Terry Nelson – Featured Artist

Interviewed by Anna Lenau

Terry Nelson studied printmaking and drawing at Western Washington University, attaining a BA in Art. She is primarily self-taught in painting. In the past six years, she has shown her work in various local, regional and national exhibitions, and is presently affiliated with the Lucia Douglas Gallery in Bellingham, Washington. She is married, with one daughter, and lives not far from her studio in the historical Fairhaven district in Bellingham.Terry’s paintings and drawings are inspired and influenced by her love of the natural elements of the Pacific Northwest.  In realistic detail, she depicts the forms, patterns and textures of water and sky, trees and stone.

Anna Lenau is Bellingham Review‘s Assistant Managing Editor. She spoke with Terry at her studio in Bellingham.

Anna Lenau: Where do you get your inspiration for your art?

Terry Nelson: I get my inspiration from nature, the physical world, especially this corner of the country, which is why I live here. It’s so gorgeous and inspiring for any artist. Bellingham is a magnet for artists
who are detail oriented. It’s fascinating to me how things look in this light,
the way light falls on them. Here the light is more grey and diffused, and different textures and colors come out. Some people find this depressing, but I find it really soothing and things look more interesting to me. Photographers know that on a cloudy day you get a better photo, things begin to blend together, and you get a very different feeling.

Anna: How did you get started as an artist?

Terry: I’ve
 always drawn all my life. In college I pursued a BFA with a concentration in print making and drawing. I did a lot of figure drawing, but haven’t done that in a long time. I only ever
dabbled around in painting, and only took one class in college, but I found it frustrating. I’ve always been at home with drawing, which was perfect for printmaking.
After that I got a job making scrimshaw for ten years.

Anna: Fascinating! I saw my first scrimshaw this summer!

Terry: Oh yeah, we are called scrimshanders. We mostly carved on Mammoth ivory dug up  in Siberia. There was tons of it. I got in on the end of scrimshanding in Bellingham and it was a nice portable job. But after being a full-time mom for a while, I started to figure out what I really wanted to do, and I began to paint. I began teaching myself and talking to other artists, looking at their work and asking questions. I work with acrylic because I like the immediacy it affords. Eventually I had a good body of work and was invited to show at Lucia Douglas gallery in 2007. Painting has been the most frustrating and the most fulfilling thing to do for me.

Anna: What is your process with your painting?

Terry: I start with a photograph, then I make a drawing from a photo, which ends up changing during composition, or I change certain elements of the form. Then I transfer the drawing to a canvas or panel and start to paint, still using the photo as a reference. This is where it takes on a life of its own, and I have to let it progress and not try to control it, or how I think I want it to be. A lot of artistic process has to do with letting go, releasing control and
trying to be open to changing style.

Anna: It reminds me of an essay by Patricia Hampl on letting the first draft go wherever it wants to go.

Terry: My paintings are very controlled, pretty tight in execution. But I’d like to be a little more relaxed and loose. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t.
 I think an artist just needs to accept that process instead of fighting it, and accept that mistakes are part of that process.
Something I’ve had to learn is to be disciplined in painting, in practicing my craft, even when I don’t feel like it, or if I’m tired. Sometimes I have to repaint the whole thing. I’ve had to learn to let things happen instead of trying to make them happen. It’s a good life lesson to learn!

Anna: Yes, that would apply to a lot of things in life!

Terry: I’m very disciplined with my time. It’s my job! It has been hard for artists in the recession.
 Art is often considered a luxury. But I think it’s a necessity. It’s like a touchstone, something I have that no one can take away from me. I cannot afford to ignore that part of me, however un-lucrative it might be.
It’s frustrating that art is not being honored as it should be. For instance, art programs being cut in schools.
I’ve done some teaching in schools, mostly to children and you can see it, the way it excites them.

I tend to work on 7 paintings at once. I’ll put them away and then work on something else, depending on the mood and attitude.
Some of them are more complex, more detailed, some more simple.
Color is really challenging for me. It’s difficult to keep things in the right key. I almost have a fear of color 
because it is so strong and influential on the human psyche, color can be screaming at you. You need to handle it right. It can be soothing, too, like music.

Anna: I am very influenced by color as well. It’s interesting, it goes back to what you were saying about the way that light diffuses in the Pacific Northwest, and how that is soothing to you.

Terry: Yes, color is analogous to music in that way. And the challenge is how to convey that to a crazy chaotic world, that needs that, or maybe I need that. It’s interesting that hospitals have begun to incorporate art now, because they have seen how it brings down blood pressure and helps in the healing process. But I don’t want to get too hung up on intention, that gets in the way of process

 

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