ALMetro 360 Magazine

NANCY HARTSFIELD Art Ministers to Her Soul T EXT BY H ENRIETTA M AC G UIRE P HOTOS BY K IM N ELSON F OR N ANCY H ARTSFIELD THE ARTS IN GENERAL HAVE BEEN THE PLACE TO GO TO FOR PROTECTION AGAINST LIFE ’ S CRUSHING BLOWS . T HERE SHE FINDS SOLACE AND CONSOLATION . A NY OF ITS DISCIPLINES HELPS SMOOTH OUT THE BUMPS AND HOLES IN HER PATH , BECAUSE SHE BECOMES TOTALLY ABSORBED IN SOLVING THE PROBLEMS INHERENT IN ANY ART PROJECT . artsfield is an Alabama artist living in Old Cloverdale. She paints in every genre, still lives, landscapes, abstracts, architectural details, build- ings, fruits and flowers, and now she’s learning about encaustics. Although she is sneaking up on eighty years of age and has to get around with a walker, she says about her life, “I’ve been retired for 19 years from teaching and administrative work at Auburn University but I still do an art show every year – with all the hard work that that implies. And now I’m beginning to work with encaustics. This is a relatively new medium for me, applying and controlling hot wax, a labor which has to be done in the open air.” (Or the fumes can kill you if the work is created in a closed-in space.) Handing you a piece of rice pa- per she points out the brilliant designs of encaustics, her delight contagious and irresistible. “I love this effect. Look at the luminosity and texture of it, the glittering colors!” Many people wonder if great art has a life of its own, or if it becomes famous through word of mouth. Hartsfield believes that it has a life of its own. “Even if you had never heard a word about a given master- piece the instant you see it, you know, you are aware that it has a weight, a heft of its own. You will be in- trigued instantaneously.” CULTURE............................................................................................................................................... H 18 AL/ Metro 360 www.almetro360.com