Ginna Priest
Although she has been active as an artist for more than forty years, Ginna Priest is still surprised at times by her involvement in art. As a child she found art frustrating and intimidating and cannot explain what convinced her as an adult to take her first art class in watercolor painting. That experience proved to be her entry into a new world. Fortunate to find the right teachers to gently move - or vigorously push - her along, Ginna learned the basic principals of painting as she explored the challenges of the watercolor medium. In time, she began to experiment with mixed water media, using layers of graphite powder, watercolor and acrylic and began painting, not the world as she saw it but how she felt about what she saw. She also found joy in teaching classes of all ages: children, college students, and adults.
Twelve years ago, Ginna turned her artistic efforts toward photography. She found that the principles of composition she learned as a painter guided her as she explored her world looking through a lens, and she quickly learned that it would take both determination and dedication to learn how to maximize the extraordinary creative potential of the modern DSLR camera.
A devoted and enthusiastic gardener for years, Ginna found immediate inspiration in documenting her gardens during every season. She carefully captured the flowers, seeds, trees, rocks and critters found in sunshine, shadow, rain and snow in both the gardens she tended and the woods surrounding her home. Traveling to favorite spots such as the provinces of Italy, the Forgotten Coast of Florida and parts of the Southwest kept her camera clicking, but it has been time spent in the Smoky Mountains every year that always makes her feel like she is “coming home.”
Most recently, Ginna has created DVDs entitled The Still Point Series and Mindful Meditations in Nature. Designed to bring calm and peace through the beauty of nature and music, each DVD features over 200 captivating photographs accompanied by engaging and uplifting original music. Inspired by visits to the cancer center with her golden retriever Kazzy, where she found patients watching disturbing TV programs, Ginna felt certain that her photographs of her gardens and the Smoky mountains would provide a far more positive experience for healing. The DVD sets are now helping people in times of personal crisis. It’s also an ideal way for all who live crazy-busy lives to simply relax at the end of a long day!
Sales from Ginna’s calendars, notecards and the DVDs fund her donations to agencies that help others, such as veterans’ organizations like Courage Beyond, Quality of Life Foundation, Veterans and Athletes United, the Nashville VA and Hope and Healing at Hillenglade, as well as over 50 nursing homes, treatment centers, and assisted living and memory care facilities in Middle Tennessee.
For more information, please visit www.ginnapriestart.com.
You may order photographs and prints in any size. Please contact the artist through her website:
