About the Artist
Nan McGarity recalls as a child
looking forward to receiving the monthly issue of Ford Time (a trade
publication to which her father subscribed). She would flip through
the pages which were full of colorful illustrations and art,
dreaming that one day she would be able to draw and paint like the
artists who created those wonderful visual images.
Pursuing that dream did not happen
until much later in life. Her love of special needs children led
her into a career in teaching. She obtained bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in special education and taught children with orthopedic
impairments for 30 years.
At 47 years of age she discovered the dormant talent that had been lying within her, after accepting an invitation from a friend to come paint one afternoon. Her friend instructed her to simply “Do what I do”. And she did. After completing her first painting her friend encouraged her to seek out the best instructors, study, paint and paint some more. And that she did.