Of the St. Louis American
Nancy Wallace had no idea the impact that placing a couple of crayons and a blank sheet of paper in front of her young son Nahoma would have on the rest of his life. Diagnosed from birth with mild mental retardation and language impaired, Nahoma soon discovered his own unique method of communication through art.
“When he was born language impaired, which means there are certain things in the English language that he may not understand. He was diagnosed mildly mentally retarded and language impaired. His speech is understandable to most, but I guess he uses his artwork as his form of expression. At first I didn’t pay too much attention to it, but then we started realizing that the artwork was really good and people were interested in buying it,” Wallace said.
Now 26-years-old, Nahoma still enjoys artwork and his teachers at the St. Louis Artist Guild believe he has the potential to be a success. His former art teacher at Northview School also noticed his talent and entered one of his pieces into a local art show in 2000. Nahoma won second place at that show and several years later he entered another show taking home five awards including Best of Show.
“He does a lot of sketching and drawing, but drawing is more his forte. He sees everything in his own sort of way. When you look at some of the pictures that he draws you would never know it was the same thing that he was originally looking at,” Wallace said of her son’s artwork.
“Nahoma goes to art classes every week at the St. Louis Artists Guild. The instructor that he’s been studying under since he’s been there, Jerry Thomas, noticed and said Nahoma has an idiosyncrasy about the way that he draws and sees things. Jerry said that there are people that actually go to school to try to learn how to draw the way Nahoma does naturally,” she said.
Wallace added that her son’s unique style, not his impairments, could one day set him apart from other artists. She believes in his talent so much that she juggles her busy schedule as president of Wallace Distributing, a local construction firm, while managing Nahoma’s budding art career.
“Most conservative artists will put their name down in the corner of the picture, but Nahoma’s style is so unique that he’ll put his name anywhere in the picture. When people look at a piece of his artwork they will know it’s a Nahoma because of where the artist put his name. Sometimes you really have to look in the picture to see his name because he puts it wherever he wants to put it,” Wallace said.
“I hope he reaches out and touches people with his art and I hope his artwork brings him the fulfillment. When they see his artwork, I hope people read between the lines and really look at the artwork and understand that this person, who is considered to be handicapped, really isn’t. In his mind, he’s just a person that enjoys making art.”
