Rita Nabors
Rita Nabors became interested in art as a child while stuck in a hospital.
“I spent a lot of time in the hospital when I was little, and my favorite thing was coloring books and crayons. When I took art in high school, it was my misfortune to have a child prodigy in my class, and the teacher - of course - was very impressed with him and didn’t spend as much time or interest on the rest of us. I kind of got discouraged and occasionally I would paint, but I had a job, I got married, and I had kids,” she says.
While she was raising a family, she was working as a graphic artist which helped to satisfy her creative needs. When her career was over, she returned to painting.
Nabors has taken workshops with Roger Bansemer, who hosts the PBS show “Painting and Travel with Roger and Sarah Bansemer.” Other than those workshops, she is self-taught, relying on independent study, practice and observation.
“I got into computers and watched the painter named Roger Bansemer. He had a show on PBS, but all of his shows were on his website. I watched them online because I don’t watch much TV. He was having a workshop in Florida, and I said, ‘I’m going.’ I didn’t even have a car that would make it to Florida, so I rented a car and drove to South Florida. I enjoyed that and learned so much. That’s really the most instruction I got. Several years later I took his workshop again just for a refresher, and I’ve taken several other workshops but mostly I’m self-taught,” Nabors says.
When she started to paint, she chose acrylics on the advice of a friend, and because Bansemer was using them. “That helped solidify that I was going to be an acrylic painter, but now I do a little bit of acrylic and oil - probably twice as much acrylic as oil, but this (the piece she was working on) is oil,” she says.
Nabors became involved with The Arts Depot through the Wednesday Morning Painters group which meets there. She started attending the group 14 years ago. “It’s a good group that gets together and paints, and there’s no pressure to try to be a real artist, but they’re always there to help you if you need some help,” she says.
Five years ago, a studio because available at The Arts Depot, and she applied and was accepted.
“I said, ‘Well I’ll give it a year and see how it goes.’ I’ve been here five years and wish I’d started this earlier. This place is important to your work because everybody’s interested in it, and it’s a place to show your work. Customers or visitors come in and sometimes they’ll remark on what you’ve done, or they’ll see one and immediately say ‘Oh I want this,’ which gives you a boost. I think all artists are a little insecure, so that helps. Since I have the front studio, I can hear them sometimes when they leave. They say ‘Oh this is a great place. I’m so glad we came,’ and that just makes you feel good too. Everybody here is so helpful. If you are having trouble, there’s always somebody you can ask ‘What should I do here?’ and they’ll help you. It’s just a family,” Nabors says.
Her work focuses on landscapes and farm animals. She loves to travel and look at her surroundings – even spaces that most people try to ignore.
“Once you start painting, you look at things, and you can see a mound of trash and think ‘oh, look at that, that is beautiful.’ It sounds crazy, but you just start noticing things more and looking at things differently.
“Any day I have a brush in my hand is a good day. I paint here, then I go home and paint in my home studio. On my days off I paint. That’s all I want to do,” she says.
Nabors has exhibited in solo and group shows including Morristown Art Association shows, Virginia Highlands Juried Art Show (honorable mention); Rogersville Heritage Days Festival Art Show (first place and best in show); Hale Springs Inn; Autumn With Topsail, Topsail Island, North Carolina (second place); the Arts Depot, Abingdon, Virginia; and the 2016 Women Painters of the Southeast Juried Art Show.
To learn more, visit www.abingdonartsdepot.org.
