How Art Changed My Life-Blog TnWS

As I think about the next two years, I am both excited and a bit overwhelmed as your new president of TnWS. This is a job I accepted
because I knew there was a strong slate of officers and board supporting me. I know I can depend on this board to keep me in line! Thanks to the officers, chairpersons, and regional contacts who accepted their responsibilities for 2010-12.

Kay Coop and her team have already started the wheels in motion for our 33rd Exhibition in Memphis with juror Gerald Brommer! Our 32nd Exhibition is still visible in Humboldt and in November, Columbia. The TnWS ArtBeat continues! How many people have seen the exhibition in the four venues? How many adults and children will see the DVD and catalog in rural areas?

TnWS has over 225+ members, but it will take all of us to make it grow and get even stronger! Just think, if every member would encourage/recruit one person to join TnWS or participate in the 33rd Exhibition in Memphis. Wouldn’t that be great? It is the purpose of this blog to show you how easy it can be. Encourage, encourage, and encourage is my mantra!

I was encouraged to join TnWS by two teachers at Milan High who had seen the 29th Exhibition 2004 in Jackson. It was Mary Spellings who gave me a membership form and urged me to join! I set my goal to be accepted into the 2006 show in Clarksville, Knoxville in 2008, and finally in Chattanooga to receive my Signature Membership. In the meantime I was motivated to learn more about design and watercolors. This pursuit as a member of TnWS made me a better artist.

How Art Changed My Life

In the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life, Clarence the angel says to George, “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole
doesn’t he?” I can not imagine what my life would have been without ART. Think about it! What one person made all the difference in you becoming an artist? If it had not been for that one person, you would not be an artist today!

The odds were against me becoming an artist because there was no art, music or drama even offered in my rural high school. It was my Mom who recognized my abilities and sacrificed to pay for me to take correspondence art lessons when I was 15. I will never forget the day my art materials arrived! Mom also purchased me a drafting table and a beautiful oak easel in which to start me on my journey in art. She believed in me and was so proud when I received my art teacher’s degree. In May 2009 I took that easel home for the last time after 34 years of teaching art and drama.

What a gift my mother gave me that I could pass on to thousands of students! To me, the arts are a way of celebrating the soul and spirit no matter the skill level or age of a person. It only takes a spark of encouragement or being a mentor to set an artist on fire to be a part of TnWS. I know, because it happened to me. You might just say or do something to change the direction of an artist. One of the greatest things about TnWS is the sharing that takes place through our contact with each other during workshops and exhibitions.

Share your story about that special person that made all the difference or tell about how art changed your life. I encourage you to post your comments below. Now is time to pay homage to that person! You might just inspire someone else through your story.

Tuva Stephens, President TnWS (2008-2010)