Carolina in Light and Shadow
Growing
up in the South may be no different from growing up anywhere, but I doubt
it. My memories of light and dark, sunshine and shadow, goodness and meanness
are intriguing and binding to a degree I haven’t observed in most
people from other places. As a consequence, my life’s mission has
been to stay right here and sort it all out. I’ve chosen to do that
with black ink and white paper – a medium that seems well-suited
to express the paradox of this place.
I have a window overlooking a park where the drama of nature and human nature can be observed as I draw my pictures. From this perch I see some of the best nature has to offer. The sight and scent of Honeysuckle, wisteria, yellow jasmine, and magnolia, heal the spirit after several months of bare winter landscape. New green sprouts emerge from oak, sweet gum, and hickory nut trees, swaying as they grow in summer breezes. Full grown leaves bring brilliant color to the landscape just before they die.
Slavery, bigotry, poverty, hypocrisy, alcoholism are also part of the drama - the human part that wounds. I grew up in a town where the “winter people,” rich Yankees who owned horses & played polo, came to escape the cold Northern months. They built palatial estates behind tall brick walls with broken glass inserted into the mortar to keep “the locals” out. The “winter people” contributed to the economy of the town, but the price paid by the “locals,” that of never being good enough to join their society except as servants, was dear. I have since learned that there are “winter people” everywhere and I must take care not to become one.
Sam Cooke, Nina Simone, Spoleto, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Conner are another part of the human drama – the beautiful part. Wounded Southerners turn toward creative expression to comfort themselves and others. Equally beautiful to many in the South are a good bird dog, mama’s knitted afghans, a knotted string of real pearls, chicken bog, God and family. Maybe we can’t have beauty without the beast. Maybe I would never have experienced the delight of drawing pictures with black ink and white paper without living through both the light and the dark in my life.
My love of art and my love of books led me to become a librarian by day and an artist by night. I’m retired from the library now and devote all my time to being an artist. I live with my husband. Our children and grandchildren are nearby.
Nancy Wyman Ray
BA English from the University of South Carolina
MLS Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina