Education
1998 - 2003
BFA in Studio Art / Concentration in Painting
BFA in Art Education / Concentration in Painting
East Carolina University
2003 - 2005
MFA in Studio Art / Concentration in Painting
East Carolina University
Select Commissions
Dothan Pediatrics Office
Dothan, Alabama
Commissioned for 36 Drawings
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base
Goldsboro, NC
Commissioned for a portrait of Seymour Johnson
Select Honors and Awards
2021
Finalist for "Teacher of the Year"
Alamance Burlington School System
2016
Semi-Finalist for "Teacher of the Year"
Alamance Burlington School System
2016, 2021
Graham High School "Teacher of the Year"
2011
Best in Show, Wayne County National Juried Arts Exhibition
2010
First Place, Caswell County Juried Arts Competition
2008
Best in Show, Small Arts Competition
Burlington Artists League Gallery
2007
Best in Show, Danville Art League Annual Juried Exhibition
Select Exhibitions
Solo Exhibition, Alamance County Arts Council, Graham NC, 2010
Carolina's Got Art! Juried Group Exhibition
Elder Gallery, Charlotte NC, 2010
Group Exhibition, Lee Hansley Gallery, Raleigh NC, 2009
Solo Exhibition, Wayne County Arts Council, Goldsboro NC, 2009
Solo Exhibition, Harrison's, Burlington NC, 2009
Wayne County National Juried Arts Exhibition
Goldsboro NC, 2008
Solo Exhibition, Richmond Public Library, Richmond VA, 2007
Solo Exhibition, Wayne County Arts Council, Goldsboro NC, 2005
Thesis Exhibition, Gray Gallery, Greenville NC, 2005
Illumina Exhibition, Greenville NC, 2004
Solo Exhibition, Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville NC 2002
Rebel Magazine Juried Exhibition
Emerge Gallery, Greenville NC 2002
Kinston's National Juried Arts Exhibition, Kinston NC, 2001
Contact
I was born on January 7, 1981 in Goldsboro NC. I lived there for 17 years before leaving for college, 42 miles away. I married my highschool sweetheart, Jeff, and we have two sons, Noah and Miles.
In 2003, I graduated from East Carolina University with a dual major in Studio Art and Art Education, and in 2005, I received an MFA in painting from ECU. After getting married in 2005, Jeff and I moved to Orlando, FL where I taught art at Orlo Vista Elementary and he attended Full Sail for a recording arts degree. After his graduation in 2006, we moved to Richmond, VA where he interned as a recording engineer, and I continued to teach art at 2 elementary schools.
After a year in Richmond, I had had enough of teaching. I chose not to renew my teaching contract and decided to try working full time as an artist. We moved back to NC and my husband was hired to work at Elon University. I made enough as an artist to supplement that income for two years, and all was well. Then, the 2008 recession happened. Our first son was born in January of 2009 and my sales dramatically decreased. I needed a more dependable income.
In August of 2009, I was hired to teach art at Graham High School. After the first challenging 3-5 years, my artistic process began to creep into my design of lesson planning, assessment and pedagogy. In 2021, I was named Teacher of the Year at Graham High School for the 2nd time and became a finalist at the county level. In the same year, I became a National Board Certified Teacher and a Certified Canvas Educator. In 2022, I continue to juggle my roles as wife, mother, teacher and artist.
Biography
Artist Statement
Throughout my journey as an artist, educator, wife, mother, and human moving through this world, one theme has always been my focus: Connections. In my youth, I was rooted to family and friends, sheltered and unexposed to a scale of diversity that I have expanded to connect to in my adult years.
In my formative years, I explored the connections of my childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. I gravitated towards oil painting to explore scenes from memories. Some of these paintings use photo references directly from the time period, while others are more symbolic.
Paired with these emotional connections, I explored visual connections of composition that I hope other artists will discover and relish the way I do when I find them in the work of others. A knob on a branch painted roughly the same size and shape as a bird’s talons a few inches away serves to steer rhythm across the canvas. Many of these visual connections serve me more emotionally than they do in their purpose to achieve visual unity. The painting may be equally successful without them, but this part of my process feels important to me, and when I view other artwork, I feel connected to the artists when I discover them.
In my last 13 years as a high school art teacher, I have completed a limited number of finished pieces, but continued to spend that time as an artist watching, listening, and expanding my connections. In my current role, I have made new connections with different people from mixed backgrounds. I have a whole new visual language that I’m ready to use and develop. I’m excited to begin a new body of work that explores how I move in a world with other people influenced by backgrounds and experiences different from my own.
Email: windylampson@gmail.com