“O.N. DISPLAY” (O’Neals’ Nelsons’ Display) will open in February at the Keokuk Art Center. February is the perfect month to exhibit two artistic couples’ work: Tim and Lydia O’Neal and John and Julie Nelson who all reside in Quincy.
John and Julie Nelson have lived in Quincy, Illinois since 1994. Both have Master of Fine Arts degrees from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, where they met. Professionally, Julie was the Executive Director and Curator of the Quincy Art Center and John taught classes at Quincy University and Culver Stockton College in Canton, Missouri. Both have been making art full-time and continue exhibiting in one-person and group exhibits throughout the Midwest. Julie’s paintings are still-lifes of weeds, flowers and sticks; John’s work is abstract, impressionistic mark-making on a minimalist surface.
Tim and Lydia both grew up in Quincy, graduating from Quincy University where they met. Because they knew they would marry, they needed to find two art related jobs in the same area. Lydia was offered a K-6 teaching position in Keokuk—Tim got a similar one in Clark County Missouri teaching K-8. They worked those “first” jobs for over 30 years and retired to Illinois. They had three kids along the way, and parenthood dictated the type of artwork as well as the amount of work that could be done.
Tim worked almost exclusively with colored pencils during that time because it was clean and quick to pick up and put away – the kids respected his “studio” set up in the corner of the living room. He worked on large drawings using layer upon layer of Prismacolor. His work was frequently recognized at local shows and even internationally by the colored pencil society. After retirement, Tim set out to relearn everything he knew about color when he switched to oils. He paints every afternoon in a real studio now and still gets recognized regularly in area shows.
Lydia did very little art of her own during the years she taught as she was busy with family and making examples to use in her classroom—at one point the two teachers had over 3,000 examples created for the lessons they would teach each year. When she was nearing retirement, Lydia started to use the open studio at the Keokuk Art Center, exploring glass fusing. She also began doing pencil sketches just as value studies. Those sketches morphed into finished drawings that she worked on for several years, but her wrist gave out and she had to give it a rest.
When the O’Neals moved back to Quincy after retirement, the glass studio was no longer convenient, so she switched media to play with clay. Covid closed that studio; she then turned to paper arts, including collage and papier mâché.
“Teaching forced me to work many media and my ability to zero in on one exclusively has been destroyed,” Lydia stated. She enjoys watercolor and pastel workshops, but she still has not “gotten back” to using oils—her forte in college.
Both artists have BFAs, but they are life-long learners who have taught themselves much of what they are currently doing. They enjoy going to art fairs, and now that they do not have to put anyone through college and grad-school, they can afford to collect a wide variety of work by other artists that they respect.
A special reception will be held in the artists’ honor on Feb. 7 from 5-7 p.m. at the Keokuk Art Center Round Room Galleries located at 520 N 5th Street in Keokuk. The exhibition and reception are sponsored by Chuck and Karen Ihrig Gilbert. Light refreshments will be served.