May 6, 2004
Moved by the spirit: There’s method and magic to this artist’s ‘madness’
At work, Naomi R. Watson is a busy office assistant with the UW Medical Centers’ collections department. But at home, she relaxes by creating art that she says transports her to a wholly different emotional place — one that’s a little mystical, and all her own.
A graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle, where she learned much of her technique, Watson is the mother of three grown children — Darlene, Katrina and Jared — and has lived in the area for 17 years, enjoying family, work and several forms of creativity, lately painting with both acrylics and watercolors, and wood carving.
“My family laughs at me because I call it ‘my moments of madness,’” she said with a laugh. “Because I sit down at a piece — I’m really selective, it has to have character — and then I just add and build onto that. And when I sit down and start painting or following the designs in the wood, I’ll have no idea what it’s going to look like. It’s like a trance.”
Watson said when she’s finished with a piece, she emerges from her private world, looks at the resulting brightly colored patterns and intricate designs and asks herself, “What did I do?”
Chuckling, she said, “If I had to do it over again I’d have absolutely no clue!”
She doesn’t give her paintings or pieces formal titles because of this very feeling that the art exists by itself, apart from her.
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Watson says she has had a flair for art and fashion since she was a small child. In a statement on her Web site (http://www.geocities.com/wood_arts2003/bio.htm), she wrote, “My mother said that I would cut up my clothes and make doll clothes of them, and with that she made sure I took home economics class in middle school and high school. During that time I had learned how to design and make my own clothes (much to my mom’s delight), also making a number of changes with my doll’s clothing as well.” She sewed so well, she even showed her former husband how to make his own clothes, too.
But visual arts and crafts were only part of Watson’s collection of creative talents. “I was always a songstress,” she said, adding that she has directed choirs organized by her father that featured up to 215 voices.
Watson’s friend Diane Brim, a specialist in the Patient Financial Information Center a couple of floors above the collections department in the Northgate center, said Watson has been a cheerful and magnetic presence in the workplace.
“She’s an inspiration to everyone, and she always has a lot of excitement about her. She gets along with everyone, (and) her art was just so kind of amazing to us,” Brim said. “Several other employees have received art gifts and some have bought pieces. They have such a sereneness about them.”
Brim added of Watson, “Seeing her out and about, I just see that people gravitate to her, and it comes out in her paintings.”
When she gives her art as a gift, Watson often adds the personal touch of a message on the back of the painting. One small piece given to a fellow worker shows the artist’s spiritual side. In white paint on a black background, the message reads, “In God’s eyes we are each as beautiful as the day we were created. Love of self allows us to love God and others.”
Watson said the feeling she gets from her art is mystic and somewhat spiritual, but not in a formally religious way. It’s just an extension of her expansive personality, and an excellent diversion.
“It’s real easy to sit at a board and allow whatever’s happening to move forward and carry on” she said. “And then come back surprised.”
