THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505050241
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mary Ellen Riddle
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Jimmy McNair's daddy told him that people were opening doors for the 15-year-old, and all he had to do was walk through.
Like his mother, Jimmy is artistic.
He dreams about becoming a commercial artist some day.
He's walking through the first door to that career with the opening of a two-person show this month at Cooperative Bank for Savings in Nags Head.
Also on display will be the work of Nathan Newsome, Manteo Middle School art teacher.
It was Geraldine McNair who inspired Jimmy to begin drawing.
``When I was 5, my mom taught me how. Ever since I was little, I made little flip books, and I wanted to see if I could really do it. I looked at some of her drawings and I got kind of jealous, and I wanted to be just like her. So I decided to go for it.''
Jimmy began copying cartoon figures out of children's books.
``My first one was like a stick figure. When I got older, I'd just try to draw the figure. That's when I started drawing bodies instead of sticks.''
It was also Geraldine McNair's dream to become an artist.
She grew up in a rural North Carolina town and was always designing things and making her own patterns for sewing clothing.
``I could do anything I wanted,'' she said. ``I had all A's on my work. People would ask, `Who did this?' I did.''
An art institute in Minneapolis offered to help pay for her education, but her mother said it was too far away. The aspiring artist was crushed.
McNair still has all her early drawings tucked away in her Manteo home. When she discovered that Jimmy had an interest in art, she was thrilled.
She remembers praying, `` `Lord, please let somebody else in the family pick up art.' I didn't want it to go just down the hill.''
Jimmy is in the ninth grade at Manteo High School, where he enjoys taking art classes.
Every other Saturday he takes a private art lesson, working in a variety of media.
``I like pastels better because they are better to blend,'' he said. ``If you mess up, you can just take a kneaded eraser. And I like pencil too. Pencils are cool.''
Jimmy likes drawing lighthouses and landscapes. He particularly enjoys drawing the spiral on the Hatteras lighthouse.
He also tried his hand at a political cartoon for the school newspaper, rendering President Bill Clinton as Santa Claus up on a rooftop with a bag full of Republicans.
Jimmy says he doesn't draw every day, but there are mornings when he wakes up inspired.
``I just get that feeling, and I just want to draw something,'' Jimmy says. ``I say `Hmm, that's a challenge. I'm gonna go for it.' ''
In a few years Jimmy will head for college, where he hopes to study art.
``I want to be a person who works with commercials, different kinds of commercials. Or I want to be an animator - different kinds of cartoons. My dad told me to just go for it, just go for my goal.
``I feel good about this,'' Jimmy said of the bank show, ``because it's the first time I've ever displayed it in a public place before and people get to see my work.
``They really get to know who James McNair is, who he is and what he does. So they can ask me to do stuff for them.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY ELLEN RIDDLE
Jimmy McNair, 15, is half of a two-person show at Cooperative Bank
for Savings in Nags Head. The other exhibitor is art teacher Nathan
Newsome.
by CNB