For parents, an investment in art and children's values

NICK McCANN – nmccann@charlotteobserver.com

Charlotte folk artist Nellie Ashford shares stories behind her art with Emmanuel Choice and his children.

The beautiful little girl is all corkscrew curls and carefree attitude. That describes both the flesh-and-blood 4-year-old and her look-alike in the picture.

On a sunny summer afternoon, Raquel Choice – pink flowers on her dress and sandals and pink ribbon in her hair – is not outside playing but in the quiet of the Afro-American Cultural Center.

Her father, Emmanuel Choice, brought her and 7-year-old brother Elijah to the first Harvey B. Gantt Center art auction to teach them.

Dad – who is on the center's board – admits he is still “a novice,” on a journey “from rims to Romare Bearden.” It was his first art auction.

How could he resist the tug of the girl in the picture, so reminiscent of his own daughter? In the mixed media “High Steps by the Village” by Charlotte folk artist Nellie Ashford, the little girl skipping rope is the embodiment of pure joy.

“It says everything about why my wife and I decided to relocate from Los Angeles to Charlotte” in 1995, said Choice, 40, who works in commercial real estate. “We want to guide our children,” he said, “in values consistent with valuing art and themselves.”

This might not seem the time for art shopping, when some have trouble making house payments or even topping off the tank. But while art can appreciate, its true value is the ability to move you – maybe to anger, maybe to tears.

“I do deals all day,” said Choice. “I don't want to do that with things I have a personal attachment to.”

The next part of the family's journey a few days later brought them – this time with 10-year-old Naomi – to Foster's Frame and Art Gallery in Huntersville to meet the artist and surround themselves with a roomful of her work.

“Southern Rural Roots: Nellie Ashford” is ending its monthlong run.

Ashford, 65, uses bright acrylic colors, fabric – saved from her mother's quilt – sand and other natural elements to re-create her memories of growing up on an Oakdale farm in Mecklenburg County.

“Daddy's mother was a slave,” said Ashford. “It was a way of life that was very simple, very frugal.

“If I don't talk about them, no one will ever know they existed.”

The three children crowded around Ashford as she set the scenes in her work: making mischief in the four-room schoolhouse that was her first-grade home in 1949, collecting eggs from chickens, going fishing with a string.

Each time, all Raquel wanted to know was, “Which one is me?” To be fair, she also pointed out the characters she imagined to be her big brother and sister.

Ashford loves to portray children. She said she began this part of her life in 1998 to help a grandson “who didn't learn the same way everybody learns” find his way. He gained confidence and she was inspired.

Since then, Ashford has made over 1,000 works – keeping a promise she made to herself – while she works as a teacher's assistant for special needs children at Billingsville Elementary School.

She said she is honored that the Choice family chose her work: “I don't even know what to say. I never knew it would ever mean anything to anyone.”

Raquel, the youngest, is the last to get her own piece, soon to decorate her room. Elijah has a basketball-themed work by Kadir Nelson; Naomi's is a young ballerina by Anjie Porter.

Next for Choice, an actual journey – to New York.

At the auction, he was high bid on a consultation with Halima Taha, author of “Collecting African American Art Works on Paper and Canvas,” and a recognized authority in the field.

Choice is also interested in the works of Latin American and Native American artists, familiar from his time in the West.

Eventually, Choice and his wife, Carolyn, hope their collection can spark discussions with visiting friends, so “we'll have things to talk about besides what's on TV.”

“We'll have it in our home. We'll pass it on to our children.”

Mary C. Curtis:

mcurtis@charlotteobserver.com.