Photography by Steve Buchanan
Art lies in the heart of Maureen Wheatley. Wheatley has spent the past 45 years creating art, teaching art, and supporting other artists in their creative endeavors by staging exhibits, where they can show their work.
“It’s just who I am,” Wheatley says of her life’s passion. “It’s the way I look at the world and the way I want to express that and what I see all the time. I want to share the arts with other people and also teach it to others, so they see what is around them.”
For nearly three decades, the 68-year-old Wheatley, who has been painting since she was in her twenties, has had an ideal outlet for her ambitions at Kent Island Federation of the Arts. She’s so devoted that she recently left her part-time job of 15 years as assistant office manager at Cove Creek Club, in Stevensville.
As the federation’s president of the board, the Kent Island resident, has her hands in just about everything, including fundraising, overseeing classes, writing the organization’s newsletter, doing community outreach, and mounting monthly exhibitions, sometimes singlehandedly.
“The thing about Maureen that impresses me the most is that she has given her heart and soul to our organization,” says Dale Hall, a longtime student of Wheatley’s who also volunteers for the federation. “She will step up when someone is needed and she has been involved in so many shows and fundraisers. She’s also involved in the Stevensville Arts and Entertainment District.”
Wheatley, who is also the gallery director, says one of her most time-consuming (about 20 hours per event) and favorite responsibilities is curating, organizing and hanging, and taking back down the artwork in the one, and sometimes two, exhibits the federation presents each month. This past November, for example, the two show’s themes were small works and veterans.
“That’s what I feel I am most capable of doing,” Wheatley says, “along with bringing in groups and artists. I have been doing it the longest, probably more than two decades. I do the exhibits all the time. It just comes easy for me to look at a space and know how many pieces are going to fit on the wall.”
When it comes to staging and organizing these exhibits, there is Wheatley, and then there’s everybody else.
“She is our leader,” says Mary Ann Buckley, a board member of Kent Island Federation of Arts. “She is really good with people and shows in the gallery. That’s what we are all about. Letting local artists show their art and have a place to congregate and paint and weave and play the piano and practice all the arts.”
Another one of Wheatley’s strong suits is attracting new people to the organization, which boasts more than 200 members. That number continues to grow due to Wheatley’s decades-long community ties.
“For a little nonprofit, I think that’s pretty awesome,” Buckley says. “She did that. “She’s always recruiting and encouraging people to be part of KIFA. I am an example of that. I took a class at the senior center with her when I retired. Now, I am on the board of directors She has a passion for art and a passion to let everybody experience it.”
Wheatley, who grew in Silver Spring, also takes pride in running KIFA’s Paint Stevensville as its chairman, a four-day annual outdoor event.
She recalls that she was first inspired to paint by her mother, Lillian Nardone, who was also a professional artist.
“She was my first art teacher,” Wheatley says. “Both of my parents were always interested in the theater. My dad was a professor at Catholic University and he was always taking my sisters and me to see plays. We were always been involved in the arts in some way.”
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