Longtime artist benefits from taking, teaching classes
RUSSELLVILLE — Darlene McNeely of Russellville has taught art classes for more than four decades in more than a half-dozen states. While she may have gotten a somewhat late start when it comes to painting, the foundation for her art began through the lens of a camera.
McNeely, who will turn 81 later this month, said she and her husband of 61 years, James, backpacked frequently when they were younger. McNeely, who lived in Phoenix, Arizona, at the time, recalled spending days at a time on treks throughout much of the Western U.S., especially in many of the national parks. During those trips, she always had her camera with her.
“I took bunches and bunches and bunches of photos. My camera was just going all the time,” she said.
McNeely had her own darkroom, was active in a local camera club and won several awards for her photography.
“I just really had a lot of fun with that,” she said.
At the same time, she was watching art-related televisions shows, including the Public Broadcasting System television show The Joy of
Painting, featuring the legendary Bob Ross.
“I was watching that, and I said, ‘Boy, I think I can do that,’” McNeely said.
In 1974, one of her sons not only gave her a Bob Ross oil-painting art kit for her birthday, but also signed her up for lessons.
“I really just kind of took to it,” she said.
She quickly discovered she particularly liked painting landscapes, and she had plenty of photographs to use as inspiration for her work.
McNeely enjoyed the art class and began to expand her horizons by attending and taking classes at art conventions, she said.
Then her direction in art changed, as a result of a favor her art teacher asked of her.
“The young man who was teaching the class I was in kept me one day and said, ‘I’ve got to go out of town. Would you teach my classes?’”
McNeely said her response of “I don’t know anything about teaching” did not discourage her teacher.
“He said, ‘I’ll lay it all out for you, and it’s real easy.’ So he did, and the class went well,” she said.
Upon his return, her teacher suggested she sign up to teach classes.
Hesitant at first, McNeely said she decided to give teaching a try. She traveled to Muncie, Indiana.
There she completed a weeklong course taught by Ross and was certified as an instructor.
McNeely then took a course in the palette knife-painting technique from the late Art Kerner.
“I still aspire to paint clouds that look like his,” she said. “I’m probably one of the few left that uses his method of palette knife painting, and I do teach it. It’s one of my favorite ways to paint.”
While her background has been primarily in oils, McNeely has branched out over the years, taking courses and teaching courses in mediums ranging from watercolors to colored pencils.
She also began teaching at conventions, which continues to keep her busy in addition to local art classes. In May, she taught at an art convention in Chicago, and in August, she taught at a convention in Ohio. In June, she will drive to San Diego to teach at a convention there.
“I still drive to all these conventions,” McNeely said, because she learned early on about the potential hassles of flying.
“When you teach at a convention, you have to supply everything,” she said. So the
first time she went through security with her bags, the airport personnel searched her bags because she “had weird stuff in them.”
McNeely realized, after security officers were unable to repack her backs to get all the supplies to fit as they once did, that flying was not a practical option.
She and her husband moved to Russellville in 2000 from the Phoenix area. She taught some of Arkansas Tech University’s community-education art classes, then met Betty LaGrone, a former director of the local arts center.
“She asked me, ‘Why don’t you start teaching classes for the arts center?’” McNeely said.
Since then, McNeely has become one of the center’s most popular art teachers.
Amy Tarpley, executive director of the River Valley Arts Center, said it is not uncommon for students enrolled in McNeely’s classes to sign up for other classes with her before they even finish their current class.
“She is one of the most energetic people I have ever met in the art field,” Tarpley said.
“She is very proud of her students, no matter what level the students are at,” Tarpley said. “She is very appreciative of her students and what they accomplish.”
Accomplishments are nothing new to McNeely, who was recently inducted into the Beaux Art Academy and recognized with the lifetime-achievement award for her work. But it is her students’ work that McNeely prefers to discuss.
McNeely said many of her students have had work exhibited, have sold work at the local art walks and have participated in activities at the arts center.
“I think every student I have ends up much better than I am,” she said.
During a recent class, her students were eager to explain what McNeely offers as an art teacher.
“She’s very patient. She is very instructive and works with all of us individually,” said Nadine Lynch of Russellville.
When a mistake is made in some art classes, the instructor will basically just tell the student, “Oh, well, we will have to make sure we don’t make that mistake next time,” said Jeannette Poe of Russellville.
“Not Darlene. She shows us how to fix mistakes,” Poe said.
“Well, that’s because I think I’ve made them all,” McNeely countered.
In addition to teaching art classes locally and at conventions, McNeely continues to take art classes.
“You can always learn something in every class you take,” she said.
And even when she is teaching classes, she continues to learn.
“Sometimes you learn from your students through the questions they ask,” she said. “If you don’t continue to learn, then you get behind the curve, and students will get bored.”
When McNeely is not involved
in classes and has some free time, she continues to paint.
“To me, painting is like a type of therapy and also a kind of reminiscing,” she said.
She still uses many of the photographs she took while backpacking as subject matter for her paintings.
“I can’t really backpack any more, so painting helps give me that sense of freedom and openness that I had,” she said.