For Nan Drye, part of life is creating art
Textile and mixed media artist Nan Drye learned how to sew when she was 6 and has always been an artist, even though her actual artistic endeavors did not begin until 10 years ago.
“When I was younger, I was shocked to learn that not everybody made things,” she said. To her, creating art is an extension of life.
In 1984, Drye, 45, earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Missouri. Though she wanted to major in fine art, her father persuaded her to pick music, thinking she would have an easier time finding a job.
“Little did he know about music cuts in the schools,” she said. She went on to a retail career for 16 years, the last six as a linens manager at a department store.
In late 1990, Drye announced to her husband, Royce Drye, that she was quitting. “I got tired of patterns and doing other people’s work,” she said. Her business, Drye Goods, was born shortly after.
Drye incorporates her artistic flair into wearable art. From scarves to full-length coats, her pieces are handmade and one of a kind. She sells them at specialty shops and arts and crafts shows.
Locally, her clothing is available at Pottery Place Plus in Auntie’s Bookstore.
“The clothing financially supports my creative endeavors,” she said.
It was only a matter of time before her next artistic evolution came about: an exploration of linens in women’s homes, artistically draping women’s bodies, and creating mixed media pieces that delve into an array of areas, including women and their “body issues.”
As a mixed media artist or, as she calls it, a “raging attention deficit disorder media artist,” Drye has allowed herself to soar. After 9/11, she began collecting large decorative wooden spoons to paint and collage with the idea that “our appetites are getting us into trouble.”
The next year, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and began painting abstracts on glass. “The first batch all looked like microscope slides. I can’t imagine why,” she said.
“The next series started out more on the emotional turmoil brought on by hearing cancer and your name used in the same sentence.” She now feels like one of the lucky ones. She is doing well.
Her latest work reflects upon the natural world. She adds sand, gold leafing and various experimental mediums into acrylic paint and applies it to canvas. Some of her pieces are coated with resin.
She also does fiber-collage pieces, many that are contained in shadowbox frames representing the collecting of junk and the passage of time. A converted barn on her Spokane Valley property serves as her studio, where she is free to mix thoughts with a multitude of mediums.
Drye participates in many community efforts to promote the arts. She is on the Visual Arts Tour steering committee, this year’s Raw Space coordinator, one of the organizers of the Spokane Valley Studio Art Tour and holds a board position at the artist cooperative, Pottery Place Plus.
“I do this because I believe you live in the world that you create,” she said, “I think the arts are a vital part of life and people have no idea how they are affected by them. Concepts coming out of the art world filter through and become part of popular culture, influencing the way we think about the world and how we live in it.”