Flat Rock artist Miriam Hughes is colorful in many ways. She is an artist known for whimsical and vibrant multicolored paintings. She wears bright clothes that complement her shock of wild and curly red hair. And Miriam has a commanding and colorful personality seldom constrained by norms.

Put all those elements together and you have an artist who adds a lot to the kaleidoscope of life in the Village.

Miriam works out of her Beaumont Cottage Studio located on the grounds of the original Beaumont Estate in Flat Rock. Her house is approximately 120 years old and the last of five original guest cottages built to house visitors to the estate. Her charming (and also very colorful) studio sits in a quiet wooded setting just behind the main house. All of which is a long way from where she started out in life.

Miriam grew up in Chicago and knew at an early age that art was a passion. Her parents took her to Saturday morning classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. “I loved art. I remember doing this fantastically wild dragon using watercolors and crayons. It was a masterpiece in my mind,” she recalls with a smile.

As a young adult, Miriam moved to Kansas where she spent several years finishing up her college career. She thought she would be an architect but ended up taking animation and writing courses at Columbia College. While there, she was recruited to do an animated educational film strip dealing with issues during surgery. Her work impressed and she landed a job as a medical illustrator.

In contrast to her current fantastical creations, medical illustration required detail and an unwavering commitment to accuracy. Part of the process of obtaining that accuracy occasionally involved unusual learning environments. “I got the medical interns to take me to the morgue to learn about the anatomy I was illustrating.”

Eventually, Miriam and her former husband moved to Philadelphia where she operated a freelance medical illustration business for several years. Later she spent some time working for drug companies, sold computers used for creating graphic illustrations, and ultimately pursued her other true passion - all things pertaining to dogs.

Miriam operated a dog training business called MissBehave, a pet sitting business called Ben’s Bed and Biscuit, and most successfully, MissPoop dog waste removal. “That business grew like wildfire,” she says. “But I was missing doing art.” Businesses, even successful ones, require constant attention and a willingness to follow a myriad of governmental rules and regulations. This was a significant challenge for a woman who chafes against norms, so after 10 years in the dog business, she decided it was time for a change.

Her corporate career had taken her to North Carolina on several occasions and Miriam set her sites on Asheville as a potential new home. When she arrived to check out the area, however, the only place that would accommodate a woman with four dogs in tow was a Red Roof Inn in Hendersonville. That turned out to be a moment of significant serendipity, and as she recalls, “I just fell in love with Hendersonville.”

Miriam made the move to Henderson County in 2011 and then took a while to decide on the next chapter in her life. “I spent the first year just hiking, reading, and eating chocolate and apples,” she says with a laugh.

Eventually, she started to participate in art shows at local galleries. Her early work consisted mostly of pastels and watercolors centered on dog portraits. Over time, she experimented with different mediums and ultimately found herself drawn to watercolors as her primary medium.

Others noticed Miriam’s talent and she was invited to teach watercolor painting at Blue Ridge Community College. This proved to be a pivotal moment in her art career. “When I started teaching, something clicked in my brain. I ended up loving it.”

Like her art, Miriam’s teaching style was a process of evolution. She started out trying to teach “the way I thought you should teach.” But traditional and very structured instruction did not fit her free-wheeling and fun-loving style. She opted for a different approach. “I decided to do the opposite of what I was taught. My classes started becoming really fun and super nonjudgmental.” In fact, Miriam’s motto has become, “Making Art More Fun Thank Ice Cream.”

The result of her teaching style has been a growing following - both locally and around the country as zoom classes during the pandemic allowed her to reach a broader audience. “I really do encourage people's creativity to come through so that students can find their visual voice. That freedom allows people’s style to grow. It’s almost like magic.”

How would Miriam describe her artistic style today? She points to three consistent elements in her work - whimsy, color, and a lot of pattern. The colors she uses, in particular, are unusually bold for a watercolorist. A few years back she decided she wanted to break away from the “genteel-looking and drama-free watercolors of an English countryside.” She happened to have a tall skinny piece of paper and an inspiration. “I wanted to do something really crazy and wild,” she explains. “I had a great brush and started with three really bright colors that worked well together. I worked in a big rush and just pushed the watercolors to a point that I'd never done before.”

The result was Miriam’s very first “Crazy Chicken” painting. It was a turning point in her work and she quickly embraced a much more free-form style of painting. And the crazy chicken motif became a signature subject of her work - although not everyone understood what she was doing. “One little boy came to a class with his mother and when he saw what Miriam was doing said to his mom, “I don’t think Miss Hughes knows what a chicken looks like.”

Today, Miriam is teaching a variety of courses online and in-person at 310 Art Studios. “I feel like I've really grown as an artist and ended up with a following of people who enjoy my classes” Miriam is also a go-to artist for the sponsors of Downtown Hendersonville’s annual Bearfootin’ Art Walk. To date, she and collaborators have painted a total of five bears, including the United Way of Henderson County bear this year.

What’s next for Miriam? She has a couple of ideas for a children’s book that she’d like to write and illustrate. “One's about my dog Molly and the other one is about a little girl who has a cockroach.” It’s hard not to think of that second book idea as “quintessential Miriam.” If anyone can pull off that particular subject, it is her.

Wherever life takes her next, Miriam knows one thing for sure - it will be an adventure. “I never know what the future holds, but I believe in trusting the process and the next interesting thing will flow from that.” And when that next thing arrives, you can be sure that Miriam Hughes will fill it with lots of vibrant colors and her creative, whimsical spirit.

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Learn more about Miriam at www.miriamhughes.com/. See her class offerings at 310art.com