Made in Vermont: dug Nap Art

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – dug Nap’s art is hard to miss. It’s bright, witty and sometimes downright silly.

“I like to have fun. I always say I’m funny that way,” he laughed. This Burlington artist has been selling his art since 1989, but he’s been drawing since he was just a kid. He started off drawing cowboys with a friend.

“When I was a kid I was kind of a wild, energetic running around crazy… and drawing was really neat because it made me sit down and get really quiet,” he explained. “I really found that to be like a comfort zone.”

He kept it up and even took abstract drawing and painting courses while studying at what was then Lyndon State College. But art wasn’t his only passion, music was, too. In the ‘80s he was part of a band called Pinhead and he rode that wave for a while.

“One day I saw this guy painting a picture of a bird, drawing a picture of a bird and it really struck me and it somehow turned me back into art,” Nap recounted. Making his way back into art, he had a friend teach him about oil painting.

“And then I just liked doing it so much that I thought to myself, I’ve got to sell paintings so that I can keep painting,” he said.

Nap’s biggest sellers to this day are his prints, but his true love lies in oil paintings. His work is in 28 stores and galleries across the country, spanning from California to Martha’s Vineyard. More recently, he’s ventured into books, too. His latest is a picture book that he illustrated, called “The Book of Butts.”

“At the time when I would draw these cowboys with my friend, we would always draw them with big buttocks,” he laughed. “And recently I just had an urge to do that.”

His bootylicious work is taking on a new venue at Frog Hollow on Church Street, in a new exhibit called “Family Fiction.” And you guessed it, the art features short characters with big butts. That gallery is now open. Nap’s work and information on commissioning his Vermont-made art is all online, making it easy for customers to find… no ifs, ands or butts about it.

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