Natchez is most fortunate to welcome renowned artist and instructor, M. Douglas Walton, to town from his home base at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La., from Wednesday to Saturday. He will conduct a workshop at Natchez Art Association (The Art Center), filled to capacity, Wednesday through Friday.

On Saturday, Walton will do a lecture about his trip to Nepal in April of 2015 that ended with a massive 7.8 earthquake, stranding him, 14 of his American and Canadian art students and their Nepalese guide for five harrowing and life-changing days. This will take place at 4 p.m. at ArtsNatchez Gallery, 425 Main St. Mr. Walton’s work will then be on display until June 10 at the gallery.

Walton is a nationally recognized water media painter who has taught over 350 workshops in 22 states, and has studied with noted watercolorists Edgar Whitney, Robert E. Wood and Milford Zornes.  In addition, Walton is a noted collector of artifacts and artwork from around the world.  Since 1978, he has lead multiple journeys to over 20 different countries in the world. These include the Court of Saudi Arabia, where he was not allowed to see his female students, to over 20 sojourns to Bali, where the locals return teaching tools dropped a year earlier. He has also taught in Canada, Italy, England, China, Morocco, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, India, Vietnam and Cambodia.

His personal history is truly amazing. Walton, son of Melvin and Leota Walton, was born in 1942. Reared in Carmen, Okla., he developed a sensitivity to nature which is reflected in his art today. For 16 years, he was silent. As a child, he could not pronounce any consonants. This inability made his speech totally unintelligible. In order to avoid cruelty and brutality from classmates as well as adults, he found it easier to remain silent.

However, in spite of this, it was discovered through U. S. government tests in science in math that Douglas was quite gifted. Since his parents had exhausted every possibility to help him to communicate, they made the decision to move in 1957 from Carmen to Wichita, Kan., with the hope that he would learn to speak at the Institute of Logopedics. This remarkable non-profit institute, founded in 1934, was designed to help children and adults handicapped by speech and hearing, often at little or no cost to the family. After two years of intensive speech therapy, he achieved his goal to communicate.

Upon graduating with honors from Wichita High School East in 1960, Douglas entered Oklahoma State University School of Architecture. He received his bachelor of architecture degree in 1965. Walton did graduate work while on a teaching fellowship and became associate professor of architecture at Louisiana Tech University. He took a watercolor workshop and subsequently taught watercolor classes as well as architecture. Thus began his new career in art instruction.

M. Douglas Walton was the recipient of a national communication award by the National Council of Communicative Disorders in Washington, D.C., where he was recognized for having become an effective communicator through speech and art and for his active support of communication services.

Walton has the ability in his teaching methods to bring out the best in students of all ages, helping each to discover what is unique within.  His philosophy in creativity is that “Right is wrong, and wrong is right,” that one must eliminate one’s self-critic in order to follow through the creative process to a wondrous world of “endless possibilities.” He is said to be the most unassuming and unintimidating instructor one will ever encounter.

Please join us in attending what promises to be a fascinating presentation by this internationally known artist and instructor at 4 p.m. Saturday at ArtsNatchez Gallery, 425 Main St. His experience in Nepal was life-changing for him and his students; this opportunity to hear Doug Walton share about it might also be a life-changing moment for us all!

 

Mary Ann Spell is an ArtsNatchez board member.