{"id":528,"date":"2024-12-17T19:38:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T19:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/?p=528"},"modified":"2024-12-17T19:38:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T19:38:06","slug":"pellissippi-state-alumna-honors-nursing-program-with-original-painting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/?p=528","title":{"rendered":"Pellissippi State alumna honors Nursing program with original painting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Pellissippi State Studio Arts alumna Mera Ragsdale<\/strong> has gifted an original oil painting on wood panels to the College. The work, which depicts a pregnant doctor during the COVID pandemic, now hangs on the Strawberry Plains Campus, on the way up to the college’s Nursing program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artist Mera Ragsdale<\/strong> of Knoxville watched in 2020 as her best friend, Elizabeth Phillips,<\/strong> reported to work each day at University of Tennessee Medical Center during those first uncertain months of the coronavirus pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a physical therapist, but she was working on the COVID ward, all hours, when she had two kids at home and found out she was pregnant again,\u201d Ragsdale remembered. \u201cIt was frustrating to me that some people couldn\u2019t be bothered to put on a mask while she was literally risking her life and her family\u2019s lives to care for them.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ragsdale, a 2018 graduate of Pellissippi State Community College with a degree in Studio Arts, was finishing her thesis at the University of Tennessee when she had the idea to capture that moment in time \u2013 the weariness and steadfastness of frontline medical workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She donated the painting to Pellissippi State\u2019s Strawberry Plains Campus on Thursday, Nov. 10, in honor of the college\u2019s Nursing program. Pellissippi State offers Nursing on its Strawberry Plains, Magnolia Avenue and Blount County campuses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This picture depicts the quiet determination that nurses develop through the combination of difficult situations, connections with others and being part of miracles that happen every day in health care,\u201d said Pellissippi State interim Nursing Dean Jessica Belnap<\/strong>. \u201cThere is a reason that nurses do what they do \u2013 there is no greater gift that can be given than to care for someone else in their time of need.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ragdale\u2019s painting, Dr. Phillips and Laura, is \u201clarger than life,\u201d she said. At 5 feet wide by 8 feet tall, it is Ragsdale\u2019s largest, with her friend looking directly at the viewer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\""Dr.<\/a>
The oil painting Dr. Phillips and Laura is 5 feet wide by 8 feet tall and depicts artist Mera Ragsdale<\/strong>‘s best friend, Elizabeth Phillips<\/strong>, when pregnant with her daughter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI tend to depict women and feminist views in my paintings, and I like to use my friends and family for that emotional connection,\u201d Ragsdale explained. \u201cThis is my best friend of 20 years, and she\u2019s confronting the viewer from the painting, asking the viewer to think about what you\u2019re looking at.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the painting was created in two panels for easier transport, the finished piece was too large for Ragsdale\u2019s house. It needed to be displayed on a large wall, and the artist \u201cdidn\u2019t want it to sit and gather dust,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when Ragsdale decided to reach out to her former Studio Arts professors at Pellissippi State, to see if the college might be interested in the painting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really appreciated my Pellissippi State professors, and I wanted to give back,\u201d Ragsdale said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ragsdale was in her 30s when she started classes at Pellissippi State, with a toddler at home and another child on the way. She said she knew as soon as she took her first oil painting class, \u201cThis is it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always had loved art, and after having kids, I felt more inclined to pursue my dreams to show them that it\u2019s never too late,\u201d Ragsdale explained. \u201cMy oldest has memories of me going to school and coming to my shows at Pellissippi State.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ragsdale enjoyed the one-on-one attention she received from her Studio Arts professors, who became mentors to her, and took advantage of other life-changing opportunities at Pellissippi State, such as studying abroad in Italy one summer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone at Pellissippi State was so knowledgeable, helpful and kind,\u201d Ragsdale said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ragsdale graduated from UT in 2020 and now works primarily in painting, though she also does printing and sometimes combines the two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo many young artists are told, \u2018You won\u2019t make any money,\u2019 or \u2018You\u2019ll be a starving artist,\u2019 but there are lots of avenues for people who make art \u2013 it\u2019s not just galleries,\u201d Ragsdale said. \u201cIf art is something you\u2019re passionate about and willing to work hard for, it\u2019s worth pursuing. It\u2019s exciting and a lot of fun, and I love the Knoxville art community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can view Ragsdale\u2019s painting on Pellissippi State\u2019s Strawberry Plains Campus, 7201 Strawberry Plains Pike, 8-4:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. The painting, which can be viewed from the lobby, hangs prominently beside the stairwell that leads up to the Nursing program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

### <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist Mera Ragsdale of Knoxville watched in 2020 as her best friend, Elizabeth Phillips, reported to work each day at University of Tennessee Medical Center during those first uncertain months of the coronavirus pandemic.  \u201cShe\u2019s a physical therapist, but she was working on the COVID ward, all hours, when she had two kids at home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":530,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528\/revisions\/530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}