Neighbor Featured Artist #25: Nancy Jane Earnest

Nancy Jane Earnest Finds Authenticity in the Art of Life

There is a conventional wisdom belief that artists must suffer for their art and that success in one or more of the creative media comes only after the paying of one’s dues. The fact that devoting a life to art is seen as risky and likely to be unsuccessful explains why so many parents of budding artists have encouraged their offspring to “get a real job.” Yet the “neighbors” we’ve introduced in previous columns, as well as the delightful one we’ll meet in this one have given over both careers and lives to creative expression. The fact that so many of them have retained and continued throughout their lives the playful vision of their childhoods suggests to me that their art is as innate a part of them as their hair and eye color. Fortunately, conventional wisdom is often wrong. Not only are many artists successful in their own terms, many also have the good sense to realize that art is something to be enjoyed, not suffered over. Nancy Jane Earnest, native Greene Countian and a pixie-like self described “renegade painter”, has an ample sufficiency of this good sense, in equal measure with her talent and potent personal energy. If you don’t already know her, allow me to make the connection.
Since, in describing Nancy Jane, I just made reference to certain elfen qualities, don’t assume that this implies any delicacy in the expression and energy she gives to her art. Think of Tinker Belle portrayed by Dame Judi Dench and you’ll have a better picture. It takes a robust spirit to excel in writing, illustrating, painting, jewelry-making, and both vocal and instrumental music. “I am a perpetual student,” she says, “of art, music, and life.” Of all the vivid personalities profiled in this column, none has deeper roots in this area - Earnest is one of the oldest surnames in Greene County. In Nancy Jane’s case, it is appropriate to take her “perpetual student” label seriously. She holds three degrees from East Tennessee State University, a BS in English, an MFA in jewelry and metalsmithing, and a recent MA in counseling. “I will easily convince you that my life is a cultural banquet, filled with musical instruments to learn, concerts to attend, landscapes to paint, stories to write, and friendships to cultivate,” she says. The list of her accomplishments and activities is exhausting to read, let alone to imagine one person actually experiencing but since Nancy Jane is one of the first artists I met when I moved to Greeneville, I can attest both to the extent of her talents and the variety of their expressions. After gaining her MFA, she spent years in the world of goldsmithing, designing, creating, and repairing jewelry. She teaches art in several different media in creativity workshops, and music as a private instructor. This is juxtaposed with her own continuing studies in these same fields. She is sought after for her free lance work in writing and illustration. As a performer, she appears with the Johnson City Civic Chorale and the Johnson City Community Concert Band, and is the founder of Woodnote Early Music Ensemble. In painting, she has followed a similar template, studying with some of the country’s best known artists, exhibiting in both one person and group shows, and sharing these experiences through teaching. The completion of her Masters in counseling was an outgrowth of Nancy Jane’s lifestyle rather than a departure from it. She has created for herself a world in which art and life are inseparable and seamlessly connected. “My home is my studio; my life is my hobby,” she says. “I never intended to sit on the sidelines of life. I am a participant - a celebrant.”
Nancy Jane’s personal history is enrobed in creative experiences. In memories of her younger self, she recalls her habit of early rising as allowing for a lot of time spent amusing herself in the morning. “My bedroom was heated by a space heater that had a large flat top and was a light cream color. I remember placing pieces of broken crayon on top of the heater and watching as the colors swirled together when the crayons melted. Then I’d put a piece of paper on top to soak it up.” A second-grade success came with an award for a drawing of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Drawing expanded into painting, in a way that can still be seen in Nancy Jane’s distinctive richly textured impressionist style. “I was bitten by the painting bug at 12, when family friends gave me an oil painting set. Knowing nothing about how to use it, I just started squirting paint from those little tubes and I’ve been a renegade painter ever since.” During high school, her father gave her a Famous Artist correspondence course but she got the chance for formal training while at ETSU. “I’m proud of the fact that I received the very first jewelry MFA that ETSU gave,” she says. Her professor in this field proved to be an example of the best a university setting can offer, giving instruction in commercial production as well as the creation of artistic show pieces. One less than stellar painting teacher, she remembers, advised his students to “paint what you feel.” “And I felt it was a cop out. But looking back, it may have been good advice in that it helped me establish my own style early on.” Nancy Jane’s most recent degree in counseling meant a return to the world of academia but, as noted before, this more psychological field is not separate from the art that is her long-established way of experiencing life. “I’ve covered a lot of ground in all the years I’ve been a producing artist,” she says. “Something new for me would be the creation of a line of greeting cards that would feature my art work as well as my sentiments. It would be a form of subliminal counseling.”
“Nancy Jane and I have several places where our artistis world’s intersect,” says James-Ben Stockton, director of Greeneville’s regional art center. “I also studied metalsmithing in college with a particularly influential professor in that field. And as far as painting goes, a well done impressionist piece will always catch my eye. Nancy Jane’s new collection of landscapes, twelve by twelves in oil on gallery-wrapped canvas, are hanging where I can always see them when I’m working with clients.” For Greeneville locals who would like to get better acquainted with Nancy Jane Earnest and her art, James-Ben Art Center, which proudly represents her, is a fine place to begin.