‘The beauty I might see’: Creative Q&A with Nancy Angelini

WASILLA— Local painter Nancy Angelini is a longtime Valley resident and artist, drawing inspiration from her natural surroundings and the people she’s met over the years.

Angelini recently participated in a question and answer interview to discuss her craft and her take on creativity as a whole.

Q: How long have you been making art?

“I’ve always been artistic, but 10, 11 years ago I quit my day job to make it a full time profession.”

Q: Are you making a living off your art?

“Making living is tricky. I’m fortunate that my husband pays most of our bills. I do workshops. Most of my education is workshops… I spent years trying to increase my skills as and artist, and now I’m trying to increase my skills as a business person. It would have been good to lock those two together. That’s my advice for any young artist, learn to be a good business person.”

Q: What other advice would you give young artists?

“Not to let negativity affect them… Be nice to yourself, whatever you do.”

Q: So, you’re primarily a landscape artist, what other types of art do you enjoy making?

“If anybody asks me what my favorite subject matter is, I usually would say, ‘anything with light on it or coming from it…’ Whenever I travel, I take my paints with me… I do mostly oil painting, I do pastels, and I dabble in watercolor.”

Q: What about the creative process do you enjoy the most?

“What I really enjoy is like if Imade a painting and someone said, ‘wow, I walk by that everyday and I never saw it like that before.’ You know? Just being able to show people the beauty I might see. Sometimes it’s overlooked or we’re too busy.”

Q:How often do you paint?

“I usually paint every day.”

Q: What keeps you coming back?

“Just doing it, just being able to put paint on a canvass, come to a difficult spot and how to get through that… trying to decipher, ‘is this what I’m really trying to say?’”

Q: Would you say it’s therapeutic to make art?

“Yeah. Just squeezing the paint onto a pallet feels good, rubbing it onto your canvas, pushing it on. There’s a freedom in it… The beauty of it is, there’s definitely something for everybody. My art won’t appeal to everybody and I’m okay with that because… you can’t do it wrong.”

Q: How long have you lived in the Valley?

“40 Years.”

Q: What’s your take on the local talent out here?

“I am thrilled by the amount of talent that’s in the Valley. It would be wonderful to see a place where we could be together, and feed off each other, and grow… Theatre is incredible here. COVID has gotten in the way of most of these things, but it’s not forever.”

Q: How would you encourage anyone who hasn’t made art before but thinks they may want to try?

“I think everybody has some creativity in them, whether it’s something like visual arts or writing or singing. We should find that because that’s what makes us grow and feel alive… Jump right in there. There’s so many kinds of classes… See how it makes you feel. Don’t worry about what it looks like.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com