101-YEAR-OLD WILL LOSE HOUSING UNLESS WE HELP NOW

URGENT - 101-YEAR-OLD WILL LOSE HOUSING UNLESS WE ALL HELP

Laura Glusha is in urgent need of funding to remain stable in the Board & Care (B&C) where she lives. Any amount you can give will help buy us time to fight for government programs to work, which could take a year or more, and she needs help now. THIS IS EXTREMELY TIME SENSITIVE!

Laura suffers from Late-Stage Dementia and is past the point of adjusting to anything new without putting her in a perpetual state of unrelenting terror. Her funds are now exhausted. Keeping her where she is critical.

She is short $2,500- per month. The B&C where she lives is trying to help, by carrying a short-term deficit currently of $10,000. But they cannot carry it anymore. Without your help, Laura will have to be moved, which would be a death sentence of torturous levels. This is a person who certainly doesn’t deserve such an end.

**PLEASE TAKE 5 MINUTES TOI READ HER STORY**

Laura Glusha has spent her life breaking down barriers and glass ceilings, which we all have benefited from. She’s fought for Women’s Rights, the Environment, Endangered Species, Seniors' Issues, and countless other causes. Always having to fight through society's expectations to live on her own terms. She always gave to charities, even $5, if that is all she had, to support the causes she believed in.

Laura was never paid equal to a man with salary, pension or benefits. Laura learned to stretch a dollar having lived through the depression. She was still working and living independently until she was 98 years old when she took a fall teaching an art class at Palomar Adult School. After this, there was no choice but to move her to a B&C.

Sadly, since taking that fall, dementia has taken hold and it's now too late to move her safely. Centers that could have accommodated for this day were too expensive 2+ years ago as she still had enough savings to disqualify her for these programs until now.

The government claims to offer benefits for this exact situation for seniors but has wrapped them in such red tape, successfully accessing them when they are needed is currently impossible and useless. The B&C is doing all it can to help here, but sadly, they too are hitting nothing but brick walls. We have been told Laura could live another 2 years.

Laura Glusha has an amazing story to tell, from being 16 and wanting to be a professional artist in a male-dominated field, to convincing a medical school (Flower Hospital in N.Y.) to take the medical art she’d produce for them in exchange for tuition, as a way of getting trained. At 18, Laura, squeezed her way into the medical art field until WWII created openings in the commercial art field when the men went to war." Upon their return, they demanded their jobs back. But Laura refused to be pushed aside no matter how little they paid her as a woman.

For 80 years, Laura worked as a professional artist, studying with some of the greatest masters. She was the first woman to learn airbrushing in the 1940's, and eventually worked for the film studios creating movie posters for 30 years. However, while her male counterparts were provided salaries, pensions, and benefits, Laura was not. She was paid 1/3 of what they were with no pension or benefits.

Laura taught airbrushing at UCLA Extension for many years. She also had a special relationship with a DE Brazza monkey, Suckatoe (named because he sucked his toe) at the L.A. Zoo which gained attention from the press. She authored the book, Suckatoe, which is in school and public libraries throughout California and beyond. She became one of the most sought-after lecturers for schools, sharing this story along with an art lesson for the children. She received awards and accolades from teachers and students alike for more than 30 years. She even produced a series of 12 paintings of endangered species for the L.A. Zoo, which were displayed for a year.

Along with her painting and various art, she wrote art books - taught drawing using the techniques she developed, illustrated children’s and instruction books, and created ads for furniture, cars and fashion…this list is endless. She even wrote and published her autobiography, The Monkey Lady at age 95.

No one has ever worked harder than Laura Glusha to make a living in their chosen field. No stone was ever left unturned to try and make a success of her art. To share her skills with others. Never conforming to society's pressures on how she could live her life. Thus, breaking down the barriers for us all, especially women. Sadly, it never culminated into the monetary value it deserved, contributing to this desperate situation today. It is our sincere hope you will help this pioneering, remarkable woman be able to remain in an environment she knows and feels safe, and loved.

Thank you for taking action to help now. Time is of the essence.

~A Life of Art ~

• 1938-1942: Medical Art years

• 1943 – 1946: Began lifelong freelance career starting with Furniture Art for a variety of department stores on the east coast

• 1946: First artist agent took out a full-page ad in the Saturday Evening Post of Laura’s “Easy Do Cabinets” work

• 1947 – 1959: Met future husband and Mentor - Commercial freelance artist David C. Miller in Manhattan. Laura specialized in airbrushing and illustration. Her sculpture work began in 1948.

• 1959 – 1963: Moves to Los Angeles and resume’s her furniture artwork as no other avenues are available to her

• 1964: Laura gets her first break in L.A. and is allowed to start doing Children’s Fashion Art Illustration

• 1965 – 1985: The Movie Posters with studios years

• 1975: Publishes her drawing book of Panda & the Penguin using her developed teaching techniques

• 1976-1977: Endangered Species Wildlife paintings for the Los Angeles Zoo

• 1980: Suck-a-toe Book published

• 1980-1990: Oil Pastel on Bond Paper, Pastel Portraits on Velvet, teaches Air Brushing at UCLA Extension, became photo retoucher with many renowned photographers before computers

• 1985-1987: Learned Computer Art and won the cover of Computer Graphics World magazine, September 1986 issue with a 4-page article about her

• 1992-1997: Natures Shadows—Shadow Puppetry Kits of Endangered Species

• 1998—2000: Wire and Silk Art

• 2000—present: Wildlife Acrylics on Semi-precious Gemstones

• 2005-present: Custom Animal Portraits on suede board

• 2008: Book Illustration PT’s Big Surprise

• 2010: Wildlife (Mother’s & Babies) Pastel Paintings on suede board

• 2011: Bald Eagles—Pastels painted on suede board 4’ x 5’

• 2012-2019 – Lecturing, teaching art at Palomar Adult School and privately, producing custom works on stone, writing and publishing an autobiography.