In 1902 her parents moved to Virginia and were joined by the children in 1903. By the age of 16 Georgia had 5 years of private art lessons at various schools in Wisconsin and Virginia.

One particular teacher, Elizabeth Willis encouraged her to work at her own pace and afforded her opportunities that the other students felt unfair. At times she would work intensely, and at other times she would not work for days. When it was brought to the attention of the principal, she would reply..."When the spirit moves Georgia, she can do more in a day than you can do in a week"

After receiving her diploma in 1905 she for left Chicago to live with an aunt and attend the Art Institute of Chicago. She did not return to the Institute the following year after a bout with Typhoid Fever. Instead, in 1907 she enrolled at the Art Student League in New York City.

While at the Art Student League, Eugene Speicher, a student at the League asked Georgia to pose for him. Seeing her annoyance at the offer he commented, "It doesn't matter what you do, I'm going to be a great painter and you will probably end up teaching painting in some girls' school." She latter agreed to pose for him. The image at the top of this page was painted by Speicher in 1908.

Discouraged with her work, she did not return to the League in the fall of 1908, but moved to Chicago and found work as a commercial artist. During this period Georgia did not pick up a brush, and said that the smell of turpentine made her sick.

She moved back to her family in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1909 and later enrolled at a nearby college. In 1912 a friend in Texas wrote that a teaching position was open in Amarillo, Texas for a "drawing supervisor". Georgia applied for the position and was hired for the fall semester. She would remain here till 1914, making trips to Virginia in the summer months to teach at the University of Virginia.

After resigning her job in Amarillo, Georgia moved to New York City to attend Columbia Teachers College until accepting a teaching position at Columbia College in South Carolina. Having a light schedule, she felt it would be an ideal position that would give her time to paint. Here she was to strip away what she had been taught to paint and began to paint as she felt.