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endi Norris’ childhood was full of happy memories and artsy messes.
“I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t making things. My mom loves
to create, so my childhood was full of sewing, planting, cooking, baking,
building, painting… It is still hard for me to buy things I know I can make.”
After she graduated high school, Wendi attended Winthrop University to study interior
design. “I had to take so many art classes, and it was then that I realized for the first time I
could actually draw a nd paint. I thought that either you were born an artist or you weren’t.
After art classes, I learned anyone can learn to draw and paint. I also learned there is a
whole aspect to art that has nothing to do with your drawing ability. As an art teacher now,
this has impacted the way I teach. Students always tell me, ‘I wish I could take your class,
but I am just not good at art.’ My answer is always, ‘That is why you should take the class!
Do you not take a math class because you are not good at math?’ If you can learn to write,
you can learn to draw. I love the sense of accomplishment that comes with art. I am still
surprised when I create something I like on canvas. I still get that, ‘Oh wow, look what I did!’
feeling, just like my students, when I finish a piece.”
Wendi decided to combine her love of interior design and art twenty years ago after she
painted the floor in her house to look like a Mexican tile she couldn’t afford at the time.
“A designer from Columbia who saw it encouraged me to pursue faux finishing and told me
about a school in Kentucky. I signed up. I had just met a very artsy mom from my daughter’s
3K class, so I asked her to go, too. On our way home from our first class, we made plans to
start a business together. Shawn Thompson and I started Faux Real in 2002. We were both
surprised how busy we were from day one.”
Duing their time with Faux Real, Wendi and Shawn painted furniture as well as murals.
Her greatest and most challenging piece was completed during a 2006 mission trip to
Germany. “The missionary asked me if I would re-decorate her living/dining area. I looked
at the rooms filled with big, beautiful, European antiques and had no idea where to even
start. I started to panic, and, as I always do in those situations, I started to pray. I asked the
Creator of the universe to give me some ideas. The missionary got a phone call requiring
her to leave unexpectedly for the day. The minute she walked out of the room, the ideas
flooded my mind. My prayer was answered. Through that experience, I learned that I find
it extremely hard to create for someone when they are present. I ended up moving everything around and just used what she had to make it work. She has told me since then that
she had people over all of the time after I made the space more functional and pretty. I
think that is why I love creating spaces for people. I want them to love where they are [and
to] invite friends and family over. I think that changes people, especially in our culture of
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endi and Shawn were also covered in a 2005 article in Southern Living
as well as in South Carolina Home and Gardens. In 2008, their artwork
was selected for that year’s Bone-fit poster. “Shawn and I actually painted it together. It sat on an easel in our studio for a long time, and we just
kept putting whatever color was on our brush onto the painting.” Wendi has also won a
People’s Choice Award at The Florence Museum. While Faux Real is no longer in business,
Wendi continues to paint furniture and to assist with interior decorating on weekends and
during the summer. “I just love taking a piece of furniture, or anything, and turning it into
something completely different. I was at a museum back in March at Bob Jones University
where they have an amazing collection of art, and I had to laugh because I was studying the old
frames and patina on the furniture more than the artwork. I love listening to speakers and trying
to make artwork out of their speeches. It helps me listen and take in what they are saying. I do
this when listening to sermons, too.”
Currently, Wendi is an art teacher at The Kings Academy in Florence. “Art has opened doors
that led to places I could have never gone otherwise and brought me immeasurable joy. I love
teaching! The hardest part of my job is convincing my students that they can, in fact, do this; but
when they do, and they are so surprised that they could, it makes my day! I feel like teaching art
is more about the teaching than about the art. It doesn’t matter how much you know; if you’re
unable to communicate, or make it interesting to the students, or find the line between challenging them and not frustrating them, you will be ineffective. The best thing about teaching art
is that most kids like it and want to learn more. I don’t know about the students, but I sure have
learned a lot about art in the past three years!” CONTINUED...
online ‘friendships’ now.”
SHEMAGAZINE.COM
APRIL 2016
73