DIFFERENCE MAKERS -- Nancy Christiansen
Many West St. Augustine kids have a cold snap to thank for their opportunities to learn about art. Bloomington, Minn., native Nancy Christiansen spent the better part of six years living on a boat and sailing up and down the East Coast. One day in 2000 while moored in St. Augustine’s Oyster Creek, reports of projected lows of 26 degrees in St. Augustine forced Christiansen and her husband to seek power at the docks so they could turn on their heater. The couple has been here since. Christiansen, an artist who has travelled the world painting portraits, also brings art and culture to children through an after school program at Webster Elementary called ACE. She has also taken her talents into the county’s juvenile detention facilities in an effort to connect troubled teens with their inner creativity.
When did you first realize you had talent as an artist?
My sisters and I would lay on the floor and draw. By age three I was told I had talents. For my fourth birthday, I got an art book with figures and statues to study. I guess I knew I was different by kindergarten. I remember it was boring drawing what we were asked to do, so I drew a piece with a gradient — something with dark colors that lightened up toward the inner part of the picture. None of the other kids could believe what I did, so I guess I realized it then.
So your family helped cultivate your love of art?
My family always encouraged me. I was an “easy gift buy for Nancy” — anything to do with art. Neither of my parents were artists, but they loved the arts. We were always going to the theater, museums, exhibits, and galleries and encouraged to pursue our creativity.
You’ve created portraits throughout the world. What are some interesting tales of your adventures?
I lived in Paris during the 80s and would paint portraits of visitors at the Cafe de la Paix. I called home to tell my family what I was doing and my grandmother got all excited because I was working at the cafe. I had no idea, until she told me, the Cafe de la Paix was where many of the famous French impressionists artist would paint and do portraits.
You’ve done a lot of work with kids who would not normally be exposed to art in our community. How did this come about?
St. Augustine used to have a great street scene, just set up an easel and draw and sell your work. That is what drew me here originally, and what drew a lot of tourists as well. It was during a First Friday Art Walk that I met Tommy Bledsoe, and we talked about how there were not a lot of arts opportunities in schools — especially for those kids who were in trouble. He got me hooked up with the juvenile detention center in Hastings to begin an art program. It ran for three years until 2003 when the funding ran out. It’s too bad, because it was a great program.
Last year, my mother sent me an article from Minneapolis about Fort Mose. Nobody really seemed to know much about it in town. I found an advisory board for Fort Mose and got involved. That led me to start an after school, K12 program called Arts Culture Education — ACE for short. The program is a way for guest artists to share in the vast riches of their talent with kids who would normally have no contact with art in St. Augustine. The program is very successful and we have a wait list for kids wanting to get in the program. We hope to expand to two more schools this year.
— photo and text by TERRY BROWN
