Local artist Jan Sullivan Booker, also known as JSully, recently attended the 67th annual Memphis College of Art Holiday Bazaar and Fundraiser. Four of her paintings sold in a matter of minutes.
"We arrived right at 5 p.m. When I walked into the gallery room where my paintings were hung, a man was already lifting my paintings off the wall. He purchased four! It was a very successful two days and I had a great time," Booker said in a news release. "Melissa Farris, the director, and her team of assistants, student helpers, and volunteers, did an awesome job of organizing and executing this huge event with hundreds of different pieces of art, from art on canvas like mine, to handmade pottery, to tiny pieces of handmade jewelry."
Booker said she plans to return to the event next year, adding, "I could not have done this without my husband's help."
She first attended the event last year after hearing about it from one of her daughter's friends, Megan McKinnon. While there, Booker struck up a conversation with one of the professors and shared her pop art with her.
"She encouraged me to apply this year. So, this past year, I applied, sent pictures of my art, and learned in October that I had been accepted."
Her art currently hangs and is sold at Brickhouse Grill in Hot Springs.
Booker said she paints under the name JSully to honor her family name and her parents, who gave her the drive.
"My motto, which I write on the back of all my paintings, is, 'She believed she could, so she did.'"
A retired English teacher and high school principal from her hometown of Nashville, Booker and her husband, Doug, moved to Hot Springs to live on Lake Hamilton, be closer to Oaklawn Park, and to live in an active arts and activities community.
"I am self taught with the tutelage of my best friend artist, Terre Tollett," Booker said. "I have more drive than talent."
Entertainment on 11/24/2017