Seekonk Artist Earns Her Place In R.I. Watercolor Society

When Yvonne Nolan attended elementary school in Tiverton she liked to draw and her teachers, even in the early grades at Barker Elementary School, said she was good at it. But, as poet Robert Frost suggests in his poem, “way leads on to way” and it is rare to revisit “the road not taken." Most of us fail to revisit our dreams.

Not so for Nolan. This long time Tiverton octogenarian, who now lives with her daughter and son-in-law in Seekonk, is fast earning a reputation in the local art scene.

Last year she was accepted into the prestigious Rhode Island Watercolor Society and one of her pieces will be on display in the 115^th Annual Artist Members’ Show from April 17 to May 12 at the society’s home in Pawtucket. Twelve of her pieces will be featured in a six member show at the society this fall. That's not bad for a small town girl who says she never thought about painting during the years when she was raising three children and troubleshooting claims at a local insurance company.

How It Began

After retiring from her job as a customer service representative for Aetna Insurance in 1993, Nolan rediscovered the path she says she had not thought about since she left school after the eighth grade. She enrolled in her first watercolor painting class at the  in 2001.

“I didn’t know I was going to do it," Nolan recalled. "I didn’t even think about painting when I first retired. I told them [my coworkers] that I planned to start swimming to keep in shape.”

For Nolan's retirement present, her friends at Aetna gave her a one year membership to the YMCA. Since then, she has continued swimming and currently takes two water fitness classes. Ironically, it is at the Y that a woman mentioned the watercolor classes at the Tiverton Senior Center.

“At first I didn’t want to do it,” says Nolan, “But then I thought, 'Why not?'”

She recalls her first teacher at the senior center, Lena Bigelow. Although she says Bigelow was a good teacher, Nolan became frustrated with her work during the six months she took classes.

“It was awful,” said Nolan, shaking her head. “I couldn’t get the colors right, so I quit.” 

But by nature, Yvonne Nolan is not a quitter. At first, she went to the library to read about painting. “I read a lot,” she said, “And I realized how much there was to learn.” Finally, Nolan said a voice in her head said, “You’ve got to go back.”

Today, Nolan continues to be a regular at the senior center watercolor classes taught by Madeline Diogines, and it tickles Nolan to know that she is again attending classes at what was the former Barker School before it became the Senior Center. 

“Little did I know I would go back to school at Barker,” she jokes.

During the last 10 years, beginning with a drawing class taken at Bristol Community College in 1995, Nolan has worked with many teachers, but her favorite is Alice Broadbent of the Rhode Island Watercolor Association. She has also studied with Peg Gale and Wanda Edwards, among others.

“The more teachers you have,” added Nolan, “the more you learn.”

The Year She Took the Plunge

Nolan remembers 2001 as “the year I took the plunge.” Despite her initial frustration with her first class at the senior center, she knew at that point that she wanted “to figure out this watercolor thing.” Eventually, she began to submit her work to juried competitions and exhibits – and she began to win. She considers becoming an artist member of the RI Watercolor Society her greatest achievement to date because membership in the elite society is so competitive. There is also a time limit on how long an artist takes to get three paintings accepted, the requirement for becoming an artist member.

“They give us five years to make it, to have three pieces accepted for exhibit, but I did it in two and a half,” Nolan boasted.  She is quick to add, however, that the journey to membership has included disappointments. “I’ve had a lot of my work rejected, believe me."

Despite the rejections, Nolan has received a number of awards in recent years and appears to have found her way back to her art. She said she paints every day. 

Influenced by natural settings and animals, her paintings combine vibrant colors and an almost magical sense of time and space. They suggest a season, a flutter of wings, or a breeze passing. Leaves on trees almost move. Both stillness and movement in each piece suggests that Nolan’s gifts as an artist are great. One painting, which features a poppy adorned by a Monarch butterfly looks as if it has the raised texture of an oil painting though a close look shows that the effect has been achieved on a flat surface with layers of color alone.

Oddly, it is color and shadow that most fascinate Nolan now. The very challenges which almost turned her away from her craft are now embraced lightheartedly and with apparent joy. 

“Backgrounds and wet on wet painting are my favorites,” she says, simultaneously amused and thoughtful.  Quietly she looks at her work, as if to let the reality of it seep in, and states with gentle self-approval, “I became an artist.”