6 minute read
THE MULTITALENTED DOT SASSER
THE MULTITALENTED Dot Sasser
creative fl air spans a varied array of gifts. An accomplished dancer, she began studying ballet, tap, and acrobatics as a toddler.
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She went on to prominently headline as a star soloist and principal dancer in many stage productions and shows. With her mother’s encouragement, a teenage Dot opened The Dorothiann Dance Studio. She remained a hopeful artist, but around that same time, she withdrew from art class while attending college in Valdosta to study dance with local teacher Marie Crockett. “Mama said that I needed to concentrate on dance and I guess that was all she wrote about that,” Dot says wistfully.
Dot married her high school sweetheart, Robert “Bob” Sasser, in 1947. By 1956, her family had grown to include two sons, Chip and Richard. After a decade of teaching, Dot closed her dance school. So that she could help with her husband’s burgeoning real estate development and brokerage businesses, Dot acquired
Above: “The Red Balloon” is Dot’s favorite. She painted it from a photo taken on a trip to New Orleans, depicting a man looking up at balloons.
Right: In 2020 Dot’s daughter-in-law surprised her with a hard-bound book of her paintings, drawings and sculpture.
It is no secret that Southern women are special. Possessing a unique combination of irresistible charm tempered with an indefatigable spirit and steely determination, they confi dently live their life with style and grace. Add a deep devotion to family and a profound pride for tradition and history and you have described Dot Sasser. Within minutes of meeting her, it’s very clear that you are in the presence of a remarkably special lady. Dot has a timeless beauty that belies her 93 years and she glows with a lively abundance of humor, charisma, and intelligence.
Born in Athens, Georgia, Dot was 12 when her father, a watchmaker, moved their family to Waycross. Before she could read or write, Dot was copying astonishingly exact illustrations from her story books. The multitalented Dot’s
Top: Dot still works in her studio every day.
a real estate license and began writing ads for the company. During the 1980s and ’90s, Dot was the assistant manager of The Mall of Waycross.
“Bob asked me if I could help. I didn’t know beans about managing a mall, but I did it. I handled merchant’s meetings, special events and was the ad director. I think I did a pretty good job, too,” she says with a laugh.
While her family was her primary focus, Dot still found time to pursue other passions. She was a Brownie leader, Cotillion member, Daughters of the American Revolution member, and president of the Art Guild. As a member of the Green Garden Club and Azalea Garden Club, Dot turned her hand to fl ower arranging, entering fl ower shows and winning numerous fi rst place ribbons.
Noticing an advertisement for a beginner’s art class, Dot immediately enrolled. Working primarily with acrylics, she learned the basic skills of drawing, painting, and composition, but felt she really hadn’t found her niche artistically. At the suggestion of a friend, Dot tried pastels and immediately knew she’d found her calling.
Determined to master pastel techniques, Dot steadily
grew more confi dent as an artist. On a whim, she entered her fi rst exhibition, a juried art show featuring a judge from the University of Georgia art department. To her amazement, Dot took fi rst place and was tremendously fl attered when the UGA judge asked to purchase her work.
Once again, testimony that there is very little she can’t do and or won’t try, Dot joined a musical group, the Waycross Fun Time Band. Comprised of local ladies in festive red, white and blue costumes, the band entertained with instruments that included a washtub bass, tambourines, scrub boards, rolling pins, dust brooms, spoons, bells and piano. Dot played the cowbell and has very fond memories of performances at convalescent homes, senior centers, hospitals, parades and community events. At 65, Dot decided it was time to put on her dancing shoes again and return to her fi rst
THE MULTITALENTED Dot Sasser
Above: Dot was a leader of the Waycross Fun Time Band, which entertained at convalescent homes, senior centers, hospitals, parades and community events. Above: At 65, Dot put on her dancing shoes again and returned to her fi rst love. Along with her grandchildren, Hobie and Ben, she performed at the Carey Dresser Annual Recital. Photos courtesy of Dot Sasser.
love. Along with her grandchildren, she performed at the Carey Dresser Annual Recital.
Largely self-taught, she has continued to show her artwork, sometimes selling pieces, but most of her beautiful pictures hang on the walls of her home. Dot’s pastels run the gamut from nature-inspired subjects to botanicals, still life and landscapes. Inspiration often comes from scenes from her life, her experiences and surroundings. Using photos of her subject as a visual guide, she starts with pencil sketches and then adds layers of vivid color, depth and detail.
Her favorite picture, “The Red Balloon,” is one she painted from a photo taken on a trip to New Orleans, depicting a man looking up at balloons. Sharing a common thread of vibrant, striking color palettes, her drawings are lifelike, yet suggest a quaint, dreamy quality.
Admiring the work of Grandma Moses, Dot describes her personal style as “really a colorist more than anything.” Having produced a diverse and wide body of work, she says still life compositions remain her favorite. In 2020 Dot’s daughter-in-law surprised her with a hard-bound book of her paintings, drawings and sculpture; it is a brilliant compilation and history of her artistic journey. Dot still works in her studio every day using traditional pastels, but lately she’s also begun experimenting with the relatively newer PanPastels, which allow the artist to apply a greater concentration of pigment, detail and painterly e ect to their pictures. “I’m still getting the hang of them,” she says.
Today, Dot and her beloved dogs, Minnie and Max, live surrounded by cherished family mementoes and pictures. Leigh Murray, her “General Manager,” as Dot a ectionately calls her, comes in daily.
“She’s feisty,” Leigh says with a laugh. “When Miss Dot gets a whim, she does not quit. My favorite story is when she headed out with her purse, got into her car and backed out of the garage. I stopped her in the driveway, asking where she was going. She told me to hurry up and get in because she had things to do. I asked Miss Dot if she still had a driver’s license. She took a second, then asked me if I had one. When I said yes, she said, ‘That’ll do – if you’re coming with me, let’s go!’ We set o , but I drove.”
Regardless of her many accomplishments and successes, Dot is most proud of her family. Maintaining the philosophy that laughter and a sense of humor is essential, she also a rms that “you can’t fi x stupid.” The quintessential Grande Dame, Dot is a magnetic mix of warmth, wit, and determination. A true lady of today’s South, Dot is talented and accomplished, gracious yet plucky, living life to the fullest while embodying the gentility and traditions of the past.
Asked how she might like to be remembered, Dot answers, “As a fun-loving artist” who laughed a lot and had a great sense of humor. She is defi nitely that and way, way more. OL
