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Nansemond-Suffolk Academy officials celebrated the upcoming Art Show and Sale with a special luncheon honoring this year’s featured artist, Shade Elam Maret.

It will be the show’s first in-person event since the pandemic and will showcase over 150 artists, both local and regional.

“We are so excited to be back in-person and to kick off the 37th annual Art Show and Sale,” expressed Nansemond-Suffolk Academy Director of Advancement Melissa Hlinovsky.

“We will open the doors on Saturday, the 28th of January and we will sell art for the 10 day process. We will welcome over a thousand plus paterons to our campus. We have been virtual for the past two years and so, we are thrilled to be back in-person. And then, also offering an online platform at night for Art Show After Hours.”

A eastern North Carolina native, Maret grew up learning to paint from watercolorist Mabel Allen. Following her studies at St. Catherine’s School in Richmond and at the University of Georgia, where she majored in journalism, she worked as a reporter for various publications, including Bloomberg News and The Atlanta Business Chronicle. Soon after, she returned to painting.

“It is a very special honor for me to be featured, especially since I’m not local, Maret said. “I feel like that was a really exciting thing that I am included, being from North Carolina. But I’ve enjoyed doing this show for, I can’t remember how many years it’s been, six or seven… and they run this thing so well. It’s so easy to do it because they are so organized and energized about everything.”

Hlinovsky said she is excited for the show featuring Maret.

“We are excited to introduce our featured artist, Shade Maret, to the administration at NSA as well as to the press,” she said. “We love getting to know our featured artists a little bit more, and find out what inspires the artist, what they love about painting.”

Maret also shared her excitement with being at NAS.

“I’m looking forward to meeting the patrons and meeting some more of the people that do the show,” she said. “And then on Saturday, I will paint a little bit at my easel while people are shopping … I think that will be really fun to be in the school environment and meet some of the other artists and some of the other people that put on the show.”

The 37th annual Nansemond-Suffolk Academy Art Show and Sale holds opening reception from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Main Campus Lower School Lobby, 3373 Pruden Boulevard. The show and sale will continue until Feb. 5. Gallery shopping is located at the Main Campus Lower School Lobby with online shopping being available at nsaartshow.com.

For more information, go to nsacademy.org/arts/art-show-and-sale or nsaartshow.com.