Norma Tubbs of Munster loves taking things that are no longer useful and turning them into pieces of art. Her specialty is old teapots.
“The teapots and coffee pots I paint are usually silver-plated items that no one wants to polish anymore. I can make them pretty to look at although they are not usable anymore,” said Tubbs.
She’s happy to recycle well-loved items and has enjoyed teaching others to do the same.
“Decorative painting is a dying art. Not many people do it anymore, and few teach it now,” she said. “I enjoy the satisfaction of getting a piece done — as well as making something beautiful out of what is no longer desired.”
Tubbs’ first love has always been teaching. A graduate of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill.,, she taught 3rd and 4th grades in Hammond and South Holland and Bradley, Ill., for a few years before leaving the field to raise her children and do bookkeeping for her husband’s business. She also taught piano for about 15 years and decorative painting for 20.
People are also reading…
Though her style is often described as tole painting, or folk art on utensils and kitchenware, what she does is a little different.
“Technically tole is done on metal with oil paints and stroke work. Decorative painting is done on everyday items to embellish them,” she explained. “I have painted many chairs, tables and small chests as well as trays, ornaments, coffee pots and teapots. I use acrylic paints.”
A Lansing native, she moved to South Holland after college and lived there for 30 years. She has lived in Munster for the last 30 years. She and her husband of 59 years are residents at Hartsfield Village Independent Living Community. She spends much of her time painting, and some of her works are for sale in the gift shop there as well as in her Etsy shop called “Handpainted by Norma.”
Tubbs also paints a lot of Christmas ornaments, and you’ll find her as a vendor at the annual Christmas Crossroads Show in Lockport, Ill., the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Tubbs never considered herself an artist and got started with it after a friend urged her to attend a class with her so she wouldn’t have to go alone. The friend soon quit class, but Tubbs continued. That was about 30 years ago. She got into painting teapots about 10 years ago. She learned through taking local classes and would attend national conventions to hone her skills.
Her advice to new and developing artists who may be too critical of their work is to give it a little time.
“Right after I finish, I see things I wish I had done a little differently or maybe better,” she said. “I used to tell my painting students that the painting fairy came at night and your piece will look better tomorrow. That is true. You quit focusing on what you are not satisfied with and see the whole picture. The blips don’t seem as prevalent.”
