ARTS & EDUCATION
54 GreerNow AUGUST 2007
ARTS & EDUCATION
Portrait
Life
w ritte n by SHERIL BE NNE T T TURNER photo g raphed by KRIS DECKER
L
ocal artist Rebecca Penland Reynolds grew up
could use them, so I stuck them in the closet.” Not one to
in a little stone house down the street from
give up that easily, Rebecca tried again several months lat-
Greer High School. As a young girl, her father,
er. “I actually completed a portrait and it turned out pretty
oil painter Albert “Buck” Penland, unconsciously had
good. From then on I was hooked. I still get the chalk ev-
a big influence on her life. “In the summertime,” she
erywhere — in my eyes, my ears, my mouth — but I don’t
reminisces, “my father would sit out on the side porch
care. I get into it like I’m playing in the mud.”
and paint. Instead of playing with me, the neighbor-
In her forties, Rebecca moved to Charleston where
hood kids would come over just to watch him paint. As
she continued her practice and study of art. “Charleston
a child, I didn’t appreciate the fact that my father was
opened up a whole new world for me,” she says. But after
an artist because I saw it all the time. Later, I wished I’d
eight years she got homesick not only for her family, but
watched him more.” But because art was such an inte-
for her roots. “Like Thomas Wolfe meant when he said
gral part of her childhood, Rebecca’s interest in art and
‘I am the hill-born,’” Rebecca explains, “I think that no
her inherited natural ability started at a young age.
matter where you travel, you’ve still got that connection to
“I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing,”
where you were born. I was missing my hills.”
Rebecca says. “My father had no formal training and
It was Rebecca’s mountain memories that also
I didn’t take lessons either, but I’d run to him with my
inspired her portraits of Native Americans. “My father’s
drawings for feedback. I remember when I was about
family was from North Carolina around Asheville and the
five years old, I started sketching shoes, because like
Penland School of Crafts. On vacations we’d travel around
most little girls, I was fascinated with high heels. As
the mountains to places like Cherokee. I fell in love with
time went on I started attaching the legs, then other
the Native American people there with their bright cos-
parts until I worked my way up to faces. I started draw-
tumes and wonderful skin textures with reddish-brown
ing feet first!” she laughs. “But that’s when my love of
tones. I think they are beautiful people.”
studying and drawing faces really began.” Encouraged by her father, Rebecca continued to
While creating lasting portraits of the faces that people hold dear is Rebecca’s main passion, she also hopes
hone her sketching talent. “I love working in pencil. It’s
to capture in her still-life and landscapes her own child-
sometimes underrated,” she admits, “but it is the most
hood memories. “Greer is growing so fast,” she remarks,
detailed of all the mediums. And there’s a certain feel
“that where once there was a field, a building stands.” By
about black and white drawings, much like black and
preserving local landmarks such as mills and peach sheds
white photographs and movies. They just don’t need
in art form, the history and natural beauty of the area is
color; the life is in the shadows.”
secured for generations to come. “When I’m recreating
In her thirties, Rebecca became enthralled with
these images of a bygone era,” Rebecca admits, “I like to
another medium while out shopping at a local mall. “An
step into the scene and imagine myself there.” And it’s this
artist was making quick portraits of children in pastels,”
feeling of being with the face or in the place that really
she remembers, “and I was fascinated with the way he
gives Rebecca’s art its life. d
used the chalk and blended the colors on the paper.” She decided to give pastels a try herself. “It was the biggest mess you’ve ever seen. I thought there was no way I
For more information on Rebecca Penland Reynolds’ art or classes, please contact her at (864) 238-8510. GreerNow AUGUST 2007
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