Nan Phelps

• Name — Nan Phelps • Birth Name — Nannie Dorothea Hinkle • Born — 25 August 1904 • Birthplace — London, Kentucky United States • Died — 17 January 1990 • Place of death — Hamilton, Ohio United States • Field — Painting • Training — Self-taught • Movement — American Folk Art • Works — Grandma Weaver Winter in Old Kentucky Boulder Canyon Falls

Phelps was born in Lily, Laurel County, Kentucky, the second child of Baptist preacher John Hinkle and Lula Hinkle (née Weaver). Phelps paternal grandfather William Hinkle was of Dutch descent. At a very young age, Phelps demonstrated an unusual interest in nature. She spent countless hours studying rocks, flowers, plants, streams, clouds, and small animals. The gift of a nickel box of crayons at age five unleashed a talent and unrelenting love for drawing. Phelps branched off into painting during her teen years when fortuitously a teacher provided her with some watercolors and paper. In 1922 Phelps moved from Kentucky to Hamilton, Ohio. Through the difficult depression years, a divorce, remarriage and rearing a family of five children, she continued her painting. It was during this time that Phelps began primarily using oil paints. In the 1930s Phelps' work was exhibited at the nearby Cincinnati Art Museum and in local arts and crafts shows. As the winner of a local talent show in 1940, Phelps won a scholarship to attend the Art Academy of Cincinnati. In the 1950s Phelps traveled to New York City with a sample of her work in order to increase her exposure in the art world. During this visit, Phelps' work gained the attention of Otto Kallir, the founder of the Galerie St. Etienne. Kallir is most widely known for discovering Grandma Moses and promoting her work. This began a long relationship between Phelps and the Galerie St. Etienne that continues today, through the children of Phelps and current Galerie St. Etienne directors Hildegard Bachert and Jane Kallir. After this trip, Phelps paintings became more widely known in the folk art world, leading to her work being exhibited in various museums. In the 1980s, Phelps' work came to the attention of New York gallery owner and scholar of American folk art, Jay Johnson. Johnson proceeded to acquire and display Phelps' paintings in many exhibits, culminating in a solo exhibition of her work at the Jay Johnson America's Folk Heritage Gallery. In 1989 Phelps exhibited two paintings in Daimaru Museum Kyoto, Japan along with other folk artists including Grandma Moses and Horace Pippin. As part of the Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), Phelps' paintings have been displayed in United States Embassies in West Germany, Finland, and Denmark. Phelps' painting Riverfront Stadium: Phillies and Reds was featured prominently on the front cover of A People and a Nation and during the "Feelin' in Love" segment of David Letterman's Second Holiday Film Festival which aired in 1986. Phelps died in early 1990 at age 85. She continued to paint up until her admittance to the hospital in late 1989. During the short hospital stay before her death, Phelps requested her paint brushes in order to paint, though she was not physically able. Some of the last words she spoke as she looked out the hospital window were "I wish I could paint those clouds".

• Illustration — The Birth of Baby Jesus (1950) • Illustration — Birds on a Wire (1978) • Illustration — Flowers in a Blue Vase (1975)

• March 7 – June 13, 1999 – Kentucky Folk Art Center, Morehead, Kentucky. The Paintings of Nan Phelps. • November 6 – November 20 – Jay Johnson America's Folk Heritage Gallery. Nan Phelps.

• September 15–30, 1970 – Galerie Paula Insel, New York, New York • January 1–25, 1974 – The Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts. • June 8–9, 1975 – Lynn Kottler Galleries, New York, New York • January 1982 – Galerie St. Etienne, New York, New York • March 29 – April 11, 1989 - Daimaru Museum, Kyoto, Japan • May 13 – September 1990 – Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio