Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Deb Hanes-Nelson, watercolorist
May 17, 2023
By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
Some people minister from the pulpit. Some can minister with a paintbrush. Deborah Hanes-Nelson is a person who can do both.
Today we’ll meet this talented woman who has been both a preacher and a painter in rural Kansas.
Deb Hanes-Nelson is a watercolorist. She was born in Florence but her family moved around Kansas because her father was a relief foreman for the Santa Fe Railroad.
At right: Deb Hanes-Nelson | Download this photo
“When you’re out somewhere and you don’t know anybody, you can pick up a pad of paper and draw,” Hanes-Nelson said. “I’ve always enjoyed drawing and painting.”
Her high school didn’t offer art classes, but Hanes-Nelson took lessons from a local woman. After high school, she moved to Topeka, where she felt called to the ministry. She attended Washburn University and then St. Paul Theology School in Kansas City, launching a 35-year career serving as a pastor in the United Methodist Church.
She also met and married her husband, Doug, who is a finish carpenter and custom woodworker. They had one son.
Hanes-Nelson prefers churches in small towns. She served several of them through the years. While she was serving in Centralia, her husband bought a building there. When she retired from the ministry in 2015, she and Doug moved back to Centralia where they live today.
In 2003, a friend told her about New Mexico’s Ghost Ranch, which was offering art classes in watercolor. “I had vacation time so I went out there,” Hanes-Nelson said. She found she enjoyed watercolor painting. Her husband built her an artist’s desk.
In 2005, Hanes-Nelson returned to Ghost Ranch for a class called Journaling through Watercolor. “I had a spiritual experience,” she said. This launched a passion to paint. In the next six months, she painted every chance she got and produced 54 small paintings. “What am I to do with these things?” she asked.
“I gave them away as Christmas cards,” she said. She also joined the Manhattan Watercolor Studio.
Upon retiring from the ministry, she took up watercolor as a second career. Her studio in Centralia is named 315 Annex Studio and Gallery, as built by Doug. Hanes-Nelson joined the Columbian Artists and the Portrait Society of America. Her paintings are available online and at shows where she exhibits around Kansas. Her works are currently on display in the Manhattan Medical Center buildings.
“Portraiture is where my heart lies,” Hanes-Nelson said. Often people will bring her a photo of someone and ask her to paint them. She attaches a title and a Bible verse to each painting. “I use my watercolors as a way to testify to my faith,” Hanes-Nelson said.
On three occasions, she has had paintings accepted to the national exhibition of the Kansas Watercolor Society. She doesn’t enter many art competitions, but her art was awarded best of show at Nemaha County and was runner-up at the Kansas Artists show of the Topeka Art Guild in 2017.
One nature scene features a meadowlark on top of a fencepost. “I spotted him on top of this post. I wondered how quickly I could get my camera out before he flew away,” Hanes-Nelson said. “I must have taken 15 or 20 photos while he just sat there. I finally left. I think he was posing for me.”
What is her favorite painting? Like a true artist, she replied, “The next one I’m working on.” She added, “My family ones are dear to me.”
Deb and Doug’s son graduated from K-State. Now he and his wife have two sons of their own. One day Hanes-Nelson took a picture of Doug and grandson without him knowing, and used that photo to create a watercolor that she gave him for Father’s Day.
It’s good to find a talented painter in a rural community such as Centralia, population 485 people. Now, that’s rural.
For more information, see www.debhanes-nelson.com.
Some people minister from the pulpit and some minister with a paintbrush. Deb Hanes-Nelson can do both. We salute her for making a difference with her gifts and creativity. It takes a talented person to preach and paint.
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.huckboydinstitute.org.
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