Too often, acculturation diverts children from their most unrestrained creative impulses by the time they reach adolescence. Clearly, Temple Reece believes in getting kids off on the right foot before that happens. Her four grandchildren painted with her before they were able to walk.
For Reece, a Johnson County, Tennessee-based artist, it’s a matter of paying it forward, just as her creative parents did in encouraging her. “I was the oldest of seven children,” says Reece, who works in oils and acrylics. “My mom, a hard-working homemaker, made a lot of our clothes and also made quilts and designed her own patterns. My dad, a farmer and school bus driver, drew a lot when I was young, sketching figures while he was having coffee early in the mornings. I loved watching him and tried drawing like him, but that just wasn’t me.”
She wanted to be immersed in nature. “There was a spring in the woods where we got our water,” Reece says. “Laurel bushes, scraggly trees, moss, pines, rocks and running water were my subjects. I took pencils and paper and sat in the woods and drew what I saw. I began drawing and painting mountains, animals, clouds, pathways, the lake and streams, everything in nature. Every time I am outside, I see art. I love the beauty and majesty that are all around us and am constantly ‘painting in my head.’” She prefers to study what she sees and feels to develop a composition in her mind before sketching or photographing or painting plein air.
“I am always in awe of the beauty around us,” says Reece, whose work is represented in the Charleston area by Alexandre Fleuren Interiors. “As long as I can remember, I have loved art. Pencils and paper were great possessions, and I remember big boxes of broken crayons when I went to first grade. I remember the smell and all those colors. It was exciting to me. It still is.”
As there were no nearby public galleries or museums in the rural area in which she grew up, her introduction to formal art was through books, including textbooks on science. She didn’t possess actual art supplies until nearing the age of 20, when she bought oil paints and canvas panels.
When Reece first began painting, her medium was exclusively oils. But when her two sons, Kenny and John, were young and she was working full time in the fields of banking and counseling, time limitations found her experimenting with acrylics.
“Eventually I went back to oils,” she says. “Occasionally I paint in acrylics and use acrylics in murals. I paint a little in gouache, watercolor and pastels as well, but oils are my medium of choice.”
Reece describes her current approach as realism moderated by aspects of impressionism. “I want my art to fully represent the place I am painting and be real to the viewer,” she explains. “I take liberties with color and composition as well as texture and edges so the paintings don’t appear as clear and refined as a photograph yet are clearly recognizable as the scene I am depicting. I use a palette knife and other tools as well as my brushes, which further creates that softened impressionistic feel.”
Her natural style of painting has evolved with classes and experience, but it is what she always returns to. While Reece admires hyperrealism, as in Wyeth, she prefers a painterly feel in her own work. “But I’ve tried other styles and continue to learn and be open-minded and study, enjoying and collecting many types of art,” she adds.
Reece says she was an adult before beginning to explore art history, a study that is still a work in progress. Both old masters and contemporary artists have exerted an influence. Over time, she has completed courses and online classes with such artists as Lori McNee, Kathie Odom and Anna Rose Bain.
“There are so many talented artists and each has much to offer the world, so there is always much to learn. The old masters’ techniques, types of paints used, inspiration, and the role they still play in today’s world is intriguing,” she says. “I continue learning and growing and enjoying their work. A local artist and friend, Cristy Dunn, has inspired and encouraged me for years, and I have learned so much from her style of realism with a focus on our heritage, people and mountains.”
Reece retired from her “day jobs” three years ago, devoting herself to her new full-time career; time with her retired sheriff husband, Mike; a family farm; and involvements in varied professional associations. She is a member of Oil Painters of America, American Women Artists, the American Impressionist Society, the National Oil & Acrylics Painters’ Society, the American Artists Professional League, and other groups local and national.
Reece is both a founder and board member of the Johnson County Center for the Arts, where her work was most recently exhibited in June. She also served as its assistant director for seven years.
“Having a dedicated space for artists to create, show and sell art is so important,” she says. “The original board found a building that had to be totally renovated, and we and many volunteers made the dream come to life. We have since added a larger space and have over one hundred artists represented. We have tons of classes for adults and children, and it is such an asset to our community and beyond.”
Reece continues to direct the Center’s Sunshine and Smiles Program, which she inaugurated more than 25 years ago. It provides art supplies, free lessons and a great deal of encouragement to children.
“Seeing young people and adults studying my work and being inspired to create art of their own and knowing they can do it if they are willing to learn is very rewarding,” she says. *
Bill Thompson covers the arts, books and design.
