Although Nita was born in Mobile, Alabama, she grew up in the small paper mill town of Camden, Arkansas. As a child, she accompanied her mother to art classes and to this day the smell of turpentine brings back childhood memories. She obviously inherited some of her mother’s “art genes” because she has always been interested in visual art. From being the art editor of her high school newspaper to studying fine art at the University of Alabama, creativity has always played an enormous role in her life.
While living in South Louisiana, Nita began her graphic art business, Graphically Speaking, and designed her own Louisiana greeting cards featuring her poems “New Orleans’ Ambiance” and “It’s Called Acadiana.” In addition to creating her own artwork, she has taught art to elementary and middle school students.
Her husband’s petroleum engineering profession allowed the McGlawn family to live in Sumatra and Jakarta, Indonesia, and Muscat, Oman. Nita has traveled extensively and now loves to paint watercolors and create collages reminiscent of her exotic sojourns. She feels her candid portraits inspired by cultures she has observed overseas create a sense of time and place. She met many interesting people and belonged to several art and professional groups while an expatriate. Currently she is working on writing a memoir of her life abroad.
Most recently Nita has concentrated on watercolor and collage. She loves the transparent and fluid nature of watercolor and likes to experiment with the medium. In addition, she paints portraits of loved ones and her beloved globe-trotting felines. Her collages often use found objects to create whimsical images, but she also works abstractly in handmade and other papers. Nita enjoys children’s art and considers it a great creative inspiration.
She remains a perpetual student both academically and in her art profession, believing that one never completely masters a skill or craft, but rather continuously learns and evolves. She presently lives in Katy, Texas with her family and cat and is professionally involved with Katy Area Artists, an artists’ group in Katy.
Nita’s work can be viewed at Katy Area Artists shows, the Bering and James annual “box” exhibit, and every spring at the Camden Daffodil Festival in Camden, AR.
“It is never too late to be what you might have been." - George Eliot
All images © Nita Risher McGlawn. All rights reserved.
