Rising Stars: Meet Randy Purcell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Randy Purcell.

Hi Randy, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m originally from Paducah, KY. I worked several vocations through my young adult life from construction, Army reserve (including active duty during Desert Storm), towboat deckhand, warehouse work, delivery driver, and retail before working at the Uranium Enrichment plant for the Department of Energy. I was bored with my job, got divorced in 97. and spent way too much time in bars drinking when I wasn’t working. I moved to Nashville in 2000, looking to find a more promising life. It was my Sister that encouraged me to get a new start in Nashville.

In Nashville, I took a position in sales for my Sister and Brother-in-laws cell phone business. It was at this time, I also met Tracy, now my wife. The business grew into several stores, including cell phone repair. I was helping manage those stores but was becoming stressed over the need to manage employees and constantly meet sales quotas. In 2004, after a Monday morning meeting and the overwhelming stress, I decided to quit that job. I had no backup plan I just knew I had to make a change. I ended up going back to something familiar, construction. Tracy had a friend that did construction jobs close to Nashville and was needing a laborer. Growing up the son of a carpenter and working on several construction sites, I had no problem jumping into that position. It was backbreaking work, digging ditches, pouring concrete, and even some roofing jobs. My body let me know I couldn’t do that for very long. I ended up getting carpal tunnel in both wrists and had to find a new path. Tracy’s Dad was looking into a business in international communications. I had some sales and communication experience, so I took a position in his new venture. After traveling to London for training and rehabbing my wrist after surgery, I jumped on the phone and started making sales call to banks, airlines, and freight companies. It didn’t take us long to realize the demand for this particular product just wasn’t there, so we decided to cut our losses and close up shop.

This was the moment when my wife suggested I go to school and get a degree in something I could be passionate about. At first, I had no idea what that would be. But after doing some soul searching, I thought I might focus on my hobby of designing and building furniture… I thought I could get my degree in interior design or something like it. I ended up enrolling at Middle Tennessee State University with a focus on studio arts. It only took a few semesters to realize my love for fine arts, moreover just interior design. By taking art history and studio classes, my mind was blown. I was never exposed to fine art and how an artist worked when I was growing up. Paducah didn’t have an art scene when I was there and I didn’t travel much other than with the military.

My focus in college was in both painting and sculpture, but I was/am interested in just about all art. It was in one of my painting classes I learned the encaustic process of painting. We experimented with several techniques, but the one that stood out to me was the transferring of ink onto beeswax. I grew up on a little farm and was always drawn to old things. I loved the patina that beeswax gave to the transfer of an image. I did a project for class that included barn wood covered in beeswax and then had transferred images of farm life. It was more of an installation because it consisted of 50 individual pieces ranging from 2 inches to 12 inches. Hanging on the wall, it looked so cool. I got lots of great feedback from my peers and even some of the staff on campus.

Fast forward to my first few years out of college and I was mostly working with acrylic painting and also doing some mixed media work. It was a fun time of finding new friends in the art scene in Nashville and creating art. I was also submitting my work to art exhibits I felt would help me grow. One of the first large exhibits I was accepted (for my sculpture work) was ArtPrize in Grand Rapids Michigan. I later showed sculptures in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and paintings in Knoxville, Tennessee. All these were just a few years after graduating MTSU.

I eventually revisited the process of transferring ink onto beeswax but wanted to do larger paintings. After a few years of experimenting, I figured out I could do the ink transfer like a mosaic or collage and piece together an image little by little. It worked so well I used this process as my focus. Wanting to expand my technique, I looked online for other artists doing this process. After some research, I found no one, so I started sharing videos of myself working and explaining my process on YouTube. My hope was that others would see my work and share artists doing the same technique, but what really happened was I built a following of curious artists wanting to learn how to do it themselves. I took that opportunity to continue sharing and giving tips on what I had learned playing with my new medium.

Locally I spent my time emerged in the art community as much as possible. I joined groups like Untitled Artist Group and Plowhous, both non-profit groups that gave artists an opportunity to exhibit their artwork and learn how to put on those exhibits. Those were critical in helping me grow my knowledge of navigating life as a creative and helping me find other artist to network with. I credit these two organizations for most of my friendships in the Nashville arts community.

Around this time, 2011-2012, I was also applying to local calls for artists. One of those was an exhibit at FiftyForward in Donelson, put on by Picture This Creative Framing and Gallery. Matt Fischer, the owner of Picture This, was the one choosing the artwork and chose three of my ink transfer on beeswax pieces. After that exhibit, he asked me to hang my work in his gallery. That friendship has been amazing! I had lived in Nashville for 12 years but was fairly new to the Donelson-Hermitage area, and I was pursuing a new career. Matt helped introduce me to the community, he eventually helped me get a huge space for a community mural in Donelson (titled “In Concert”), I got to build sets for the Dance Theatre of TN, and he encouraged me to join the local Leadership program, L’Evate. Now I’ve built my network beyond just the art community. I now have resources most artists don’t. I’m amazed at how connecting other networks can be so impactful for an artist. Because of those connections, I now have public art pieces, I’m on the board of two non-profits, I am co-founder of the Nashville Collage Collective, and I have this motivation to share opportunities and resources with others.

Another opportunity, related to diverting materials, came after the flood of 2010 called ReTune Nashville. As you know, Sheri Oneal was the creator of this amazing event. I loved being able to play with some new materials and do it for the good of the community. I created five pieces of art from the water-damaged instruments and to this day, I still play with those types of materials. I could go on and on about how this project introduced me to an even larger community of artists and musicians.

In 2014, I was accepted into the Arts and Business Council’s first Periscope program, which is focused on giving artists a better understanding of how to run an art career as a small business. ABC teamed up with the Entrepreneur Center and gave basic business knowledge along with having professional artists come in as mentors. Having experienced Periscope helped enforce my needed to continue networking with the community.

Of the two non-profits I’m affiliated, Turnip Green Creative Reuse is one I’ve been involved for as long as they’ve existed. It was founded by Kelly Tipler, a friend I met through Untitled Artist Group. She is one of the best at making things happen, and all for the right reasons. I am a huge fan of diverting materials out of landfills and supporting the Arts and Education community. This is exactly what they do. I’ve now been on the board for a little over a year and am also on the gallery committee for the “Green Gallery” at TGCR.

I’m also on the board of Number Inc. Magazine, a publication focused on the Arts of the South. It was my friend Michael Mitchell (aka MikeWindy) that invited me to this organization. This has been an interesting experience. I’ve only been on the board for a little over a year, and just months after joining the board the Pandemic shut things down. We went from being an in print magazine to an online publication. I believe in the mission of promoting the arts as Number Inc does, but am not as knowledgeable in this arena. I use it as a learning experience and hope to contribute as much as possible, or at least give feedback as someone not in the same circles of influence.

During the pandemic, I’ve used my time to really find my place as a creative in the Nashville community. I experimented with some ideas including a community art project through Zoom, I teamed up with some friends and developed a new Arts Event called the Mystery Art League, and I’m working with some fellow Untitled Artist Group friends to put together something to unit the arts communities in and around Nashville.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited to show my work in several exhibits that have gotten me some attention and even gallery representation in The Copper Fox Gallery in Leipers Fork, Franklin, TN.

I am excited to be active connecting with other artists, sharing content on my YouTube channel, and still working tirelessly in the studio to create new work.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I guess there have been challenges. I think there are always going to be struggles, but we control how we react to them. I look back to some of mine and see how they all led to new opportunities of helped me realize I had better options…

My boredom working in the Uranium Enrichment plant led me to Nashville, which led me to meeting my wife, Tracy.

My stress of working in the cell phone business led to me quitting and looking for something new.

The carpal tunnel in my wrist led me to go to college, which helped me realize my love for the arts.

My lack of connections in the community led to me asking Matt Fischer and him suggesting the Leadership program.

Because of my involvement with these different organizations, I’m not just an artist in the studio making art, I’m now making my art while working to make my community better for myself and others.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a mixed media artist that is focused on an Encaustic technique of transferring the ink from recycled magazines onto a layer of beeswax.

I’m also active in creating artwork from reuse materials or found objects.

My process of transferring ink onto beeswax is what I’m most known for.

I guess I’m most proud that I have such a unique process and that I’m willing to share it with others. During the pandemic, I created a community art project where I taught my process to 100 participants join me via Zoom in creating a piece of art. In the end, they got to create two little pieces of art. One was for them to keep and the other came back to me and was included in a four panel art piece. It’s been on display once so far, but I plan to include it in another exhibit in the near future.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
This question always gets me. I have no secrets that I can think of, especially with social media I feel like I share everything about myself and my work. Some may be surprised that I served in the military. After high school, I joined the Army Reserves so I could get the experience of serving my country and to get help paying for college. Early on, I wanted to be an architect and didn’t have a chance at any scholarships. While in the Army Reserves my unit was activated to go to Iraq during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I was only overseas for about six months but quickly realized I wasn’t cut out for the military. I was like Pauly Shore in the movie “In The Army Now.”

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://randylpurcell.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/randylpurcell/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rpurcell/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/randylpurcell
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RandyLPurcell

Image Credits
Headshot image credit: Sheri Oneal Photography 2020