as a painter and a published poet. "I've always believed the more narrow the gap between work and play, the happier you'll be, and that's really what I've aimed for in my life and work," she said. The accessibility of art and arts funding is something K. K. is very passionate about, and to that end she has also served on the board of directors of several art museums as well as served on the Vail Town Council for Art and Public Places. When asked to describe her approach to her life, she offered the following guiding principal, "I believe that it is through sharing of our creative efforts that we meet on the most common human ground." K. K. lives in Denver, Colorado, in a house covered in art she has made — the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Some of her interests include skiing, especially with her fellow Vail Pi Phi Alumnae Club sisters, wilderness photography, environmental preservation, fitness and travel. She has two daughters, and two grandchildren who love to paint. You can connect with K. K. at www.kkcherry.com or kkcherryvail@aol.com. Continued from Page 1 K. K. Cherry '65 in the winter 1966 edition of The Arrow™. How a Pi Phi Scholarship to Arrowmont Changed K. K. Cherry's '65 Life From the Rocky Mountains to the Smoky Mountains Colorado Alpha Website pibetaphi.org/colorado Instagram @PiPhiBoulder Tumblr piphiboulder.tumblr.com

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