The first time Richard Fairbanks' hands touched clay his future was assured. At an earlier age, Dixie Parker recalls strongest memories of a desire to paint. When the handsome young professor arrived on the Drake University campus, the shy, dowdy sophomore art student describes a mystical-magical force upon "hearing" Richard's name, knowing with certainty they would someday marry. For two decades the couple's tenuous connections flowed through Richard's university teaching and Dixie's professional coming of age at the vibrant Des Moines Art Center during its greatest transition. Each artist...