Patricia Ann Drew

Patricia Ann Drew, “Pat”, also known to her nieces and nephews as “Annie”, age 82, died on Saturday, June 2, 2018.

Pat was an accomplished artist, dedicated art educator, dramatic and engaging storyteller, good listener, stepmother, grandmother, aunt, mentor and counselor. She was dearly loved by family and many others in her enormous network of students, colleagues and friends.

Pat was a potter, sculptor, and painter. She produced several notable art exhibitions that were shown in galleries and museums throughout Georgia and across the United States, including her American Quilt Series: “American Family Quilt”,

“Spirited Ancestors”, and “Immigrants”.

She was intentional about impacting lives and encouraging others, particularly young people. Her influence was profound. She taught her family, students and everyone she met to love and appreciate art. She urged them to explore, open their eyes, exercise their brains, stretch creatively, and to express themselves. Art was the platform that she used to engage, inspire and share encouragement with anyone who would receive it.

Pat was was a native Atlantan, grew up in West End Atlanta, attended NAPS (North Atlanta Presbyterian School) and graduated from Westminster in 1952, she graduated from Wesleyan College in 1956 before beginning her career.

During the 1960s, in addition to teaching in public schools, Pat and her mother organized and led YMCA summer camps in Cabbagetown, Atlanta.

For more than 40 years, Pat taught art in public schools. She completed her practice teaching in Savannah before moving back to Atlanta, where she taught in Fulton County schools including, College Park High School, Feldwood High School, Riverwood High School and Chattahoochee High School. After completing a Masters Degree at Georgia State University she also taught art education classes there, she also taught private art classes from her own studio and around Atlanta.

She was a long-time member and the first president of the Georgia Art Education Association (GAEA).

Pat was passionate about travel and made countless trips abroad including student tours, which she helped to organize and lead. It wasn’t uncommon for other tourists to follow her group as she lectured and led students through art museums, cathedrals and historical sites in Europe.

Pat Drew made significant and indelible impressions on numerous people. She is fondly remembered and her impact will be lasting.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Tipton Johnson III (Bob), her sister, Laura Lee Drew Sillay, her mother Ruby Clyatt Drew, and her father, Levi Collie Drew.

She is survived by her two stepsons and their families: Noah and Holle Johnson and their three children: Hannah, Greer and Grayson; Matthew and Krysta Johnson and their two children: Mary Jane (“MJ”) and Lincoln, her five nieces and nephews and their families: Julie Sillay Hogan, Joseph Drew Sillay, John Mark Sillay, Laura Sillay Wakefield, and Merillee Sillay Brock.