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| Nan B. Irick Small Self Portrait |
Central Library’s June art exhibits include a retrospective of Nan B Irick work.
Irick was a self taught artist, and a substitute teacher in art and history at Washington-Lee High School before her death in 2008 (read the Washington Post Obituary). There will be a reception in her honor on Sunday, June 6 at 1:30 p.m., in the 2nd Floor Meeting Room at Central.
Irick’s son Britt wrote this exhibit statement about his mother and her work:
Even as this show is filled to the brim with her art, it would take ten shows to even understand the scope of how prolific my mother was. At home there are still piles of sketchbooks and stacks of paintings, some of which even I, her son, have never seen. She was an amazingly genuine and talented painter, writer, poet, teacher and inspiration to everyone around her. Never formally trained as an artist, her skill came from the sheer volume of her work and her unrivaled passion for expression.
As any teacher and many students from Washington-Lee will tell you, if there was one thing she loved more than creating art, it was helping people around her to express themselves. For the last several years of her life she was a substitute teacher at the high school and became an integral part of the art community there. On any given day she could be found in her art room with a bag of pens, a new drawing and eager students all around her.
Everything was inspiration for her. Be it a fruit, a cell phone picture of a TV show, or even just a shirt on the floor, she could see the right shapes and colors and turn anything into a work of art. She went through many different styles in her long artistic career and this show is meant as a look at some of her best work through the years. She poured every bit of her heart and soul into everything she did, and though she can’t be with us now, those pieces of her are still here in her art work, her family who loves and misses her, and all of the students she loves and cared so much for. She was a truly wonderful artist, mother and teacher, and she is missed.
View a selection of Irick’s work on our flickr page.
I am Nan Irick's dad and the Arlington art community, especially Nan's associates at W-L High, are wonderful to show the public some of her work.Jerry, her mom, and I regret we have not been able to see the display, but we have seen her many contributions which adorne the Irick home. We are intensely proud of Nan's art, but most importantly we are proud of the positive influence she had on the young people with whom she had contact during her short life. She so dearly loved her family, her students and her many young friends. We miss her.