Nancy Raia is an artist, motivator, speaker and teacher and writer. Her favorite topics are creativity, communication, and positively inspiring others. She paints and creates from within, loves color and expression, loud laughter and joy.

(Serving as ABC (Arts Bridging Creativity) Project Director at the Eastern Shore Art Center, Nancy works under grants to bring children to the arts. She leads field trips to the Eastern Shore Art Center, teaches classes of all ages and connects guest artists to work with the schools. She serves on the board of the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education, is a member of Bay Area Art Educators, and teaches at the Baldwin County Alternative School one day a week. Her work has been chosen as the Jubilee Festival poster in 2005, as well as been in various shows in the area. She has collaborated on student shows that have traveled out-of-state and featured on local and national news.

She has a degree in Finance from Emory University and has worked in banking, television, insurance as well as acting. All of these backgrounds she uses in her work today. Nancy believes everyone is an artist, and teaches that philosophy in her “Artist’s Way” class. She has studied under a variety of teachers at the Eastern Shore Art Center, and works in acrylic and watercolors and pen and ink. Her “return” to art happened when she took a class in California to teach children how to draw when her daughter was 5, and found she absolutely loved the process of creating! She’s been teaching children for 16 years.

As an emotional expressionist, Nancy feels art can be a healing force. She paints quickly and with energy, and is most thrilled when people tell her they can “feel” the painting. Her work in the schools often involves helping the students get in touch with what they are feeling, as in after a Hurricane. Expressing emotion and creativity are her passions. In 2005, Nancy was named as the Museum Art Educator of the Year by the Alabama Art Education Association. She has been accepted into an international show called “Cancer on Canvas” which reflected the work she did with breast cancer survivors.

She speaks frequently on the subject of creativity to various groups including the Bedsole Scholars, Thomas Hospital Women’s Best Weekend and Mobile Arts Council gatherings.

Her works are on sale at the Eastern Shore Art Center, and she currently has paintings at Patina in Fairhope, as well as her popular card line that is carried at the Eastern Shore Art Center and the Obvious Place in Fairhope.)