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By STEVE KORNACKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 11, 2007

TAMPA - Pouring heart and soul into an artistic endeavor for a decade creates a special bond between the creations and the creator.

That's what has happened in the case of Nancy Anderson and the architectural gems of Tampa to which she pays homage.

Her pen-and-ink renderings of landmarks such as Plant Hall, old high school buildings and church sanctuaries, social clubs and the cigar factories of Ybor City have become cherished works associated with the identities of those places.

"A Guide to Historic Tampa," a brochure sponsored by the city and published by Tampa Preservation Inc., features her drawings. Sacred Heart Catholic Church uses her illustration in its publications, and the Fuente family has commissioned her to commemorate the history of its cigar factories.

Anderson, 65, was influenced by Elizabeth O'Neill Verner, whose carefully etched depictions of the centuries-old buildings of Charleston, S.C., bring its history to life.

"Somebody in Charleston said, 'She's our treasure,'" Anderson recalls. "What really meant a lot to me was when, last year, somebody in historic preservation with the city of Tampa told me that I am Tampa's treasure."

Arturo Fuente Jr., president of the Tampa Sweethearts Cigar Co., founded by his grandfather, says he, too, counts Anderson as part of the city's wealth. "Indeed I do," he says. "She re-creates landmarks so beautifully with realism and details that make it look like a photo. But it's all ink and pen.

"She loves history, and you can see Nancy's enthusiasm and love in her work. We are very fortunate to have her in the historic district. She's a gift to everyone."

Her love of history, buildings with character and drawing keep her motivated. "I have a gift, and I'm driven."

She grew up in a "big, old farmhouse" on a Maryland dairy farm, where she developed a fondness for vintage houses and buildings. Her great-uncle, an architect, and her grandfather, who painted in oils, passed down their skills.

"It's genetics," she says, "definitely a gift."

After moving to Tampa in 1974 with her husband, Jim, she was taken by the architecture. But it wasn't until computer graphics began eating into her business as a freelance ad illustrator that she began drawing buildings 10 years ago.

Thirty Drawings So Far

A friend, Mike Harrison, made prints of her first ones.

"And everything evolved from those six drawings," Anderson says. "I appreciate greatly that I found my little niche. It's so wonderful, gratifying and unplanned. … It just snowballed."

She has done more than 30, beginning with Plant Hall and Ybor Square. Her latest project is the Fuente family's cigar factories from Tampa to Santiago, Dominican Republic.

"The feel, the architecture and the history of the Ybor families drew me to the buildings there," Anderson says. "I've done a lot of reading on the cigar industry."

And even a little cigar smoking.

She sells her work from her place in a brick, open-air building at the Ybor City Saturday Market. The ashes of her husband of 34 years, who died in 2003, were scattered in a flower bed next to that spot. He used to accompany her to the market after firing the tiles for her related artwork during the week.

The couple had two children; Anderson is now a grandmother.

'The Most Beautiful Characteristics'

She sells ceramic tiles, coffee mugs, tile magnets and coasters featuring her art, in addition to prints, notecards and matted art. They're also available at Channelside gift shops, the Ybor City Museum, Plant Museum, Centro Ybor, Ybor City Visitor Information Center and Tampa Artist Emporium in Hyde Park Village.

"What attracts all of us to Nancy's work is her way of picking the most beautiful characteristics of a house or building," says Anna Thomas, past president of Tampa Preservation.

Anderson's studio is in daughter Jennifer's old bedroom in a neighborhood not far from her beloved Plant Hall. The door has a sign reading "L'Atelier," French for the studio. Open it and enter her creative cocoon.

She draws on a drafting table with coffee cups full of pens and pencils at her disposal. Photo collages of family and friends cover the walls. She listens to classical music while she works.

"It helps the hands and brain calm down," she says.

She uses a draftsman's T square and triangle for the fine lines that bring the "detail and realism" Fuente says attracted him to her work.

Anderson puts as much love as precision into her drawing.

"When I do my work," she says, "everything falls away but the work.

"It's a wonderful salvation."

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.

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