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Nancy Stark

From her beginnings with watercolor, to her found object collages, we were eager to discover the path, award winning local artist, Nancy Stark followed what led her to the style of art she creates today.

CHELSEA: Have you always been interested in art?

NANCY: I have been interested in art all my life but the only formal art education I had was an after-school art club in New York State. I remember going to after-school art club and I still have one of the little paintings I did way back then. I didn’t listen to my mother who said, “Go to art school, go to art school, go to art school.” I didn’t go, so I have no formal art education.

In 1983, after I had my third child, I took a watercolor class at Blue Ridge Community College with Kay Flory. She was fabulous! Kay was supportive, encouraging, and I was hooked. I started out in transparent watercolors. I took Kay’s watercolor classes 1, 2, and 3, and then I began to look for other places where I could take classes. Except for that I have done a lot of workshops where you go and study for four or five days with an individual instructor. So I’ve spent a lot of time with other artists, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the studio just playing, experimenting, and seeing what I like to do.

“Yard Mates,” Nancy Stark

EMILY: Do you look back on where you started and see anything that you’ve carried throughout? Or is it completely different now?

NANCY: What I see is that I started out on this path, like how Kay got me started on watercolor, and then different things impacted or knocked me off that path. I used to belong to the Shenandoah Watercolor Society and I was painting in transparent watercolor; I took some paintings to a critique where Charles Goolsby, the department chair of art at Emory and Henry College, was the guest critiquer. I put up this huge, full sheet watercolor painting with three rocking chairs, shadows, bushes, the front of the house, pillars, everything. He looked at it and said, “What do you like about this painting?” I pointed to the bottom half of the rocker and the shapes from the cast shadow. He looked at me and said, “Then why is all of this other stuff in the painting?” So I give Charles credit for my use of cropping in my work.

Somewhere along the way I was out with my husband, who is a train enthusiast, and we stopped to look at some trains one day. It was a bright sunny day and around the backside of the train there was this step with lots of round holes in it, and the shadows cast by it caught my attention. It was just shapes, so I got to thinking, “Why aren’t you painting things more like that?” I enjoy putting jigsaw puzzles together; I love to combine shapes and see how they fit and make up the whole. So I started on a different direction subject-wise.

I took a watercolor workshop with Carolyn Gawarecki, who is a Northern Virginia artist, and she said, “Shadows are not gray.” So, since that class, my shadows have become purple. And purple is a color that I use a lot in my paintings. I paint the whole painting first, and then I mix up a big juicy puddle of a dioxazine purple and French ultramarine blue, sometimes there are a few other colors in it. I weave that color throughout the painting, which helps to unify it because it’s always the darkest dark.

One night during Art By Night, Geri Stevenson and I left Signature 9 and we went around to other galleries, back when Richard Kurshan still had Studios on the Square, and the guest artist there was Joni Pienkowski. She was painting on doors and didn’t gesso them. She uses the grain of the door in her paintings so I thought to myself, “That’s a neat surface.” Before that I had been painting on watercolor paper but I decided I would gesso them first, which gives me texture to work with.

In a way I was on this path and Charles kind of bumped me off and got me to paint cropped images, then Carolyn’s comment about the shadows and Joni painting on doors, and I’ve taken a little bit of all of that along the way. And that is true of any artist; when you see the artwork of other people there is something in it that appeals to you and it sometimes, somehow comes out in you, incorporating things from different art that you like. So it’s a continuous path, but maybe not one I would have gotten to without outside influences.

CHELSEA: Before you start a piece, do you go out and roam and look at the trains as your subject matter and take pictures?

NANCY: Yes, I work from photographs. I generally go up and access the tracks where they’re restoring the Virginian Station on Williamson Road and they’re pretty good about letting you walk if they see you’ve got a camera; they know that you’re ok and not going to sabotage anything, I guess. So I try to get different shots and try to use the camera to crop what I think will be a good image. Many times I don’t even use the full image.

EMILY: So when did you start integrating the found objects?

NANCY: I can think back to the first one that I did. It has been three or four years that I’ve been integrating found objects. I am by nature a pack rat; I very rarely throw anything out.

Old things intrigue me, whether it’s rusty pieces of metal, or correspondence or photographs from years ago. My father-in-law passed away three years ago and I inherited his tool chest that had little drawers in it; inside of it were nuts and bolts and different things. And he was probably how you can trace back why I’m painting trains. So I’ve sort of come full circle. My father-in-law liked trains, I married his son, I’m painting trains, and now I have his stuff. So I started putting those things on the paintings themselves. Also, while I was putting these items on I was trying to keep in mind what kind of shadow they would actually cast when they’re lit. Because that’s another connection for me, I started painting the trains because of the cast shadows, and now I’m incorporating things that cast a shadow. So some of the shadows on my paintings are actually painted on with my purple mixture and some of them are just a shadow caused when these found objects are illuminated in a certain way.

I also inherited a lot of my grandfather’s written memorabilia. He was a contractor and I have a lot of his books, so I have a lot of his handwriting and I began incorporating that. I got an old autograph book from a great aunt that was falling apart; either you can keep it or you can do something with it, so I started incorporating the paper memorabilia. And it intrigues me a little bit as things that survive over time. Rust survives when it changes, and the paper and the photographs; it’s sort of what’s left behind when people that you knew are no longer here.

“The Night Porter,” Nancy Stark

CHELSEA: Do you work with any other medium than watercolor?

NANCY: I either work in watercolor or fluid acrylics, which are about the same consistency as heavy cream, but I’m not that interested in oil at the moment. I’ve done collage, and that goes back to incorporating things in the artwork. Right now I’m working on some commissions, and once they’re done I’m anxious to do a lot of large-scale floral painting. But they’re not just going to be floral; I’m interested in trying to incorporate a lot of shapes. I’ve done large-scale floral paintings with watercolor on plain paper but I’m going to try to do some on the wooden panels with gesso background. I’m also working on the boxes as another surface to paint on. All of my commissions are trains. And it’s interesting because when some people come through the booth at the sidewalk sale they comment, “Oh, you’ve got to love trains, or you’ve got to work for Norfolk Southern to be interested in them,” but I’ve sold them to people who have absolutely no connection to trains. And I think they see them more for the design and composition. I paint because it is the best therapy. A lot of times I have to make myself get in the studio, but once I’m there, there’s just something about it. But I do still like painting trains, and I will probably always paint trains.

“I paint because it is the best therapy. A lot of times I have to make myself get in the studio, but once I’m there, there’s just something about it.”

CHELSEA: I love texture; I see these works not as trains but more as the shadows, shapes, and an overall visual texture.

NANCY: My number one things are shape, color, texture, and pattern.

CHELSEA: Do you like using bold colors?

NANCY: When I first started painting the trains on the watercolor paper they were very representational, the steel grays and the rusty reds, but they have evolved into bright colors. I do enjoy bright colors.

CHELSEA: Do you have any specific artists that are your favorites or might influence your style?

NANCY: There are a lot that are my favorites. I like Matisse, I love the cutouts, the shapes, the bright colors. There are several fabulous contemporary artists that I love; one in particular that I admire is Elaine Daily Birnbaum. She does fabulous abstract paintings.

“Complementary Colors II,” Nancy Stark

“On the Side Track,” Nancy Stark

“Where Does It End,” Nancy Stark

“Red Letter Day,” Nancy Stark

“Brakewheel Shadows,” Nancy Stark

You can see Nancy’s work at Signature 9 Gallery or online at nancystarkart.com.

This article was originally published in the third issue of VIA Noke Magazine, printed in Roanoke, Virginia in October 2012.

October 1, 2012
High School Student Spotlight: Peyton Stanley

Local student and artist Peyton Stanley will be a senior at Community High School this fall. Although she only recently began tapping into her artistic talents in a serious manner, she has been creative since she was very young. “I have been interested in arts since I was finger painting and drawing in coloring books in elementary school,” she explained, “but it wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I really began to take it seriously.”

She has a firm grasp on her own style of painting, which is clearly inspired by some of her favorite abstract expressionists from the 20th century; Wassily Kandinsky, James Rosenquist, and Sol LeWitt.

Although she has a sizable collection of work created in oil and charcoal, photography is her favorite medium. Her photography work makes a similar approach to her subjects as her paintings, capturing images from unconventional angles and perspectives. Two of her favorite photographers are the photorealist and painter Chuck Close and local Lexington, Virginia native Sally Mann.

“I would like to continue studying the arts at Memphis College of Art or Virginia Commonwealth University. I plan on at least minoring in art, without a doubt,” Peyton explains. “My ultimate dream is to be able to support myself with my photography and paintings.”

This article was originally published in the second issue of VIA Noke Magazine, printed in Roanoke, Virginia in July 2012.

July 1, 2012
College Student Spotlight: Ciara Roberts

Photography by Ciara Roberts

Photography by Ciara Roberts

Ciara Roberts is a local college student who is going a far less traditional route than many of her peers when it comes to her studies in digital photography. Currently residing in Ferrum, she is heading into her second year at the New York Institute for Photography from the comfort of her own home. “NYIP sends me books and assignments; once I complete the assignment I mail it in and they send back grades,” she explains. But working remotely does not mean that her education is any less strenuous. “It’s more hands-on that I thought it would be, seeing as you don’t attend actual classes. But you do the work when it’s convenient to you. I enjoy it quite a bit.”

Photography by Ciara Roberts

Photography by Ciara Roberts

Her talent clearly shines though, overshadowing any doubts of such an independent education, and her work reflects her strong understanding of light and composition. Her wish to eventually find a job in the fashion photography industry is also very evident in her choice of subject matter, which consists largely of editorial-style portraits. But her leading inspiration differs from day to day. “It could vary from a thought, an insect, or a skull,” she explains, referring to photographs she took using a skull as her subject. “It’s whatever catches my eye that moment.” Some of her favorite artists are Emily Soto, Andy Warhol, Rankin, Van Gogh, and Salvador Dali.

Ciara’s other passion is collecting vintage items, ranging from clothing and accessories to antique cameras. “Usually the stranger the better,” she says of her approach in choosing these pieces. “At times these items make their way into my photography.”

This article was originally published in the second issue of VIA Noke Magazine, printed in Roanoke, Virginia in July 2012.

July 1, 2012
Steve Mitchell
I consider myself fortunate to have recently spent an afternoon at the home and studio of local artist Steve Mitchell. After meeting Steve and discovering his unique style, I was excited to see where and how he worked to create his pottery. I excitedly followed him from his outside studio to his glazing workshop then to his homemade wood-firing kiln, leaving with a further understanding of the pottery-making process and a greater appreciation for the hard work ceramicists put into each piece.

EMILY: Tell me about yourself and how you began working with pottery. Did you have any formal education in ceramics?

STEVE: I went to East Tennessee State because they had a degree in transportation and I wanted to work for the railroad. But about the time I was graduating Norfolk Southern was laying people off left and right so I stayed another year and got a degree in marketing. When I came out I found a job in insurance. I was a manager of claims for Nationwide Insurance; it was a pretty stressful job. Nobody is ever having a good day when they call the claims department, so you’re not talking to them unless they’ve broken a leg or wrecked their car. So I decided to try pottery to unwind… or I should say again. I dated a potter a long time ago; I taught her how to do stained glass and she taught me pottery. I always thought, “I could do better than this.” And so about 25 years later I tried again over at the Brambleton Center, and this time I seemed to have more of a knack for it. So I got a wheel and the hobby started to kind of run wild. I would take my vacation time to go learn and take workshops from famous potters a couple of weeks a year. I did that for about ten years. Then I finally had a glaze formulation class where I learned to actually make my own glazes and the dynamics of glaze-making. About eight years later I decided, “I can do this,” so I decided to leave the company. Of course, now I’m always trying to do something that sells. For most potters, even though they don’t want to do production work, that’s what it’s all about. If you want to try to make a living doing this you have to produce a lot of work. There’s no way around it.

EMILY: So you make all of your own glazes?

STEVE: I do. I was rotten at chemistry in school so this is my punishment, because this is “chemistry world.” That’s what all of this is about; how materials react with other materials.

There are all kinds of borates, feldspars, nephelite; these are naturally mined clays and they come from particular mines. There’s a clay called “Albany clay,” or Albany slip. It was mined in Albany, New York and was the only true black clay. All of these people built their entire production around that one glaze, but they ran out of it and it’s not available anymore. That was the only place on the planet where that particular clay was found. Fortunately all of the clay that I’ve used for my work has come from the same place. But I had that happen to a frit from Germany. They all have this thumbprint, a profile of their chemical analysis, so I broke it down to its chemical base and I took all of the raw materials and made that frit myself. It took me two years to get it just right.

“I broke it down to its chemical base and I took all of the raw materials and made that frit myself. It took me two years to get it just right. “

There’s ilmenite, manganese, tin oxide, vanadium pentoxide, all of these weird – some of them rare – earth metals that are used to make the colors that I have in my glazes. For most people, the first thing they’re attracted to is the color, and hopefully later they fall in love with the form and the details and all of that. So I have most of the spectrum of materials for glaze making. I have at least 5lbs of almost every element on the earth, and 50lbs of most of them.

Some glazes are activated by salt, which is entered into the kiln at about 2300º; it turns into a gas, vaporizes, and swirls around in the kiln and puts a glaze over everything. Back in the old days that’s how they glazed pots, from natural fly ash or salt. I have always fired at cone 10, 2350º, but it’s a very slow process. I met a guy at a workshop who told me, “All of the things you do at cone 10 you can do at cone 6,” which is quite a bit cooler. So I gave it a shot, and sure enough… the ash melts at cone 6, salt turns into a gas at cone 6, but it saves half of the wood. It takes me as long and as much firewood to go from cone 6 to cone 10 as it takes just to get to cone 6, so this cuts my time and wood use in half. I’m reformulating all of my glazes so that they work at cone 6, which just means using different fluxing agents. I’m now using minerals that oddly I had but hadn’t really used before.

Horse hair pot by Steve Mitchell

EMILY: Do you have a signature style or create any signature pieces?

STEVE: You have to do something to distinguish yourself or you’re not going to sell anything. The horsehair pots I make are about two to three times larger than a lot of potters will make them. For those I glaze the inside red and the outside snow white. I heat the pot up to about a thousand degrees, 1100ºF actually, and as it cools down there is about a fifty degree window where I can stick a piece of coarse horse hair in and burn a little carbon trail into the white clay. Interior designers really like that black, white, and red.

Wood fire kiln prepared for a firing.

I have a wood firing kiln as well as an electric kiln so for about six months of the year I do the wood firing work and for the other six months I do my crystalline work in the electric kiln. Chemistry and the temperature cycle create the crystalline. The glaze solution is made up of 25% zinc, which is what they use to create the crystalline pattern on galvanized metal. Zinc wants to go into a crystallized formation, but needs a little bit of a catalyst, which in this case is titanium dioxide. You put a little bit of that in the glaze and coat it on pretty thick. At 2350º the glaze gets real loose and starts flowing off the pot into a tray underneath. I crash cool it down to about 1900º and that solidifies it a bit. At that point the zinc starts flowing towards the titanium dioxide molecules and the crystals will start growing. The longer you let it sit at that temperature the bigger the crystals will get.

It’s a lot of work to get a crystal on any pot. On some the crystals get too big and all run together. I don’t like that but it’s funny, some people really like when the crystals grow together. If I don’t like them they usually end up in the ditch. All potters have a ditch; it’s where the stuff that doesn’t work out very well ends up. If there’s something that I’m not pleased about but someone might like it I’ll throw it in my sale instead. So someone will ask, “What’s wrong with this one?” and I’ll say, “Oh it didn’t do what I wanted it to do.” And they think it’s perfect so they’re excited that they get it for 70% off.

I use Indian wood blocks to create patterns on some pieces. I think the wood is made out of some kind of teak or mahogany, but [the carvers] sit there with little knives and carve these little patterns into the wood blocks; it just seems amazing to me. They use them to print batik fabric, or wallpaper some people say. I stamp the clay and stretch it out to creates texture. You can line them up carefully and never see where the pattern starts and stops. What I like about it is that you get this natural, irregular feel to these pieces.

I’m working on a thing called “terra sigillata.” It’s something that the Greeks kind of came across by accident. You put the clay in a bucket and use a deflocculant – they used vinegars, I use a silicate – and it causes all of the particles to deflect each other so they don’t settle. I mix it up, let it set overnight, and the next morning all of the big particles are at the bottom and the super-fine particles are all in the solution on top. You can dip the pots or spray it on and then polish it on the wheel. The fine particles create an almost enamel-like surface. I’m thinking my next generation of pots will be like that.

Wood-fired crachoir, or wine spittoon, by Steve Mitchell

I went to France with a friend of mine who was a wine importer and we went around France tasting all kinds of different wines from different regions. We got down to the Loire Valley to see Marc Ollivier, who is like the rockstar of the Loire Valley in winemaking. So I introduced myself, “Steve Mitchell, potier,” and he responded, “Potier!? My great, great grandpa potier!” And he runs out of this beautiful stone and walnut cellar into this huge mansion and he comes back down with this roughly hand-shaped crachoir, or spittoon. And he goes, “You make?” and I say, “Yeah, I can make!” So I came back home and made like a hundred of them, large and small. I’ve actually sold a bunch. I have a friend who went to Gascony, France and there was one of my crachoirs sitting on the bar; he took a picture of it and sent it to me. So I have them all over. I have a lot of them in Washington and Oregon because there are a lot of winemakers there. It’s a piece that I make that not many people really know much about.

EMILY: Tell me about your wood firing kiln.

STEVE: I was renting a kiln and fired it about ten times, at the average cost of a thousand bucks a pop, and I thought, “You know what? I can go home and build one.” The bricks are 8lbs a piece and there are probably about 6,000 of them. The first chamber is the initial woodburning chamber and the middle one is the first lair chamber. You stack ware all the way up to the ceiling and then brick it up to close it off. The third chamber is the salt chamber. Salt eats into the firebrick and gives them this finite life; that’s why I was paying to use that other kiln, because you’re literally wearing it out as you’re firing. I researched this for two years before I built it; I made hundreds of drawings. There are places where I mortared, but most of it is just dry-stacked.

My kiln will hold about 350 pots, but with the larger sizes I make it will hold about 80 per chamber. I throw pretty fast; I’ll spend 6 weeks throwing and making all of the pots I’m going to make and I’ll spend another month glazing them and getting them ready for the kiln. Then I’ll spend another month splitting wood. In one week I’ll load the kiln, seal up all the doors, get everything cleaned up and ready, and then I have a crew of guys that also fire pots in here come in to help. We’ll fire it all over a two-day period. A lot of wood firings take about three days. We do 8-hour shifts and rotate. You’re up most of that time, but if you get a reliable crew who knows what they’re doing you can go to sleep for a few hours, maybe four or five at a time. It takes a lot of work; some people just don’t know.

EMILY: Where can people find your work or how can they reach you?

STEVE: My website is www.stevemitchellpottery.com and people are welcome to contact me to come by the studio and gallery.

Some Helpful Ceramics Terminology
- Cone: Usually simply referred to as cones, pyrometric cones are used to measure the effect of the kiln’s atmosphere on the glazes being fired. Cones are made up of refractories, such as silica, and melting agents; each type of cone is carefully formulated and manufactured for accuracy. Rather than talking about temperature, potters almost always refer to the cone a pot is fired to. Cone numbers go from cone 022 to cone 14, with numbers beginning with a zero being of lower temperature than those without. (via about.com)
- Frit: A glaze material which is derived from flux and silica which are melted together and reground into a fine powder.
- Glaze: A thin coating of glass. An impervious silicate coating, which is developed in clay ware by the fusion under heat of inorganic materials.
- Kiln: A furnace of refractory clay bricks for firing pottery and for fusing glass.
- Slip: Clay mixed with water with a thick consistency. Used in casting and decoration.
- Definitions via jnevins.com/glossary.htm
This article was originally published in the second issue of VIA Noke Magazine, printed in Roanoke, Virginia in July 2012.
July 1, 2012
Emily Williamson

Many people in our region are familiar with Emily Williamson’s work and may be completely unaware of that fact. But if you have ever been to the town of Floyd you have more than likely seen her work in some shape or form. Whether it was her banner for one of the earlier Floydfests or a playful graphic on a t-shirt at The Republic of Floyd, it is likely that anyone familiar the art scene there has come in contact with some of this multi-talented artist’s work. Immediately intrigued by her style when we first saw it, we did a little research and found that Emily is somewhat of a celebrity artist in her hometown… but we were curious to know what she creates when she is not limited by the boundaries of a commissioned piece.

VIA: Tell us about your education in art. When did you begin creating and did you receive any formal training?

EMILY: As a child I was always a little bit better at art than the other kids, and I was aware of that. I won a couple of little contests when I was small. Somewhere around middle school, a time when people come to a point where they either drop art or continue with it, I realized that I had the ability to capture a likeness of people. I started out with black and white pencils as my medium of choice. When I was in high school I realized that I had some power with my artistic abilities and I could use it as a tool to get attention from my classmates. I started drawing pictures of rock stars that I was into from photos in Rolling Stone Magazine.

I went to VCU for art but after the first semester I dropped out and lived with a friend and a couple of other people for a year. After that my family convinced me to go back and give it another shot, so I went for one more semester, but I was a country girl in the city and didn’t really know how to deal with life there at only 18, 19 years old. I did pick up some skills and knowledge from there but I didn’t complete a degree. There’s a lot to learn about art but I already know how to do what I do. Since then I’ve just been working for myself doing commissions.

“And So the Journey Began,” Emily Williamson, acrylic, 2012

VIA: What is your favorite medium to work with?

EMILY: I prefer to use acrylic paint over oil because oil doesn’t dry fast enough for me and I can go over the layers of a piece I’m working on sooner with acrylic paint. I spent many years doing pastels and I really enjoyed that, but I got out of working with them. In recent years I haven’t done much pastel work, I guess in part because it’s expensive to frame your work and pastels don’t last as long, it’s crumbly and dust falls off, so I’ve been working mostly with acrylic for about the past seven years.

VIA: Tell us about your work doing commissions.

EMILY: I’ve been doing a lot of commissions for a long time now, because I’m trying to make my living as an artist. I’m a very versatile artist. I don’t just do portraits… that’s just something I have a knack for and enjoy; I’m capable of a lot of different styles. I’m good at taking people’s ideas and seeing them and translating them, so I’ve gotten all sorts of different commissions.

The Republic of Floyd Emporium commissioned me to do these ideas that Tom Ryan, the owner, comes up with and he puts them on t-shirts, coffee mugs, key chains, a whole handful of stuff. There’s a Jethro Tull poster that I used the framework of for a piece that was about the Republic of Floyd, with a bluegrass band in the center instead of Jethro and his flute.

I enjoy meeting the challenges people give to me but I’ve gotten kind of stuck in having art being my moneymaker and accepting jobs that people come to me with offering money and say, “draw this for me.” I don’t follow that inspired feeling to the end result; I force myself to sit down and finish. So I’ve been doing a lot of this sort of forced artwork for several years. I’m a single mom, so I just have to make it work.

Poster for the Republic of Floyd, Emily Williamson

by Emily Williamson

VIA: What influences the work that you create when you’re not doing a commissioned piece?

EMILY: When it comes to things that I’m inspired to create… lately I’ve stopped accepting so many commissions and I’ve only started accepting the ones that I really care about. I have always enjoyed doing portraits; I feel like I’m spending time with the person that I’m doing a drawing of. I feel like it’s a chance for me to delve into someone’s energy that way.

I like to do lots of pictures of my friends. I’m a nature girl, my friends and I like to go out and do lots of photo shoots surrounded by nature. I think my friends are beautiful and the photos from our shoots inspire me so I render them and use them as inspiration for my work. They all get a little slice of immortality that they don’t mind too much. My I’ll Miss You piece is from one of our photo shoots. It’s of one of my best friends, Leia, that I dance with as well; we hiked up to the top of a waterfall (Alta Mons in Shawsville) and went in the woods and into the water. The piece is of her from the back with a veil draped over her and walking away, like into the great beyond, but it’s very focused on the ripples in the water.

Pictures of performers, musicians, dancers, people in costumes are subject matters that I would like to get into more. I’m interested in circus performers and that whole imagery. I usually like to work from photographs rather than to live paint, although I like to do that too.

“I’ll Miss You,” Emily Williamson, acrylic, 2012

“The Day of the Wedding,” Emily Williamson, acrylic, 2012

VIA: Is your work displayed anywhere else at the moment, other than at The Republic of Floyd?

EMILY: I submitted a couple of pieces to the Jacksonville Center’s September juried show. I have a couple of things in the Bell Gallery in Floyd. But for right now, I’m really working to create this whole new line. I’ve only recently come to this new place where I have a scrap of money and can relax and try to rediscover myself as an artist.

VIA: Do you feel like you are well supported by the art communities around you?

EMILY: I feel like I’m well supported in Floyd. It’s not often that a person can make a living off of their artwork but I did make a living for quite a while off of commissions just in Floyd. And it’s cool that Tom Ryan built his brand around my images for The Republic of Floyd. As for support in Roanoke, I’ve had a great response. The people at Cups Coffee & Tea in Grandin have been very supportive and invited me to come back any time. There was a frame shop and gallery where I showed a guy my card but he was looking for something more edgy. I don’t think I’ve tried hard enough to put my art into Roanoke. But as far as I can tell Roanoke is pretty welcoming; I don’t see an incredible amount of difficulty to get in.

VIA: Are there any other facets of your life you believe readers will find interesting about you?

EMILY: I sing with a band; we call ourselves The Unapologetics. I’m also part of a [belly] dance group with several of my friends. I enjoy dance, choreography, costume making, singing; sort of all of these similar creative things.

My dad, Seth Williamson, was a radio announcer who was based out of Roanoke. He passed away in October. He was the Morning Classics guy on 89.1. He had a couple of other shows, like Bluegrass & Americana. He was very much a nature guy too, which I think trickled down to me.

VIA: How can people contact you if they are interested in your work?

EMILY: I’m on Facebook and can be reached by my email address at smellslikedirt@gmail.com.

“Fragile,” Emily Williamson, pastel, 2008

“Indigo with a Flower,” Emily Williamson, acrylic, 2010

This article was originally published in the second issue of VIA Noke Magazine, printed in Roanoke, Virginia in July 2012.

July 1, 2012
Art is Sharp: “Beauty is Embarrassing”

A Review by Naomi Deplume

“Beauty is embarrassing,” contemporary artist Wayne White drawled to a packed crowd at the opening for his massive, site-specific installation, BIG LICK BOOM, on June 7th. His artist talk at the Taubman Museum of Art was not the dry art-speak expected at such an event. Instead, Wayne wove raucous story-telling, fake art star bravado, banjo picking, cussing puppets, and southern charm into a motivational performance. But as packed as The Taubman audience seemed that night (sold out and standing room only), Wayne’s target audience were only represented by a handful of young people standing in the back. Wayne’s message was to emerging artists, whom he urged to get out of their small pond, and go somewhere that challenged them. His motivational speech about the greasy innards of the art world, and how he met that challenge through tireless subversion and humor, worked like a shot in the arm. This kind of talk simply isn’t often heard in this area, and it seemed a tragedy that few young people were in attendance.

Wayne White’s BIG LICK BOOM at the Taubman Museum of Art. Photo by Jeff Hofmann.

Wayne White is known for his set design and puppeteering on numerous projects, including the cult-classic TV show, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, as well as his career as a contemporary painter. He hails originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, but resides in Los Angeles now. His monumental BIG LICK BOOM is an epic portrayal of Roanoke’s transition from tiny Big Lick to the boom-town of Roanoke. A team of local artists assisted in the construction of the full gallery installation that took nearly six weeks to build. Wayne White approaches Roanoke history with a humorous social critique. His in-depth research brings the wildness of early Roanoke to light: racially charged brawls, shoot-outs, taverns, brothels, and mega-industrial companies sprang up like mushrooms in the quiet town of Big Lick. White’s mechanized installation moves, it makes noise, and it is just as bigger-than-life as Wayne himself.

The installation, curated by Leah Stoddard, Adjunct Curator of Contemporary Art at The Taubman, is a bold new direction for the museum. Engaging an art star to work within the community of Roanoke, to create a monument to our distinct sense of place, is a thrilling occurrence. The moment Wayne White stepped onto the stage to deliver his artist talk, The Taubman Museum of Art was accidentally cool. BIG LICK BOOM will be showing until September 15th, when it will go the way of all site-specific, ephemeral work: it will be torn apart and scrapped, like a movie set after the shoot. Wayne’s installations revolve around immediacy and a big splash. Dust will never settle on BIG LICK BOOM, and it will disappear before you know it.

Wayne White creating BIG LICK BOOM at the Taubman Museum of Art. Photo by Jeff Hofmann.

Wayne White’s BIG LICK BOOM at the Taubman Museum of Art. Photo by Jeff Hofmann.

*This column is written each month by different authors with diverse viewpoints. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints or opinions of VIA Noke Magazine or its publishers.

This article was originally published in the second issue of VIA Noke Magazine, printed in Roanoke, Virginia in July 2012.

July 1, 2012