Nancy Sykes Cockerham lives and breathes art. She has a deep appreciation for all art but a special love for drawing, painting and music.
Cockerham has been an artist her entire life. She remembers always "seeing the world in 3-D" while growing up. When she was a child, she could draw anything, a trait she attributes to her grandfather.
Most recently, Cockerham is the Florida Artist Groups' Elizabeth Morse Genius Memorial Award 2009 winner for the mixed media portrait titled "Mystique." This portrait is in Cockerham's signature style, a woman in shades of gray in front of a colorful abstract background.
"I don't do typical poses," Cockerham says.
She says she attempts to grasp a feeling or emotion in her paintings and drawings.
The women subjects in Cockerham's works are vibrant, defiant, introspective and contemplative.
However, her most moving, emotional and disturbing portrait is one depicting her daughter's struggle with cancer. The portrait contains the torment that Cockerham faced as she watched her daughter struggle, as well as portrays her daughter's pain and strength as she fought this daunting battle.
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Artist Nancy Sykes Cockerham, stands with two of her works, "The Wait," left, an oil painting, and "The Badge to Be," right, charcoal on canvas.
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Cockerham's eye for color and detail and grasp of a subject's potential were all put to the test when she returned to Winter Haven 16 years ago and purchased a home built in 1908.
"I wanted something with character," Cockerham explains. She and her husband, John, purchased the home and then began the labor-intensive act of restoring it.
During a trip to Mexico, Cockerham purchased and brought back various tiles and a beautiful mosaic sink. She says she turned a pink kitchen with awful wallpaper into a bright, welcoming room with sunflower tiles and modern appliances.
While walking through the house, a visitor appreciates the art on the walls, of which many were created by Cockerham and others she has collected over the years.
While Cockerham has natural talent, she also has a master's degree in art. She has spent decades conveying her love of art to students both young and old.
Cockerham admits that being an artist is not always lucrative. Currently, she teaches adult classes at the Polk Museum of Art. Her classes are attended by a diverse group of adults, including local art teachers. One of the draws to teaching is the opportunity to work with models.
In the past, Cockerham taught art at the high school level. She encouraged her students to enter competitions. She thrives on competition herself, admitting, "I work harder when I lose, and I get lazy when I win all of the time."
She taught her students to appreciate their own talents and take the risks of entering their works just for the experience alone.
Cockerham says she is disappointed with the cutbacks in the public school art programs. She said "creativity is a form of intelligence, and we face our problems by our understanding of the world."
In other words, she says, art helps us understand the world around us.
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Professional artist, Nancy Sykes Cockerham, looks over a painting she is currently working on in her studio.
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"When the astronauts were training for the mission to the moon, part of the training was learning to paint. It was a way to teach creativity to engineers," Cockerham says. She explains that since no one had been to the moon, they did not know what to expect, so creativity in dealing with unknown situations was an essential skill that had to be taught.
"Every time you pick up a pencil or put a brush to canvas, you make a decision," Cockerham says.
She also remembers many times that "problem" children would enter an art class and she could see as they progressed in the class they were "brought outside of themselves, music and art affect the brain; they change the chemistry of the brain," Cockerham says.
Cockerham adds that she firmly believes that everyone can learn to draw.
"You teach them how to see and then how to draw," she says.
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Cockerham's home is full of her own work and the work of other artists she has bought, including the works of Rocky Bridges, seen above the sofa on the left, and Barbara Wasserman on the right.
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Teaching the basics, Cockerham says she also encourages creativity and challenges the imagination.
"If you know the rules, you can break the rules," she says with a smile.
Having enjoyed a longtime membership with the Florida Artist Group, a nonprofit organization of Florida artists that have been recognized at the state and national level, Cockerham has won many awards throughout the years.
Cockerham hopes that eventually the local artists in the area will receive the recognition and appreciation they deserve. She believes there are many gifted artists in Polk County.
"People need to look locally," she says. "We underestimate our own talents."
