If the December skies feel chilly and gray, step into the Clayton Center for the Arts for a dose of warmth and color.
Local artist Pinkie Mistry’s paintings glow up the William Baxter Lee Grand Foyer through December 19. The Foyer is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and later when evening events occur.
“I love our national park, that’s one big thing,” Mistry said. The Sevier County native uses the creatures, colors and landscapes of the Smoky Mountains frequently for inspiration. “There’s a lot of beauty around us,” she said.
The current exhibit shows off this love of nature with several series of her works. This includes an extensive collection of large butterfly paintings.
The butterflies began as work Mistry did for Hillside Winery, part of the Rocky Top Wine Trail. She had done graphic design for the trail, which includes five wineries in Sevier County. When they partnered with the American Cancer Society for a “pink” series to raise funds for breast cancer research, Mistry volunteered her talents for the labels.
“They liked those so much that they hired me to do Hillside’s wine labels,” she recalled. The 13 labels each featured a different butterfly, with vibrant colors suggesting the flavors of the wines. The labels had been photographs, but “they wanted something new,” Mistry said. And thus the butterfly paintings were born. “It took me a year to do those 13 labels!” she added.
The exhibit also includes other styles and subjects. “There’s not really one subject I prefer,” Mistry said. “I just like to try something; I like to jump around. I don’t like doing the same thing. I’ll do new things.”
Some of those new things are scenes from her travels, like one depicting a red-clad dancer. “That one was from Cuba,” Mistry explained.
Outside of the Clayton Center exhibit, Mistry is best known for her murals, including three in Blount County. The newest one in Maryville is in the new Greenway Village development, which she painted while construction was ongoing.
That mural, on brick in a construction zone, was a learning experience, but then, Mistry laughs, all the murals are learning experiences. “Logistics is always complicated,” she said, “You’ve got to figure out that one first.”
Her first mural was part of Sevierville’s downtown revitalization project. She had been working with local businesses and civic leaders, and she suggested that a mural would augment the other improvements. “We did it in the summer of 2020, right after our quarantine was over,” she recalled.
That mural, “Wings of Wander,” remains a draw for locals and visitors alike. The oversized monarch butterfly wings bloom on a previously blank cinderblock wall downtown, between Bruce and Main streets. Since then, she has created other “Wings” murals around the region.
“That same year,” Gatlinburg wanted one,” Mistry said. “They wanted a bear one.” She was drawn to the project because, she said, “I grew up there; I knew people there.”
After those projects came other requests, and Mistry became known as a muralist. Her more recent works include a mural at the Gilreath Family Kodak Branch Library. “It’s massive!” Mistry said. “It depicts a woodland theme, two little kids reading a storybook and there’s all these things popping out of the forest. It turned out nice, but that one was so daunting”
Each mural poses new challenges. Mistry has learned that weather and other conditions can affect her work. The first one required her climbing scaffolding, which she called “scary. It’s hard to paint and be creative when you’re scared!” Now she requests a lift device for more security while she works on tall projects.
The various surfaces of murals, the air temperature and even the people walking by all change the circumstances, she explained. “It can be a challenge. It can be a fun challenge, but you have to consider a lot of details.”
Her public art isn’t limited to outdoor murals. She has done canvas paintings for other libraries, including the Williams Family Seymour Branch Library, which features her canvases in the teen and children’s rooms. “It has been a really nice job to do for them,” she said of the ongoing project.
While Mistry can’t pick a favorite project, she loves hearing from Schultz Pediatrics, which installed her work in their Maryville location. She periodically gets messages from the staff there, telling her how much the children love seeing her painting. “That’s really cool,” she said.
Even after the Clayton Center exhibit closes, you can see and purchase Mistry’s work on her website: pinkiemistry.com.
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