Art as Life - Life as Art

The story of the vivid adventures of one driven to create, from formative and impressionable years forward. Of love and trust. Of life on the road and the many you meet there.

Often scandalous and blunt, this is the unvarnished record of a Renaissance maven.

Included within this autobiography of Ann Lyneah Curtis is tale the of a first grader selling her hand-drawn nudes for 10 cents to the kids at school. Fast forward to the 16 year old making the decision to pose naked for the life drawing class she was attending at the Unitarian Church. These choices ultimately fed the artist through her early years as she segued into the adventurous world of a traveling craftswoman.

1975, Mardi Gras: When the party on Canal Street ends, the revelers swarm the French Quarter. Having garnered hundreds of strands of colored plastic beads, our small Krewe now offered these to the crowds below my balcony on Royal Street. Figuring I might as well get them to entertain us, I made some signs. One of them said, "Show Your Tits". Turns out, this became a big hit!

In the final stages of getting this book ready for print, information came to light regarding "Show Your Tits". In 1983 Professor Wesley Shrum began inquiring with French Quarter locals regarding this growing fad. As he states in his academic paper, "In the mid 1970s a new phenomenon began to occur in New Orleans' French Quarter during Mardi Gras. That phenomenon may be described simply as an exchange of beads for nudity." Professor Shrum tracked this event back to my balcony.

The tales within this autobiography weave a rich tapestry of a life lived on the artist's own terms.