If you’ve ever painted your fingernails, you know the pleasure that a little bottle of bright, glossy color can bring. It transforms a dry nail into one that is shiny and fresh. Mary Lola Scott of Horn Lake, Mississippi, uses nail polish to paint canvases and exploits the sparkling, shimmering, saturated color to recreate masterpieces by Vermeer, Picasso, van Gogh, and other masters.
I had the opportunity to interview her on April 30, 2015, at the DeSoto Arts Council‘s gallery in Hernando. After I’ve had time to listen to the audio and video again, I hope to tell you the story – or to post audio or video of her telling the story – from her beginning (she painted a mural for Ludacris!) as an interior designer in Atlanta to her current artistic ventures. Until then, here are a couple of photographs from our interview.
Mary Lola Scott being interviewed for the Mississippi Byways project
Mary Lola Scott with two of her nail polish paintings after van Gogh and Picasso
And here are a few photos of the DeSoto Arts Council Gallery and Gift Shop. Thank you, Margaret Yates, director of the D.A.C., for letting us use one of the rooms for the afternoon. (I’m sorry I had to turn off the lovely jazz music.)
The Banks House (c. 1909) is on the National Register of Historic Places and is home to the DeSoto Art Council in Hernando.
This is an upstairs room where I interviewed Mary Lola Scott for the Mississippi Byways project.
Art was being installed at the Desoto Arts Council’s art gallery for the “Bloomin’ Art Show”.
I am grateful to Mary Lola and John Scott for giving me plenty of time for the interview, for showing me Mary Lola’s paintings, and for telling me about her and her sons’ work.
All artwork is copyright (c) the artist. Photographs and text are copyright (c) Beth Batton and Mississippi Museum of Art.
Mississippi Byways 