Tom Nixon
I was born in northeastern Wisconsin in February of 1941 where my father was a forester with the U. S. Forest Service. My earliest memories are of going with him as he marked timber for harvest. As he and I walked through the woods he would explain to me about how nature worked. I think that is probably the main reason I ended up as a landscape painter. My Dad opened this world of nature up to me.
I did not start out as an art major. Far from it.
I was a medic in the Air Force during Viet Nam, came back and eventually got out of the service. Then worked as a transportation supervisor for a school system in northern Michigan. (I am sure there is a correlation.) Then went into business for myself as a log home builder and as a hobby I became involved in racing sled dogs. I moved to Alaska in 1984 and have been self employed as a custom wood worker and dog sled builder. On a vacation down to northern California, just on a whim, I did some sketching and although the results were pretty crude, I enjoyed the time I spent drawing that day. As I look back on it now, it was a turning point in my life.
Upon my return to Alaska I found two local artists in Fairbanks that were teaching drawing and watercolor, Jack Taylor and Gael Murakami. They were very encouraging instructors and as such have had a strong influence on me both as a teacher and painter. Since their introduction to painting I have studied with Mel Stabin and Tony Couch who were students of the legendary teacher Ed Whitney. Here in Alaska I have taken workshops from Dave Rosenthal, Nancy Stonington Taylor, Sharon Freeman and others. However the teacher that has had the most influence on me is the artist Vladimir Zhikhartsev. I have studied with him for over six years and consider myself blessed to count him as my mentor and my friend
I have been drawing and painting professionally for the past decade. My bride Nelda and I share a studio where we teach classes in drawing and watercolor. I have had work accepted in the Fairbanks Arts Association 64th Parallel juried show. During the Fairbanks Watercolor Society annual show I have received both the Gallery Best of Show and the People’s Choice Award.
During the winter months I teach here in our studio and during the summer at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. In our free time my bride and I travel through- out Alaska painting and enjoying the beauty of God’s wonders. We look forward to sharing that world with you through our paintings and in the classes and workshops that I teach.
See you on down the trail.
From the time I could talk I liked to tell stories and talk to people. Long-time neighbors told me, when I was 2 or 3 yrs old, I would walk along the edge of the front yard from one corner to the other, just chattering away to neighbors as they walked to town. Oh my!
I grew up in Slaterville behind the old St. Joseph’s hospital (now Denali State Bank) across the river from downtown Fairbanks, Alaska. My dad and mom (Roy and Eva Larson) both came to Alaska from Seattle in 1939 by Alaska Steamship to Seward and by railroad on to Fairbanks. Dad went to school at the College of Mines and worked for the F.E. Company at Chatanika drilling steam points. Eventualy he started Larson's Jewelry in our house on Church St. He had a business card and map that said "Bet you can't find us" and people would walk in and say "We found your!" My mom was an office nurse for Dr. Haggland. In fact, he delivered me in 1941. I’ve lived here in Fairbanks most all of my life.
My storytelling evolved talking too much in school and writing long letters to finally telling a story with a paint brush. I began painting in 1990 on a visit to California, with classes from Walter Wedlock in Morro Bay. I came home to Fairbanks and ordered book upon book and studied directly from them. I had a few sessions with Neville Jacobs in Fairbanks.
Ten years later, I met my husband Tom, and to my delight, he was a painter. We haven't stopped!
I joined the Fairbanks Watercolor Society, took evening classes from Gael Murakami and Saturday classes from Jack Taylor. The Society is so encouraging and has had a number of great nationally known instructors come here from other cities to conduct workshops/seminars. I try not to miss a one. Christine Fortner/ Anchorage, Mel Stabin, Nancy Taylor Stonington, Sharon Freeman, Lian Zhen, Frank Francese, Tony Couch, Don Kolstad, Ron Ranson, Carl Purcell, Spike Ress and locally Vladimir Zhikhartsev and my husband, Tom Nixon have been my teachers. You pick up a lot or a little something from each one. It is great being a perpetual student! One thing about watercolor, you never learn it all!
Presently I am Secretary of the Fairbanks Watercolor Society, handle the membership list and send out a monthly newsletter . And I am now on facebook.
About Us
Email: tnnixon@alaska.net Phone 907-456-3329
Tom & Nelda Nixon
Nelda Larson Benson-Nixon
These pictures were taken Sept., 2011, in the back yard near the studio, in front of the old birch tree.
