Speaker 1: 0:30

My name is Elaine Whaley Nunnally. I am an artist and I do have a business for my art. I paint. I paint watercolors, I teach and sell my work. I go to art shows and it's a nice life Awesome.

Speaker 2: 0:51

Take me back. What kind of drew you to the world of art?

Speaker 1: 0:55

Give me a quick overview of your journey, from the start, and it's interesting because people talk about having the right lessons, but I think it's either in you or it's not, because I just always and I'm the only one in my family who is an artist, the others are like totally different, not anywhere near, not anywhere near, and um so um. But to tell the truth, um, my great grandfather was a well-known artist for the lutheran church. I never met him, but my dad was always saying, oh, you've got that from you know, from uh, uncle kurt. And so, um, maybe, maybe I didn't, but my mother's mother also painted on porcelain and that was a thing around the turn of the century. I didn't know that, but I mean she's got beautiful vases and things and she had a kiln and everything. I mean that's just seems amazing. But, um, yeah, so I mean, and she was wonderful, but she didn't like enter shows. I'm a different kind of artist, but as far as getting talent, I just was always drawing and loved it.

Speaker 1: 2:28

And then I went to college and everyone was saying don't major in art because it's an overcrowded field, you'll never get a job, blah, blah, blah. And actually I majored in home economics, which was ridiculous. After one quarter I couldn't stand it and so I changed to art and I love it and I didn't know what I was going to do with it. I ended up teaching, which I, surprise, loved and then I taught for 40 years in the public school system here in Loudoun and I never expected to teach for so long but I truly loved it and I was a very lucky person to find something that you really love to do.

Speaker 1: 3:22

And with art you're dealing with the creative process all the time and all the kids and all their things and what they're doing, and I was always encouraging them. And I have to laugh because when I was doing the middle school they had all these little kids all around me constantly asking me all these questions. And you know, I learned later that I'm actually ADD and that is perfect for that, for I think most teachers are because you got to be able to turn from one thing to the next to the next, and I was able to do that with no problem and anyway. So I started teaching and loved it and stayed. I taught middle school to begin with and then I switched to high school All high schools in here in in loudoun county wow, yeah, sounds like you found your calling.

Speaker 1: 4:23

Oh, it really is, and I teach adults too, and adults are fun and um, anyway, um, I don't know, it's that teacher thing, you know, like giving, trying to get other people to love art the way I do, you know, and it's, it's, it's fun, it's definitely fun and um yeah, yeah, I can tell you're so passionate and I think that's one of the most important traits to look for in a teacher.

Speaker 2: 4:49

You want someone that has that burning passion to just share and teach what they, what has changed their lives, what fuels them, what drives them to get up every day in the morning. So it's beautiful.

Speaker 1: 5:02

I felt lucky because I really loved what I did. I looked forward to going to school every day.

Speaker 2: 5:10

Yeah absolutely Kind of shifting gears. I personally love your Interstate series, thank you. It really transforms something ordinary into something extraordinary. What first sparked your interest in highways as a subject, I can tell you exactly what it was.

Speaker 1: 5:26

I was taking class from Skip Lawrence, who's a real well-known artist down in Stanton, virginia, and it was a five-day workshop. And I was living in Orkney Springs, which we have a house down there, and so I would drive on 81 for 60 miles, you know, to get to Stanton and attend the class. And I remember Skip said in the very first class, he says I want you to pick a theme and explore that theme. And I don't paint in themes. I do now. And I was like, oh no, what am I going to paint about?

Speaker 1: 6:08

So I'm in the car, driving, driving, driving, you know, on 81, and going back, driving, driving. And I thought you know, really, when you drive, especially on the interstate, there's, um, I mean all these hills and occasional homes and I mean it's beautiful, uh, bridges and it's, it's like art, I mean it's like this would make a good painting. Oh, this would make a good painting. So I started taking these pictures and, um, not a wise idea when you, when you're um, driving. But in fact, some of my adult students one year bought me a, uh, a camera that you sit on your, on your, on your dashboard, yeah, and to encourage me well, not to encourage me. This was something they did out of love and um.

Speaker 1: 7:02

So I'm just constant, do you know? I still do it. I still take pictures of when I'm traveling somewhere and I just, oh, that would be good, you know, and I decided to keep doing. I must have thousands of pictures on my phone, but the day I'm not interested in doing that, and what comes next, that would not be a good day, you know. So I think we always have to look for our next project, our next, whatever, yeah, love that All right.

Speaker 2: 7:37

Whatever. Yeah, Love that All right. When you start a new piece, how do you decide which techniques like layering, graffito printing will really bring that idea to life?

Speaker 1: 7:43

Well, it actually the picture speaks to me, unless I'm doing a commission. I do a lot of commissions and they're fun in a way, but you have to please the person who's doing it. You know it has to look like the kid.

Speaker 1: 7:59

It has to look like the place you know, and so you're a little bit bound up in that, and that's a good thing to do too, to get it right. But I just started painting these highway scenes and it was because I could see all these different and I started to show them to my friends and they had never seen anything like it. And I will say I have been accepted into the American Watercolor Society and many others. Congratulations, thank you. I've become a signature member of AWS, which is like impossible, and I just thought maybe before I die I might get in one time. That's the kind of the creme de la creme, and it's always held at the Salma Gandhi Club in New York. And I couldn't believe it. I actually got in three times and so I actually have a pin in AWS. But it's an elite group, not that I am as good as everyone there, but I am in fact. I enter every year and I haven't gotten in again. It's hard to get in, very hard, but I always keep up with what's going on. I'm lucky.

Speaker 2: 9:25

Yeah, in terms of keeping up with what's going on and watercolors what keeps watercolor in specific feeling fresh and inspiring for you?

Speaker 1: 9:33

Watercolor is the most. I could talk forever about the watercolor Because I taught art in school but I never did watercolor. And I remember one time adults and one of the adults had brought in watercolors for me to play with and I hated it. It's hard. I was like, oh yeah, I wanted to stick to something I could do and do. Well, and much later, when I happened to be down spending the summer in Orkney Springs, virginia JMU was having and they still do art workshops for 10 days and I figured I'm living here anyway for the summer. So I took a watercolor class and I could not believe. I just totally fell in love. I was painting everything. I was painting all the beautiful scenery around Orkney Springs and that really got me started. And little white houses with all the beautiful foliage and everything, and I mean it's an old, old village and I just that was it.

Speaker 2: 10:46

That's very cool, all right, so kind of you touched on the watercolor group. I know that you painted with the loudon sketch club. Oh yeah, yeah. How did that influence your perspective as an artist?

Speaker 1: 10:59

um, that's a good question. How did it influence?

Speaker 1: 11:03

I wanted to get to know um local people and the artist community in loudon county, because you can't always be going to new york and to you know, I mean that that's a aws, is a select group, and so are all the many other organizations that I'm in. And yet I wanted to do something with local to get to know, uh, my local people, which most of them I know anyway. But, um, yeah, I like getting involved in the Loudon Sketch Club. Do you know? The Loudon Sketch Club is the oldest art group, I think, in the country.

Speaker 1: 11:40

Really yeah and it was started by Dagmar Wilson. And Dagmar Wilson and I cannot remember her name, no worries, but you know, old people from way, way back had gotten together and started this club and they called it the Loudon Sketch Club and it was great.

Speaker 2: 12:07

Yeah, it's wonderful that you were able to be a part of that legacy. That's the way I think about it. When things have lasted for that long, it's like, oh, how could I not be a part of that?

Speaker 1: 12:17

Because I was giving a talk and doing a show with a bunch of friends who are from Loudoun and they were talking about all these people you know who are the big names from long ago and I was like, oh yeah, I know Dagmar.

Speaker 1: 12:35

Oh yeah, I knew him and they were like because I'm older than they are and they're like. I can't believe you know them. You actually painted with them and that's because I have a little age on me, but I was very lucky. I have a little age on me but I was very lucky, and Loudon used to have so many artists and still does. It's just it attracts artists and I love being part of that.

Speaker 2: 13:02

Yeah, I'm sure everyone else in Loudon loves that. You're part of it as well. Thank you All right, what does creating order out of chaos look like in your process.

Speaker 1: 13:11

I said that didn't I.

Speaker 2: 13:12

Yeah, and why is that so important in your work? And you touched on being ADD, so I'm sure that that's part of it.

Speaker 1: 13:18

That's a good way to combine those two. We all want to create order. I mean, it's a human thing.

Speaker 1: 13:27

Yes, you need to throw a bunch of stuff down and you kind of ordering uh things, make them, make lists of things, and um, it's just a natural thing to do. And um, and that's what art really is is creating order out of chaos. And those who can do even like abstract art which I also like and I do um, that's harder because it's so direct. When you're doing realism, you're just looking at something and copying it. I mean, you know, realism and um is become, has become a very popular thing in the watercolor color world, but um, it's not making it up, you know, and abstract art does, so it's great, and you have to know design to do abstract art.

Speaker 2: 14:15

Yeah, absolutely. I love the creating order out of chaos idea because, as someone with a background in music, that's what music is Exactly. It's, you know, organizing sound in that way, because sound is chaos, but music is the way you organize it, true, and you have to have the technique for that too. So I really, really resonate with that. It's really awesome, kind of switching gears to teaching. You've spent over 40 years teaching art, which is incredible. Thank you for that. What have your students taught you about creativity and resilience.

Speaker 1: 14:53

I believe every, every child has an opportunity sounds like echo to to create. It's inborn. We all want to create and kids love art. And then when they get older, of course they get more interested in other things. But teaching my art classes was so fun because everyone's interested, almost everyone. They want to be there and art is like you can do something. And then you think I did that, reducing the whole process to something little. But at you think I did that. You know, I mean it's reducing the whole process to something little, but at the same time I did that. You know, and for kids who you know, who may not have that in their life, this is a great thing. A lot of kids find out they have the ability and even if they don't you know, I have my grandchildren I've learned to say tell me about that Instead of what's that? Yeah, and because they will, they'll tell you about it. But, and it's the most exciting thing happening, I think, is the arts, all of the arts, mm, hmm.

Speaker 2: 16:07

Yeah, and I love what you said about them being able to sit back and say I did that Because when you're a kid and you don't have a lot of control maybe over your home life, if it's kids in school or just different things, you know it's so chaotic growing up it is. It can be so grounding to sit back and look at something that you've made and just think it really builds that self-confidence and that identity. So I'm sure you've given that to so many of your students throughout the 40 years. So after 40 I guess I did.

Speaker 1: 16:38

But yeah, that's, that's beautiful. I get so much back from my kids. I miss my kids. Yeah, go back to teaching.

Speaker 2: 16:44

If I could have the same kids and if teaching was the same as it is now, yeah, what advice would you give to adults who feel they've missed their chance to explore?

Speaker 1: 16:54

making art missed your chance because I taught adult watercolor class through loudon um schools um at night, and the joy for me was people kept saying I've always wanted to do this, I've always wanted to do this, I've always wanted to do that. And either their parents wouldn't let them major in art because what are you going to do? You know the common question or whatever, or they were busy bringing up a family. But there's an awful lot of artists who did that at the same time that they were bringing up that. They were painting well and bringing up a family. Yeah, it's just something. Everyone is interested in art. Everyone wants to draw. Everyone wants to create something. That's my. I haven't been found wrong about that.

Speaker 2: 17:49

Yeah, it's a good feeling to have. How do people overcome the fear that their art may not be good enough? I know that that kind of holds a lot of people back yeah, Do it anyway.

Speaker 1: 18:04

That's what I say. Do it anyway For a long time because I was accepted in so many shows. I was just having a conversation with my art friend a really special art friend and I said I haven't been painting lately and, uh, and my problem because I got into so many national shows early on. I feel like every time I sit down to paint it's got to be something great. You know, it's got something that can get into the you know such and such society or Georgia watercolor society, but there's so many around the country and instead of painting for myself, just having fun that's why the book was so much fun, Because then I actually thought you want me to show this.

Speaker 1: 18:51

Yeah, Okay, that was a dream come true for me, because I illustrated this book. Hurry, Scurry, but Do Not Worry, my friend wrote it and we have another book planned. It's really cute and I loved illustrating it and I thought, wow, I really could do this, you know, and uh, but that's always out there. You know something you could do. But when I was in college, all of my art professors would look down their noses at illustration and people who went into I that was. That was then, you know and um, like it wasn't real art, but it is, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 19:35

Um, talking more about Hurry Scurry, but Do Not Worry. How did you approach illustrating the book to capture both the story's heart and your artistic style? How did you kind of balance?

Speaker 1: 19:47

that I didn't, I haven't, having never, never having done this, but when my friend said she wanted me to illustrate it and and I read it, she sent me and I she. She's in Atlanta and.

Speaker 1: 19:59

I was up here we did it and, um, it was so cute and it's written in um Limerick style and um in Limerick style, and ideas just kept popping up for me and this was a special thing and we're trying to do another one and I'm like it has to work, I have to connect with it, because so far I haven't come up with anything good for her other stories, but the one story that's a follow-up to this. I mean, I am going to do that. I don't know, I just started just illustrating some things and I'd send them to her, you know, email them, and then she'd say, oh, that's perfect, now let's go, let's go with that you know and there was a lot of um research to be done that I didn't realize, like this little book talks about.

Speaker 1: 20:47

The mice that get into. This is the bishop. Oh, wow, yeah. And you know things like okay, what does a bishop's robe really look like when you're illustrating it? You've got to know. I mean, we had a bishop visit in our church, st James Church, and I actually asked him if he would let me stop and sketch his mitered hat, because I didn't know. You sit down and I'm like, oh, I don't actually know what that looks like or I don't know what markings are on the stole. So there was a lot of learning to doing this. And then even my friend, carol, who wrote the book she didn't know some of this stuff and the whole book was dedicated to her father-in-law, who was a bishop, but sometimes a lot of people don't know. So we did with this book is carol wrote an addendum kind of, and it was like a glossary of all the words that kids will come across in the episcopal church. What they mean you know anyway. So that's a learning thing yeah.

Speaker 2: 21:57

How do you hope children feel when they look at your illustrations alongside her words?

Speaker 1: 22:02

yeah, they love them because they're bright and they're colorful. It just turned out that way, um, and kids love colorful things and they're a little bit cartoony, but not really. And um, cause I'm not a cartoonist? Um, I can't, it's just not me.

Speaker 2: 22:22

Yeah, no, but you stuck true to yourself and your artistic vision and you came through with like beautiful illustrations for this book. So congratulations, thank you very much. To you and Carol Smith Hathaway. Carol, that's right. Yeah, carol Hathaway, perfect. Looking back on your career so far, what do you feel is your greatest contribution to the world of art and education?

Speaker 1: 22:52

Getting people to learn and love art to get them going. As a teacher and I'm very positive and upbeat I can tell. To a fault? Yep, To a fault, because I will. I'm always like that's great, oh, that's great. Well, maybe, if you do this or you know, I mean I'm, I'm. I used to think that was, I was too positive. Not everything is great, and yet everything is, everything has a possibility, you know.

Speaker 2: 23:26

I love that everything does have a possibility yeah, I mean nothing. Beautiful, no failures, yeah, you know and that's really, I think that's what sets good art teachers apart is everything does have a possibility. Everyone has potential and everyone, yeah, everyone.

Speaker 1: 23:42

I would never I would never toss a kid out as a teacher. I taught in middle school and high school, but I taught with other teachers and a lot of them are not like that. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:55

The art teacher. They're lousy, but I don't. So if you approach a kid seriously and start talking about their artwork, it's interesting because you really get into the heart of the child and what makes them tick. And now they're like, oh, I can do what I want to in here. Well, the exception of, you know, no nudity or anything, of course. And so that freedom and many kids succeed where they don't in the other classes, and that's actually. Most artists are good students too. I want to say that because there's this oh well, he can't do anything, but just put him in an art class. No, I mean, yeah, you got to be smart.

Speaker 2: 24:49

Absolutely. If you could inspire people to see just one thing differently through your work, what do you think that would be?

Speaker 1: 24:57

Well, for my interstate series, I want them. So many people, for example, have come back and said I never thought of things this way. And then I feel really good because I want to show them something different that there actually is artistic components of just driving behind the wheel and what you're looking at. You know you're looking at constant art, composition and whatnot.

Speaker 2: 25:24

Yeah, there's art. In every day and in every moment there's art.

Speaker 1: 25:27

Every moment.

Speaker 2: 25:28

Beautiful, all right, well, is there anything else that I didn't touch on that you want to share?

Speaker 1: 25:35

I don't think so. It's been delightful.

Speaker 2: 25:37

Yeah Well, thank you so much, Elaine, for coming in making the time to talk. This has been such a beautiful conversation and I know that our audience is going to love listening. Thank you again. Yeah, Thank you.