Sweet Briar College Magazine - Spring 2018

ALUMNAE PROFILE
BONNIE
PITMAN ’68:
A LITTLE MADNESS
LEADS TO A LIFETIME
OF ART
When Bonnie Pitman decided to transfer from Pine
Manor College in Boston before her junior year, she looked at
Hollins University and Bryn Mawr College. But when she got
to Sweet Briar, something clicked. “I knew I had come home,”
she says.
In part that was because of the beautiful campus, which has
drawn in so many alumnae. But she was also impressed by the
College’s excellent art history and studio art programs, as well
as the wonderful people she met. “I also liked the proximity to
men’s schools,” she laughs.
Of course, in the late 1960s, life on college campuses could
be tumultuous. Although the activism at Sweet Briar may
have been somewhat less dramatic than at other schools,
Pitman says that she and her classmates were absolutely
activists in their own way. “Sweet Briar was well-positioned
geographically to go to UVa, Richmond, or even schools in
North Carolina. Many schools were becoming more diverse
and we saw what was going on around us,” she said.
The College brought artists and authors to campus, too,
broadening the perspective of students. What Pitman
remembers most from that time was the effect of the Vietnam
War. The future husband of her roommate, Anne Kinsey, was
stationed in Can Tho and Kinsey received reel-to-reel voice
tapes from him describing his experiences. “It was affecting on
a day-to-day basis,” Pitman says.
Amid the drama of political clashes and war, Pitman
remembers the teachers who supported her. School hadn’t
always come easy to her because of dyslexia. “Dean Sims was
my patron saint,” she says of Catherine Sims, who was dean
of the College and allowed Pitman to take her exams orally.
“She knew I was smart, but that reading and writing were
hard for me. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa because of her.”
Likewise, art professor Eleanor Barton made an impression.
“When you went to her class, you had to be on point,” Pitman
says. “But the faculty were open to my ideas about going
beyond traditional ways of thinking. The relationships I had
with them made a critical difference to my success later.”
Pitman was given the freedom to explore and pursue her
passion for art. She would sometimes leave campus to go to
the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the National Gallery in
Washington, D.C., The World’s Fair in Montreal and other
museums within traveling distance. She remembers learning
to love the experience of seeing firsthand — Rembrandt,
sbc.edu
20