Unlocking : Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. Pressly

This post was most recently updated on July 31st, 2020

Unlocking: Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. PresslyUnlocking: Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. Pressly

Publisher:  She Writes Press (May 5, 2020)
Category: Memoir
Tour Dates June and July, 2020
ISBN: 978-1631528620
Available in Print and ebook, 224 pages
Unlocking by Nancy L. Pressly

Description Unlocking: Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. Pressly

While recovering from a near fatal illness, Nancy Pressly discovers a treasure trove of family material stored in her attic. Haunted by images of her grandparents and her parents in their youth, she sets out to create a family narrative before it is lost forever. It takes several more years before she summons the courage to reconstitute a path back to her own past, slowly pulling back the veil of amnesia that has, until now, all but obliterated her memory of her childhood.

In this sensitive and forgiving meditation on the meaning of family, Pressly unravels family dynamics and life in a small rural town in the 1950s that so profoundly affected her―then moves forward in time, through to her adulthood. With an eye attuned to visual detail, she relates how she came into her own as a graduate student in the tumultuous sixties in New York; examines how she assumed the role of caretaker for her family as she negotiated with courage and resilience the many health setbacks, including her own battle with pancreatic-related cancer, that she and her husband encountered; and evokes her interior struggle as a mother as she slowly traverses the barriers of expectations, self-doubt, and evolving norms in the 1980s to embrace a remarkable life as a scholar, champion of contemporary art, and nationally recognized art museum strategic planning consultant. Full of candor and art-inspired insight, Unlocking leaves the reader with a deep appreciation of the power of art and empathy and the value of trying to understand one’s life journey.

Advance Praise Unlocking: Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. Pressly

“A wrenchingly honest account that deftly combines a marriage story and an art tour.”-Kirkus Reviews

“In her searching and compassionate memoir, this keenly sensitive writer . . . tells how her own near-fatal illness allowed her to unlock her painfully lost girlhood with clear vision and empathy . . . . With Unlocking, she proves herself a woman of the deepest human insight.”-Kate Moses, author of Cakewalk, A Memoir and Wintering

“Inspired by resilience and renewal, commitment and perseverance, love and trust—themes that are instantly relatable, Unlocking is an exquisite articulation of personal and professional stories, shared through the lens of someone who is deeply passionate about the connections between art and life.”-Allison Perkins, Executive Director, Reynolda House Museum of American Art

“This is an unflinchingly honest memoir, written with the clarity and powerful visual sense of an art historian. Particularly vivid are the retrieval of [Pressly’s] childhood memories through letters, diaries, and photographs . . . . Her career as art historian, curator, and arts administrator offer fascinating insights. But above all, this is a memoir about her love of family and her own evolution as a person. Finishing it, you realize you have been privileged to get to know a remarkably gifted and indomitable spirit.”-Tom Dunne, author of Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize winner Rebellions: Memoir, Memory, and 1798

About Nancy L. Pressly

Unlocking : Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. Pressly

(c)Atlanta Portrait Photography

Nancy L. Pressly, a graduate of Goucher College, received her master’s degree in Art History from Columbia University. She began her career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and subsequently held curatorial positions at the Yale Center for British Art and the San Antonio Museum of Art, where she organized several important exhibitions, most notably the acclaimed Fuseli Circle in Rome: Early Romantic Art of the 1770s.
In 1984 she became Assistant Director of the Museum Program at the National Endowment for the Arts; was a visiting Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts during the fall of 1992; and in 1993 founded Nancy L. Pressly & Associates, a nationally recognized consulting firm specializing in strategic planning for art museums. She has authored numerous publications, most recently a book titled Settling the South Carolina Backcountry (2016.) She and her husband live in Atlanta, Georgia, close to their son and two grandchildren.

Website:  https://nancylpressly.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NancyLPresslyauthor/

Buy Unlocking: Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. Pressly

Amazon
Barnes&Noble
Indiebound

Giveaway Unlocking: Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. Pressly

This giveaway is for 3 print copies open to the U.S. only. There will be 3 winners. This giveaway ends August 1, 2020,midnight pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow Unlocking: Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. Pressly Tour

Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus June 4 Kick off & Interview

Miller Amazon June 5 Review

Lu Ann Rockin’ Book Reviews June 8 Review & Guest Post

Vicki I’d Rather Be At The Beach June 9 Review

Linda Lu Goodreads June 15 Review

Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus June 18 Review

Betty Toots Book Reviews June 24 Review

Bookgirl Goodreads June 26 Review

Infantina The periodical gazette June 29 Review & Excerpt

Gud Reader Goodreads July 14 Review

Just Another Reader July 27 Review

Amy Locks, Hooks and Books July 31 Review

Unlocking: Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. Pressly

Jane Allen Petrick, Author of HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: The Other People in Norman Rockwell’s America: On Tour

This post was most recently updated on March 3rd, 2014

Hidden In Plain SightPublisher: Informed Decisions Publishing, October 8, 2013
Category: Nonfiction – multicultural; cultural/social issues; biography & memoirs; art criticism
Tour Dates: February, 2014
Available in: ebook143 pages

Kirkus Review named “Hidden” a Best Book of 2013!

Norman Rockwell’s America was not all white. As early as 1936, Rockwell was portraying people of color with empathy and a dignity often denied them at the time. And he created these portraits from live models.

Hidden in Plain Sight: The Other People in Norman Rockwell’s America unfolds, for the first time, the stories of the Asian, African, and Native Americans who modeled for Norman Rockwell. These people of color, though often hidden in plain sight, are present throughout Rockwell’s more than 4000 illustrations. People like the John Lane family, Navajos poignantly depicted in the virtually unknown Norman Rockwell painting, “Glen Canyon Dam.” People like Isaac Crawford, a ten year old African-American Boy Scout who helped Norman Rockwell finally integrate the Boy Scout calendar.

In this engrossing and often humorous narrative, Jane Allen Petrick explores what motivated Norman Rockwell to slip people of color “into the picture” in the first place. And in so doing, she persuasively documents the famous illustrator’s deep commitment to and pointed portrayals of ethnic tolerance, portrayals that up to now have been, as Norman Rockwell biographer Laura Claridge so clearly put it, “bizarrely neglected”.

Hidden in Plain Sight: The Other People in Norman Rockwell’s America is an eye opener for everyone who loves Norman Rockwell, everyone who hates Norman Rockwell and for all those people in between who never thought much about Norman Rockwell because they believed Norman Rockwell never thought much about them. This book will expand the way you think about Norman Rockwell. And it will deepen the way you think about Norman Rockwell’s America.

View the Trailer:

Praise for Hidden In Plain Sight:

A fresh, well-researched study of artist Norman Rockwell’s treatment of race.”

Petrick (Beyond Time Management, 1998), in this smart, nuanced book, encourages readers to look again at Rockwell s varied body of work. She argues that Rockwell was far from a closed-minded portrait artist; he actually went to great lengths to represent African-Americans and other minorities in his works, motivated by an intense desire to represent all of America. She provides many frequently overlooked examples,including Working on the Statue of Liberty (1946), which depicts five workers cleaning the famous statue; the model for the figures was white, but Rockwell painted one of the workers as having brown skin.
Petrick relays all this with clarity and insight, drawing on the portraits, Rockwell s own biography and the ample scholarship that surrounds the artist. She also talks to the African-American models for some of his paintings, and these interviews can feel extraneous at times, as when the author occasionally delves too much into the models lives today. However, they highlight Rockwell’s desire to capture all facets of America and all of its stories.
The irony, Petrick wisely points out, is that so few people choose to see this side of Rockwell today, preferring instead the whitewashed version. In this book, she manages to say something revealing about the artist and about us. A brief but enlightening social history of a great American artist
. –Kirkus Review

“Whether you love the work of Norman Rockwell, hate it or just haven’t given it that much thought, after all it pervades most of American life in one way or another, this book is well worth your time to read to gain a new perspective on his work, or allow you to look at it with fresh eyes.
Through thoroughly engaging and captivating stories the Author lets the reader into the mind of Mr. Rockwell and experience his feelings about those in society who are ‘hidden in plain sight’. This book features a section of those people, those of colour, who he used as models for his work which in turn served to give his illustrations a depth and also a social awareness that many have failed to notice. In compiling this book the Author provides the reader with a greater understanding of America, as seen through the brush strokes of an artist who snubbed his nose at convention and included people in his artwork that were largely overlooked by society as a whole.  I highly recommend it.”-
Cate’s Book Nut Hut

“Hidden in Plain Sight shows a beautiful and fun kind of history. It’s the kind that has not been told within the confines of a normal history of Rockwell. Any history or art buff will love to get their hands on this fascinating display of culture, history, and an America revealed.” –Katelyn Hensel, Readers Favorite

This book delivers more than beautifully written narratives and documentation about some of the many hidden lives of the models for Norman Rockwell. This elegant book simultaneously brings to life aspects of the Artist and the Man and looks closely at the Icon himself in unpretentious, non-didactic, easy-to-read prose. This is pure American History; gracefully revealed on multiple levels.”- Niobrara, Amazon Reviewer

About Jane Allen Petrick:Jane PR Elegant Black and White

Jane Allen Petrick is the author of several books on topics ranging from biography to workplace issues. She was a bi-weekly columnist for the Knight Ridder Newswire, and her articles have appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, the Denver Post and the Washington Post.  Kirkus Review describes her book, Hidden in Plain Sight: The Other People in Norman Rockwell’s America as “smart, nuanced” and written with “clarity and insight.”

Born and raised in Connecticut, Jane earned a BA in economics from Barnard College and received her Ph.D. in organizational psychology from Saybrook University. Retired as a vice-president of ATT Wireless, she is now an adjunct professor at Capella and American Sentinel Universities, and has provided consultation in organizational behavior and diversity competence to numerous corporate clients including IBM, Nextel and Xerox.

Jane Allen Petrick was chosen as one of the “100 Best and Brightest Business Women in America” by Ebony Magazine.

Long a passionate supporter of cultural and historic preservation, Jane has contributed to local preservation efforts in both Florida and New York State. A licensed tour director, Jane conducts cultural heritage tours on the East Coast, from the Everglades to the Maritimes.

Jane and her husband, Kalle, divide their time between New York’s Hudson Valley and Miami, Florida.

Website: http://www.janeallenpetrick.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaneAllenPetrick

Buy Hidden in Plain Sight:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

 Follow the Tour:

So Many Precious Books Feb 6 Review, Giveaway
Serendipity Feb 7 Review
Book Lover’s Journal Feb 14 Review
Every Free Chance Feb 17 Review & Giveaway
Every Free Chance Feb 18 Interview & Giveaway
Dr. Bill’s Book Bazaar Feb 18 Review
I’d Rather Be At the Beach Feb 20 Review
From L.A. to LA Feb 21 Review
Deal Sharing Aunt Feb 24 Interview
From Isi Feb  25 Review
My Devotional Thoughts Feb 28 Interview
Mina’s Bookshelf Feb 28 Review
Indies Reviews Behind the Scenes Feb 28 Live Blog Talk Radio Excerpt 8 pm cst
My Devotional Thoughts March 3 Review