Barbara Pearson + Author + Artist
Barbara Pearson is a technical writer turned creative with degrees and experience in art, education, and instructional design. She has roots in New York City and Tallahassee, Florida. Currently, she resides in Midtown, Atlanta, making good use of a stack of spiral notebooks and a set of Winsor & Newton watercolor paints.
When destiny introduces art teacher Barbara Pearson to regionally renowned artist, teacher, and activist, Phyllis Bosco, Barbara’s ordinary life transforms into a spectacular adventure. Over decades of friendship, the two women celebrate and commiserate whatever comes their way. They make grand entrances at art shows, smoke cigarillos at weddings, and, with a cadre of like-minded women friends, dance at every opportunity.
Eventually, propelled by failed relationships with men and enchanted by visions of a future retirement spent together, the two friends purchase a house, replete with a ghost. But soon, evolving loyalties trample promises, and the friends drift apart—until tragedy strikes.
Feathers at my Feet pays tribute to an enduring friendship that adapts to face unimaginable circumstances with humor and grace.
“Pearson’s beautifully written memoir perfectly captures the power of great friendship to imprint on our hearts and change the course of our lives.”
-Nicola Kraus, co-author of The Nanny Diaries
"With tenderness, nuance, and wit, Barbara Pearson has written a potent story about forgiveness, unconditional love, and how the intense bond of a decades-long female friendship, especially when the going gets tough, can deepen the experience of life and death."
-Anjali Enjeti, Author. Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change. The Parted Earth, a novel
“The story took me on a trip through the Big Bend of Florida as friends are made, life is lived, and friends are lost. A poignant tale of the simple pleasures of friendship and the heartache of loss. There were tears and laughter as the author revealed her deepest feelings about her friends, relationships, and her life.”
-Kelly Simmons Dozier, Board Lead Director, LeMoyne Arts Foundation, Tallahassee, Florida
“This is a story about finding and losing the love of your life, over and over, over many years. Instead of the typical boy-meets-girl, Pearson centers the love between friends, ambitious women who inspire and challenge each other, as romantic partners flare and fade, children grow up and move on.
Feathers at my Feet is both a character study of the unforgettable Phyllis Bosco and an exploration of how longterm friendship becomes a mirror that reveals our choices and desires, if we can bear it. I couldn’t put it down.”
-Hannah Palmer, author of Flight Path