>> LOCAL ARTS
Artist Nancy Mason hosted an art show Sept. 9, at Eclectic in downtown Milledgeville, where she showed off both standalone pieces and a series of paintings related to sunflowers.
In her biography, posted by Eclectic, it states she uses a variety of mediums with a focus on bright colors to bring about emotions of happiness and joy to her audience. Some of the mediums she has worked in include collages, oil paintings, watercolor, painting, and a combination of collages with painting.
“Having the art show was so fun and shows like that mean a lot to an artist. When someone sees your work and becomes invested in it, the way it makes you feel is indescribable,” said Mason.
Mason is a Baldwin County native and teacher of visual arts at Putnam County High School. She attended the Savannah College of Art & Design to receive a degree in painting. While she remained in Savannah for 20 years exploring her art and the historic city, she would return to Baldwin County and attend Georgia College & State University to earn her teaching degree.
“It’s funny. I loved the area of Savannah so much that I stayed there for so long, but after a while I ended up back home where my art journey began,” said Mason with a short laugh.
Her art began with a child’s perspective and influence of her surroundings. Her earliest memories involved making art out of Georgia clay and creating oil paintings, canvases and more through an easel gifted to her. Her parents nurtured this artistic spirit by buying her art books and showing a positive love for the work their daughter did.
“I grew to love art for many reasons. As a teacher, it has shown me how people put their personalities into their works and how many different approaches can be made to one assignment. Personally, art has been very therapeutic and been a part of who I am since I was a child,” said Mason. “I’m so grateful that this love was nurtured at such a young age.”
One of the pieces featured in Mason’s art show at Eclectic was a canvas of sunflowers with a field stretching out behind it and the flowers stretching into the sky. According to Mason, this is one of her favorite pieces because it was inspired by her daughter.
“A few years ago, my daughter was at UGA and studied abroad in Italy. She sent a postcard with this winding road and everywhere you looked on this card, there were sunflowers,” said Mason. “It was so beautiful, so I decided I wanted to see them bloom and Karen (the owner of Eclectic) and I took a trip to Italy to see it in person.”
Mason said she found the sight even more mesmerizing than the photos when she realized how happy it could make someone, especially since sunflowers do not last long. The sunflowers were in bloom only for about 10 days but in those days, Mason expressed that she felt happiness, joy, warmth, positivity, hope and more. Those emotions and the sight itself led to her creation of several pieces focused on sunflowers.
“They just represent positivity and hope. And this year, I incorporated that feeling into the first project my students did in class,” said Mason. “The first project they did was to color a sunflower.”
Mason said that teaching has been a wonderful outlet for her to share her experience and enjoy art from a new perspective. She continuously sees art change over the course of her students’ journeys and the true gift is helping a student find their own adoration and gift in art.
“High school students are at a wonderful age to teach because you show them the steps and sometimes, they just wow you,” said Mason. “I didn’t have art in high school myself so it’s funny in a way to be teaching it now and seeing the impact it makes on each of my students.”
To an aspiring artist or anyone interested in exploring, Mason advises to just go for it and dip your toes into any medium that piques an interest. To her, anyone can be an artist because art itself does not have a single vision or definition.
“Art is funny because it can just be beautiful or can tell the story, it can be funny or political, but it always reflects the personality of the creator,” said Mason. “You may want to have a strong message or, like me, you may just love color. I just like to do things that are pretty and make the viewer happy. The art is all up to the artist.”
Mason hopes to host more art shows in the future and continue to explore personal art outside of teaching.
“Looking back, I'm really grateful for that love of art early on and having that nourished by my family,” said Mason. “I hope that I can be that same nourishment for my students and for other artists out there.”