“Prayer for Nancy”
Local artist Michel McNinch may be a Columbia staple, but her art stretches back far before any might guess.
“People ask me ‘How long have you been an artist?’ and I tell them that I drew the best snowman in kindergarten,” McNinch warmly shares, “My very first memory is crawling next door to get their crayons. The big ones. Eight colors. I wanted to touch them so bad. It is a vivid memory.”
It wasn’t only McNinch who felt her desire to create, though.
“My mother felt it,” McNinch recalls, “Everything she put in my hand gave me decisions to make—what color, how to mold it, what story to read. Oh! Remember the watercolor coloring books? Magic. I have always been a mark-maker.”
Back in these days, McNinch was growing and becoming on the “bright, khaki sands” of Sullivan’s Island. Of all the life there, what she recalls is the church and her beach.
“Stella Maris Catholic Church was at the center of our community. My entire family went to church and school there,” McNinch reminisces, “Although we lived on the front beach, I loved the ‘back beach.’ Small tidal creeks were the nurseries of all living things that I loved. The birds, crabs, oysters, shrimp, and fiddlers were my companions. A perfect place for a mark-maker like me to grow up.”
“Lake Murray Light Show”
This self-proclaimed mark-maker has explored creation through primarily pastel, watercolor, and oil—though the latter is her favorite, asserting that “[oil] is durable enough to last hundreds of years and the materials are readily available.”
It is these materials with which McNinch has made her mark.
“My paintings are reflections of my surroundings and experiences. I don’t worry too much about being unique—I am more interested in what holds us together,” McNinch effuses, “The arts and the culture it creates is what binds us as a community. My paintings may reflect the same experiences as many other art and nature lovers. We connect that way. We become a community.”
These days, you can find McNinch in Studio #7 at Stormwater Studios (413 Pendleton), which she calls “heaven on earth for an artist.” There she ruminates on her own past and on those she has interacted with over the years as she paints. In these moments, her mother stands out as an inspiration for her: “She always said I would be an artist and gave me so many opportunities to prove her right!”
When it comes to fellow South Carolina artists, McNinch fondly speaks of the late Larry Lebby. “He beat the odds with his sheer talent. One of my teachers was brave enough to take a class of middle-schoolers to the museum. Larry Lebby’s work was on exhibit. I was astounded at the level of craftsmanship—and all done with a ballpoint pen,” McNinch intimates, “As an adult, I found myself working for his lawyer. Larry Lebby lithographs were in every room of the office. I was surrounded by the talent that inspired me.”
“Somewhere Familiar”
Presently, McNinch is working on a collection of landscape paintings from SC State Parks and Wildlife Management Areas.
“We have a wealth of beauty in South Carolina, and much of it can be found in our State Parks. So, I am selecting several favorite state parks and painting about 10 landscapes from each,” McNinch details, “They will be displayed first to my email community—then, on my website.”
If you’d like to join McNinch’s “vibrant and engaged” email community, rife with an audience she is “so lucky” to have, you may do so here: Subscribe
You can also peruse her current work on her website or email her with inquiries at michel@michelmcninch.com
If you want to learn more about McNinch, you can watch her interview.