By Vicki Byrum Dennis
Special to the Herald

As an artist, Nancy Truax takes her inspiration from a variety of sources, but, for her current work, she is calling on the spirit of her grandfather and his gardening ways.

Truax will be the featured artist for the upcoming show at Gallerie Renee Marie called “Welcome to my Garden,” a perfect topic for her.

“My theme for this exhibit is ‘Remembering my Grandfather’s Garden’,” she said.  “I can close my eyes and see Grandpa Dan working in his magical backyard.  He influenced me to become a gardener and certainly inspired me as an artist as well.”

Truax was born and raised in Vallejo, attending St. Vincent Ferrer Elementary and High School, and then Solano Community College.  A graduate of San Jose State with a Masters in Fine Arts, Truax and her photographer husband, who met at SJSU, returned to Vallejo in 1990 after living in Los Angeles for a number of years.

“In L.A., we did a lot of art related projects, but when we were expecting our first child, we decided to move back to the Bay Area,” she said.

While at San Jose State, Truax initially studied set design before shifting to majoring in art.

“I discovered I was horrible at acting which was mandatory in the theatre program, so, after one semester I changed to a fine arts major,” she said.

However, she was able to put her set design experience to work during college after all.

“While in school, I supported myself by working in Macy’s display department,” she said. “I loved creating displays because, in the 1980s, we could design our own visual sets.  It was great experience.”

When her two children entered school, she got involved in activities at their schools including painting sets and various art projects.  Eventually, this led to the beginning of a long-time teaching career in Vallejo.    She taught art for eight years at her own alma mater, St. Vincent Ferrer School, before moving to St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School. This year marks her 10th year of teaching art at SPSV.

“I am always involved with the students and also creating the backdrops for the plays and designing murals with my National Art Honor Society,” she said.

Truax teaches Art I, Art II, and Advanced Placement Art.

Truax joined Gallerie Renee Marie more than a year ago and enjoys the camaraderie of the other artists and learning from each other.

“Joining the gallery has helped me re-discover myself as an artist,” she said.  “Teaching can take everything creative out of you, leaving you with nothing left for yourself. Being part of the gallery has been wonderful.  It has slowly helped me find my own style again.”

Truax believes her creative process hasn’t changed much over the years.

“It is still almost strictly emotional even though my images and materials have changed,” she said.  “I work off of my experiences and have strong feelings about politics and social justice issues.  I express myself now with the medium of paint. I love shading and shadows and adding in an image that is out of context. I always worked with oil pastel on paper so it was hard to change but I am now a painter.”

For her featured artist exhibit, Truax will be showing paintings as well as some of her well-known painted chairs.

“All my history with display, theater, and design has brought me this fun place in which I paint chairs,” she said.  “I love chairs. I like to create environments with my chairs.”

But at the end of the day, Truax comes back to gardening as a theme, as therapy, as her own time.  “Secret Garden” is a perfect fit for an artist who loves to paint images of the garden and be in the garden, hearing the whispers of her grandfather all the while.

“Welcome to my Garden” will be on exhibit beginning Monday, Aug. 13 with the opening reception on Saturday, Aug. 18 from 4 to 7 p.m.  Truax will be on hand to talk about her work.

Gallerie Renee Marie is located at 1038 First St., and is open Mondays throughs Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. and closed on Sundays.  For more information, call (707) 480-5501, email galleriereneemarie@gmail.com or visit www.galleriereneemarie.com.