Published: November 07, 2009 06:33 pm      

Area artist still working her magic

Norman illustrates children's book

When Amy (Riggle) Norman runs into friends from her high-school days, their first question is: Are you still doing art? When people from the past visit her Facebook page, they ask the same question.

The answer is a resounding “yes.”

Not only is Norman still drawing and painting, but she’s taken the hobby to a professional level.

Norman, a native of Georgetown, has illustrated a children’s book, “Tommy the Squirrel Wants to be Human,” written by Karen L. West. The book came out in July.

In addition, the Indianapolis resident has a mural business, specializing in colorful designs for children’s rooms.

Norman was in Georgetown recently, signing books and drawing pictures for children and parents attending a book fair at Pine Crest School. Norman also had copies of the book for sale, as well as little stuffed squirrels.

When Kenadi Oldani, 7, approached Norman’s table at the book fair, the child asked: “Can you draw Taylor Swift?”

With a smile, Norman said that wasn’t her specialty. Instead, she sketched out a squirrel in a tree for Kenadi and her brother, Marcus Hoskins, 11.

“You’re good,” Kenadi said with admiration. When Norman handed her the finished drawing, the child beamed and exclaimed, “yay!”

The children’s parents, Mario and Brandy Oldani, looked on.

Brandy, who graduated from Georgetown-Ridge Farm High School, recalled that Norman used to draw the buffalo logo for the coal bucket tournaments, and also painted murals on businesses.

Another parent at the book fair remembered Norman from junior high and high school.

“I knew she was a good artist — she always was,” Shannon Roberts said.

“That’s what people remember,” Norman said with a smile.

A YOUNG START

Norman, the daughter of Richard and Susy Riggle of Georgetown, remembers picking up a crayon and wanting to draw when she was as young as 3 years.

At Georgetown-Ridge Farm, she drew the banners and painted signs for the football games. She also excelled in volleyball, basketball and track.

When she graduated in 1996, she attended Georgetown College in Kentucky on a volleyball scholarship.

Norman always loved science, the outdoors and animals, so she majored in biology at the college and minored in art. She also was the cartoonist for the college newspaper, and still enjoys doing political cartoons.

Norman graduated in 2000 and earned a master in business administration degree from Anderson University in Indianapolis in 2005.

She now works part-time for Roche Diagnostics in e-sales and e-marketing. Among her duties is selling science products to researchers and DNA kits to labs.

One of her co-workers is West, who had written a children’s book and was looking for an illustrator. The book, for ages 4-10, is about a squirrel in Canada who decides he wants to be a human, so sets off to learn how to become human by mimicking their actions.

This is Norman’s second book. In 2005, she illustrated “Truth Gems for Teacher & Student,” by J. Austin French, an algebra professor. She describes those drawings as cartoonish — a knight slaying a dragon, for example.

Norman said she tends to gravitate toward cartoons, especially now that she has a child.

She and her husband, Isaac, who is an engineer, have a son, Jonah, 2½, and are expecting a second child in May.

MURAL MAGIC

When she’s not working at Roche, Norman enjoys painting murals for businesses and homes. She tends to focus on sports-themed and children’s murals. For example, she did a seaside mural for a boy’s room and did a Winnie the Pooh scene for her own child.

She also will paint a mural on canvas, and will ship the artwork to the customer. A moveable mural is ideal for a family that plans to move or wants to rearrange a child’s room.

Her child’s Winnie the Pooh mural is on two panels, each 4-by-5 feet.

In college, Norman and other art students did a 40-foot-long marine scene, complete with turtles and manatees, for the biology department. The chemistry wing at the college sports images of a DNA model, the periodic tables and faces of famous chemists.

Norman has a small photo book with samples of her artwork, including a watercolor of a house in Ireland. On that trip with her mother, other travelers commissioned her to do paintings of the countryside.

“I want to get into doing murals on a regular basis,” Norman, adding she would leave the corporate world behind if her mural business takes off.

As for the book business, West already has other Tommy books written, and has asked Norman to illustrate them. The next one is “Tommy the Squirrel Goes to Michigan.”

Norman has won numerous national and regional awards for her artwork.

FYI

Order “Tommy the Squirrel Wants to be Human” by calling (888) 280-7715 or visit the Web sites http://www.authorhouse.com or http://www.tommythesquirrel.com

The book, which sells for $7.70, was written by Karen L. West and illustrated by Amy Norman.

Norman’s Web site is http://www.murals-by-amy.com and her e-mail address is anorman16@yahoo.com