Mid-Summer’s Twilight. Teresa Pennington, artist
By Gina Malone
Teresa Pennington tells a particularly inspiring story of her journey into art. At age 20, a drunk driver hit her vehicle head-on and fled the scene, leaving her lying on the shoulder of the road. Injured badly, she later received compensation—not enough to make up for losing a kidney, she says—but a sufficient amount to build herself a cabin and a studio. “I didn’t realize it at the time,” she says, “but this was a pivotal moment in my life.”
A watercolor artist at the time, she began painting on everything from furniture to fashions. Two years later she gave birth to a son, then two years after that found herself divorced and living as a single mother. “Moving forward, my son and I used to paint together, he in his high chair and me at the dining room table,” she says. “Those were some lean years, but, thankfully, that money that I invested in a house became a catalyst for my career. I sold that house, moved to Waynesville, built another house and opened my gallery on Church Street in 1985.”
Into the Smokies. Teresa Pennington, artist
On Saturday, June 28, in her gallery, she will celebrate—with the theme of Thankfulness—40 years in business as an artist.
After opening her gallery, she left paint behind and turned to colored pencils. “I knew nothing about running a business, much less making a living from my artwork, but I had two great friends,” Pennington says. “One loaned me $1,000; the other gave me a set of colored pencils and I was off and running.” She bought the equipment she needed and a vehicle to carry it in and began traveling to art shows. Her mother kept the gallery going and took care of her son while Pennington was away.
In 1987, she completed a drawing of Biltmore House and ran an advertisement in the Asheville Citizen to sell prints. The day after the ad ran, she received a call from administrators at Biltmore asking if she would meet with them the next day at their Biltmore Village office. “I had no idea that I had just violated their trademark,” Pennington says. “Fortunately, they liked the drawing, gave me permission to sell it and drew up a contract allowing me to do more. They were so gracious and kind to me. The opportunity to draw that magnificent house and gardens has been one of the greatest honors of my life and career.” To date, she has done 18 drawings of Biltmore that are available in its retail stores and in her gallery.
Biltmore Conservatory. Teresa Pennington, artist
She purchased a building in downtown Waynesville in 1994, renovated and remodeled it and has been there ever since. “To say that I have been blessed would be an understatement,” she says. “With lots of prayer, I figured out life, business and art at a very young age because I had to. Of course, I made mistakes, lots of them, but I tried to learn from them and keep moving forward.”
Pennington also takes pride in being a part of the executive board of the Downtown Waynesville Association and establishing the Church Street Art and Craft Show held every October in downtown Waynesville for 41 years.
All of the artwork in her gallery is her own, and all of it was created only with colored pencils. “I have two fabulous, intelligent, hard-working women that I love like family who work for me,” she says. “I am still moving forward; retirement is nowhere in sight. I still love what I do and the people I do it with.”
T Pennington Gallery is located at 15 North Main Street, Waynesville. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Learn more at TPennington.com.
