M.E. Warlick

My present life began to take form around the time of our last newsletter. Within a year I was divorced, and, soon after, completed my MA degree in Art History at Georgia State University. I moved to DC and went on to finish a Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. After working for a couple of years at the National Gallery, I taught one year at the University of Oregon, and then found a job at the University of Denver in 1986, where I’ve been ever since. Throughout my grad work, I returned south each summer (Maryland seeming like “The North” at that time), to work as a raft guide on the Chattooga River, where one weekend I ran into Gaye Gelder Stevens and her husband, who no doubt thought that I’d lost my mind. Still, those carefree summer days on the river remain some of the happiest of my life.

Denver has been a great place for me, although I’m not a skier, and, in fact, I really miss the Smoky Mountains and warm, plentiful water. My world revolves around the University. I came at a time when interdisciplinary teaching and international experiences for the students were being emphasized. I directed the Women Studies program for a while, and I’ve often shared the classroom with some of my best friends. I’ve had many opportunities to travel overseas with students. One class, taught with my philosopher friend, Jere, has taken kids to London, Paris, Cologne and Munich almost every year since 1990, and more recently, my English dept. friend Eleanor and I have been taking students to Rome, Florence and Venice. On campus, I’ve had a lot of freedom to design whatever courses I want to teach, like the Goddess in Art, Art and the History of Science, Great Artist on Film, and Dada and Surrealism, which is actually my specialty.

I really love my research on the history of alchemy. You may be asking (as everyone does), what is that???? The quick answer is that alchemy is science between Aristotle and the Scientific Revolution, although there also are connections to 20th century psychoanalysis. I started working on alchemical images at UMD, but even now feel like I’m only just beginning to understand what it is all about. I published a book on the surrealist artist Max Ernst, Max Ernst and Alchemy, and an interactive oracle/game The Alchemy Stones, now translated into 5 languages. It hasn’t made me rich (unfortunately neither J.K. Rowling nor Oprah have called to get the rights), but it has helped to support my research. That has been a highlight, to travel to rare book rooms in London, Paris, and Berlin and to hold illuminated alchemical manuscripts in my hands, as if I were a real medievalist. I’m currently working on a book on images of women in alchemical manuscripts, printed books, prints, and paintings. This is a 10 year (and counting) project, but I am now writing, and hopefully in the next two years or so, it will see the light of day. I often travel to the University of Glasgow, where they have a huge collection of alchemical things, and have made so many good friends there that it now feels like a home away from home. With Glasgow friends Christine and Sandie, the Celtic Travelers, I’ve become a megalithomaniac, making pilgrimages to remote places in Britain to commune with the stone circles, and to spend some much needed down-time beside the sea. So far my favorites are the standing stones at Callanish on the isle of Lewis, and the entire island of Orkney. This summer, Christine and I explored the megaliths at Carnac and elsewhere in Brittany, also amazing!

Along the way there have been a few significant relationships that have crashed and burned, but I’ve remained single, and don’t have children. I’ve long ago realized that independence, freedom, and solitude are things that really nourish my spirit. I love my kitties, and while I could be one of those witches in the woods with dozens, I’m currently herding only three, Cleo (14), Callie (13), and Wizard (2). There is nothing like traveling to make one appreciate one’s own back yard, which I’m slowly turning into a truck farm and an English country garden, despite Colorado’s arid climate and clay soil. My mom still lives in Asheville, and travels more than I do. She cruised to Scandinavia and Russia this summer, and it’s hard to catch her at home between parties. Two sisters and two brothers also live nearby, so I usually visit twice a year.

I so appreciate all the work that Gail and the other local organizers have put into planning the reunion and look forward to seeing everyone there. To avoid the shock of what 40 years has done to me, you can see a relatively current photo if you google M. E. Warlick (erase Margie and call me by my initials, pronounced like “Emmy,” a name I’ve adopted since the late 1970s).

I hope to see everyone soon! M.E.