Nancy Holmes has one of the world’s great resumes.
Raised in Kansas, she started out editing greeting card verse for Hallmark Cards, reading scripts for television’s Hallmark Hall of Fame, and working on President Eisenhower’s People-to-People organization. She also wrote book reviews for the Kansas City Star. When enough boyfriends and English professors told her she was a “promising writer” she applied to the famous Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she met—among other literati —a just emerging writer named Kurt Vonnegut.
After three years in Iowa City she moved to New York and became an executive editor in book publishing with the Meredith Corporation. Then she met her future husband Jim, and after a “hippie” wedding ceremony and a move to Connecticut, she shifted gears, got her MA in counseling, and became a marriage and family therapist with the largest clinical group in Hartford, CT.
Years later came the move to Tryon where she immersed herself in the world of art.
As President of the Upstairs Artspace for six years, Executive Director for two, and having curated and organized at least 125 exhibits and literary programs since 1993, she is well established in her latest vocation.
Although Holmes says she doesn’t pretend to have any artistic talent, she does have an ability to recognize talent in others and has championed artists from all over Western North Carolina and the Upstate.
Carolina Home + Garden’s Monica Jones visited with Holmes in her Tryon home for a fascinating look into the life of this extraordinary woman.
What brought you to this area? When we were in our mid-50s, we decided to live in a new part of the country and chose Western North Carolina. We scoped out several towns, but in Tryon there was an amazing art gallery called The Upstairs, so that’s where we settled down.
How would you describe the present Upstairs ArtSpace? What can I say? It’s cool and contemporary, showcases emerging and established artists—especially those who are creating far-out stuff, educates people of all ages about art, likes a good party….
Where did your interest in art come from? My paternal grandmother might have been more influential than I was aware of in her lifetime. As a woman born in the late 19th century, she was a maverick. She owned and managed a bookstore, wrote a newspaper column that championed the “Negro” cause, wrote poetry and painted landscapes and still life. I admired her spirit.
How about your parents? They were more traditional. My father practiced law all his life in my hometown of Hutchinson, Kansas. They did, however, collect art, travel extensively, relish good food and revere higher education. When I was nine or ten, we drove from Kansas to New York to see Broadway shows, visit museums, and eat exotic cuisine like pasta and lobster. None of my friends’ parents were as adventurous. My father just celebrated his 102nd birthday!
What were your childhood aspirations? Unlike my female peers, I didn’t think much about marriage. But it also didn’t occur to me that I could be anything other than a desperate housewife. I guess my aspirations were a good education and travel.
Tell me about the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. I spent three of the best years of my life in Iowa City, which was a blend of Greenwich Village and the Left Bank in the middle of cornfields. The air crackled with brilliant, boozy conversation about writing, writers, politics, relationships, art, you name it. It was a golden age for the Workshop with people like Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Strand, Richard Yates, Joy Williams, Andre Dubus—all good friends. I wrote poems and short stories and published some in respectable literary magazines; also taught freshman English. I was sure my destiny was to be a notable writer, but one teacher at Iowa pronounced that I didn’t have the “fire in the belly,” and he was right. Truth was, I didn’t like the loneliness of writing. I’m happier planning, developing and carrying out team projects.
Favorite literary genre? The short story.
Favorite art form? I love all art, but especially visual art, architecture, film and ballet. If I were an artist, my style would be abstract, my medium steel.
Favorite art pieces in your home? Artwork by Kenn Kotara, Werner Haker, Guntram Gersch, Phillip Dusenbury, Diane Kilgore Condon; artists whose work I want to own: Greg McPherson, Mitchell Lonas, Stoney Lamar.
Latest purchase? I’m about to purchase my first piece of outdoor sculpture. There are so many fabulous sculptors in WNC!
How did life in New York affect you? Just as the Writers’ Workshop was transformative for someone who grew up where The Catcher in the Rye was banned from the local library, New York in the ‘60s was a fabulous place and radicalized me further. All the social, cultural and political changes sweeping the country were intensified in New York—from women’s consciousness raising to the burgeoning gay rights movement to anti-war demonstrations. Not only was I involved in politics for the first time, I began spending time in art museums, especially the Museum of Modern Art, and art galleries. I also hung out with artists and did some modeling for them.
What are you most proud of? I’m probably most proud of the part of my life devoted to the arts. I love to give artists the chance to exhibit, to help artists and potential collectors network, to organize artists’ works around a theme or subject like political action, minimalism, cultural influences, seduction.
What do you wish you had done? Been at Woodstock.
And hadn’t? Worked hard to get a tan.
Biggest Challenge? Persuading people to give Obama the chance to become the greatest President of the 21st Century.
Favorite place to travel? Jim and I share a powerful attraction to modern art and architecture, so when we travel we seek out art museums and well-designed buildings over castles, churches and other ancient monuments.
What do most people not know about you? That I co-authored a best-selling, hardcover cookbook called Perfect Party Menus When You Don’t Have Time To Cook with all original and tested recipes.
Passion outside of art? Physical exercise, to which I’m kind of addicted. Another long-standing interest is urban planning. For 22 years we had a second home in Seaside, Florida, the town that gave birth to the New Urbanism movement of designing and building sustainable communities that don’t rely on automobiles for transportation or shopping malls for services.
Didn’t you start an artists’ residency there? In 1992 I started “Escape to Create,” a month-long, multi-disciplinary residency which has grown to be a year-long provider of cultural events in an area that’s underserved and under-populated.
Where do you get your inspiration? Things just pop into my head, though I’m good at detecting vacuums.
Pet Peeve? People yakking on cell phones in cars and public places.
Favorite relaxation? Eating out at a really good restaurant.
Next big project? An interior facelift of our Tryon house, transforming it from cozy and cluttered to a sleeker, more minimalist look. The house was designed in 1950 by Holland Brady, and his signature style reflects the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright. When my husband and I walked in, we knew it was “us”—lots of glass, open, flowing spaces; main floor is level with the treetops; it’s passive solar filled with lots of light.
Future aspirations? I’d love to hold “soirees” in my home focusing on art. I envision intimate shows for one or two artists and I’d invite friends and collectors. Artists could talk informally about their art—a lot like the “Walk and Talk” art tours I started at the Upstairs in the 1990s. It might help people feel more comfortable around art and help them visualize it in their own homes. I’m in my early 70s, and though I love what I do, I’m wondering if there’s yet another career in my limited future. I’m attracted to the local food movement and would like to get involved in that. But I want to concentrate only on fun and rewarding projects and work only with upbeat, generous, “show up” people.
How would you sum up your personality? A cockeyed optimist.