NATHAN’S NATURAL ABILITY

NATHAN’S NATURAL ABILITY
One of the reasons our mail man groans when he approaches our house is due to the fact that we subscribe to so many mail order catalogues. We didn’t start out that way, but like Topsy “it just growed.” We started out getting a few, but I believe when you order any product from a mail order company you sell your soul to the mail order devil. It grows geometrically. Where you once had two, you now have 200. I suspect our poor mailman knows the local chiropractors well. I pay little attention to most of the catalogues but there was one which really caught my attention: the Charles Keith catalogue. Every issue came with a unique original art work on the cover which mirrored some product within the catalogue which they were featuring. I found it fascinating and looked forward to the catalogue’s arrival. After many months I started noticing the artists signature....N. Davies. I began to wonder if it happened to be the same Nathan Davies who went to the River Heights School when I was a student there. I called the company, and was told that they could not release that information. I said, “look, if it is Nathan Davies, would you ask him to call Michael Ballam at...” Within a few minutes a call came in and on the other end was the soft spoken voice of Nathan Davies. He was INDEED the artist on all the catalogues. I asked him what he was doing, and he explained that he is a professional artist. I asked if he worked exclusively for Charles Keith. He told me that they were one of his clients. My mind began to soar. I asked Nathan where he lived and he told me Warrenton, Virginia. I told him that I wanted to come and see his work if I were ever in the neighborhood. Some months later I was asked to go to Dover, Delaware to speak on the subject of Arts Education in the Schools. I told the people who invited me that I would come if they would take me to Warrenton, Va. They consented and off we went. I had NO idea how far away Warrenton was! As we approached Nathan’s beautiful home my heart leaped. You see, Nathan had endured tremendous economic hardship as a child, and seeing this beautiful house on three acres of well-kept lawn was proof that the American dream is still alive. As we entered his spacious home, things only got better. Nathan’s house was filled with exquisite art...HIS art. I felt so proud to know someone of his caliber of talent. After we had a chance to “catch up” I asked how this remarkable success came about. He told me a story very much like my own life story. It centered around one of my heros, Wanda Petersen. She was our 5th grade teacher. She believed in us. She helped us understand that all our differences were wonderful. She caused us to appreciate each other’s gifts and rejoice in each other’s successes. She helped me have confidence that I could make a difference through music. She did the same for Nathan in Art. Nathan struggled to finish college and prepared to go to Los Angeles to try and sell his wares and get a job in the commercial art world. He didn’t have much money, so he nearly lived in his car. He felt that he could not compete with the fancy portfolios in expensively mounted samples that his competitors brought to their interviews. He doubted his ability to succeed, but remembered something Wanda Petersen had told him. “Who we are is not based on what we wear or where we live...it is who we are inside, and you Nathan are very special inside. You have great gift with Art. You have been blessed. That is who you are.” Nathan said some of the academic subjects at school were very difficult for him, and there were times when he became so frustrated that he was not doing well. Mrs. Petersen would walk over to him and say “Nathan, I think you have worked hard enough on this subject for today, why don’t you help me create something wonderful!” She told him she needed some artwork for the cover of the school newspaper, or a large tree for the class bulletin board, or a nativity scene for the chalk board in the school cafeteria, or some scenery for the yearly operetta. She provided many opportunities for him to use his talent. She told him there were some interesting paper or materials in the waste paper basket and he would go and retrieve them and turn them into magic. We all recognized how gifted Nathan was with Art...all kinds of Art. Mrs. Petersen encouraged him to try it all and be creative. At one point in his interview process in California, he determined not to take a portfolio with him, but rather create something on the spot at the interview. It worked! They recognized his gift. He was his own portfolio. . Since then he has moved to the Washington D.C. area and over the years has done artwork for a variety of national agencies and major corporations. He is a very successful artist and business man. Why? Because he believed that who he was is from the inside out not the outside in!