Nona Perrin’s Pacific Beach home is filled with art — paintings, mosaics, sculptures and more. When it comes to art, she wants to learn and do it all, but not for fame or fortune.
“I don’t sell it. Eventually, someday, I may need to start selling it though, because we’re running out of room,” Perrin said chuckling.
She’s drawn to art because it’s an outlet for creating and learning.
“I just love to learn,” Perrin said. “A lot of people just do painting or something. But I like stained glass. I like mosaics. I like sumi-e painting and I like oil painting. Lots of times I’ll mix them all up together.”
Those pieces that are filling up her house are now getting their own space at the public library.
Perrin selected over 30 “color-soaked” pieces of art for her “Let’s Get Wild!” art exhibit in the Pacific Beach/Taylor Library. The exhibit opened on April 3 and runs through June 10.
A free artist’s reception will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 6 at the library. All are welcome to attend.
Among her art pieces in the exhibit is “What’s for Dinner?” It is a three- painting featuring a jaguar she affectionately named Percy. She said she thinks he looks hungry.
“I’ve become very close with these creatures that I decide to paint,” Perrin said.
Her inspiration and connection to animals and art traces back to the Michigan farm she grew up on.
“I think that’s where maybe my love for animals (came from),” Perrin said. “I liked to do paintings of animals quite often. Although, there weren’t any animals like the ones I paint (now).”
When she moved to San Diego three decades ago, Perrin got to try out painting the wild animals at the zoo. Then, she started painting San Diego coastal sunsets. Her son noticed her work and asked her to paint pieces for his home. Aside from a few group exhibitions, that was the extent of exhibiting her work.
“Let’s Get Wild!” will be her first solo exhibition, but her name is known by many in San Diego. Outside of her own learning pursuits, she’s helped students throughout the county embrace creativity and artistic expression.
Perrin’s library exhibit explores the wild side of zoo animals, the spatters and abstraction of pieces echoing Jackson Pollock, the serenity of San Diego’s coastal views and the intersection of music and physical art.
“Sometimes I’ll see a photo or an image, or sometimes I’ll be driving and I’ll say, ‘Oh my God, look at those clouds,’ and I’ll take a picture of it. And then I have to come home and paint it,” Perrin said.
Some of her pieces pay homage to her favorite artists, including Vincent van Gogh.
“Van Gogh just has texture and the thickness of his paint and everything,” Perrin said. “That really attracts me.”
She also will have a section focusing on Asian painting techniques — sumi-e painting (ink brush painting) and Chinese watercolor.
Perrin also has a section that draws inspiration from music. Her husband, Chuck, is a musician and this section includes art pieces she’s created that connect to her husband’s music.
Her work is colorful and bold.
But when she first started taking art classes, like many young artists, comparison was hard to overcome, and it initially impacted her confidence in her work.
“When I was in high school, I there was one girl in particular who was really amazing at art. And, you know, that (teacher) was constantly like, ‘This is great, this is great, this is great.’ And, I just always feeling very insignificant in that class. And it kind of caused me to not do art so much.”
She ended up studying ing, but continued taking art classes throughout school and even after.
Eventually, she became a teacher herself. Perrin taught art to thousands of students in local public and private schools for more than 25 years.
That high school art class memory impacted how she wanted to instill confidence in her students.
“I always try to teach my students to feel good about what you’re doing, and everyone has their own way of presenting things. One way is not necessarily better than another,” Perrin said.
She has also taught art at around 30 of the San Diego Public Library branches.
Since the first week of May marks Teacher Appreciation Week, Perrin approached the Pacific Beach/Taylor Library with this family-friendly exhibit in mind to get teachers and students engaged in art.
The exhibit room is actually a space where she said she previously taught art classes.
“Let’s Get Wild!” will also house her newest art lesson for students. She aims to promote understanding and learning when attendees look at her work.
“Often, you go and see an art exhibit, and it’s all there and it’s got names under the paintings, but you have no idea what the reason that they painted it was,” Perrin explained. “I’ve kind of put like a little explanation telling about the collaboration of my husband and myself with art and music and then, in the section about the waves and the sunsets (I) explained that I’ve spent most of my life in Pacific Beach.”
Perrin said her hope for exhibit viewers is that they leave inspired, letting go of the pressure and expectations that sometimes can come with creating art.
“Not everybody wants to create art, but I think a lot of people might like to, if they felt free to do it,” Perrin said.
They might find some inspiration in Pacific Beach too.
“It’s really hard to live here and not be drawn to want to create something,” Perrin said.
For more of Perrin’s work check out her Flickr page at tinyurl.com/NonaPerrin.
Want to visit?
“Let’s Get Wild!” art exhibit
Where: Pacific Beach/Taylor Library, 4275 Cass Street.
When: April 3 to June 10
Hours: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays, 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, and 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays to Saturdays.
Cost: free
