Photo by Bert VanderVeen

Kelly Rightsell is not only a true entrepreneur, she’s also an artist.

Often, these two don’t mix. But Rightsell and her husband, Brian, have made it work in the creation and growth of Kelly B. Rightsell Designs, headquartered in Greensboro.

Rightsell, a native of South Carolina, has loved art — and particularly children’s art — since early childhood. “I’ve always been drawn to children’s art and children’s books,” she recalls fondly. “I always thought I might illustrate a children’s book.”

So when she enrolled at East Carolina University as an art major, art education seemed to combine these two loves quite nicely. Armed with her degree and a passion for bringing creativity into children’s lives, Rightsell taught elementary art for six years in North Carolina and Virginia.

When she gave birth to her first child she decided to stay home from work. That’s when a new phase of her life and work really took off.

It started very simply. She was decorating the nursery for her son and realized that there was a real void in the selections of art for children’s rooms. Rightsell’s creative urge kicked in, and she started painting.

Before long, she had six original prints that she marketed to local interior decorators in the Richmond, Virginia, area, and they sold well. It turned out that Rightsell’s instincts were right on target; this was a market in need of original child-friendly designs.

From there, the Rightsells broadened their scope, visiting the Atlanta Gift Show and forming relationships with dealers at the High Point Furniture Market. She met a dealer through her Furniture Market connections who wanted to license one of her designs for a children’s ceramic set. One thing led to another, and suddenly she was creating designs for dishes, rugs, wallpaper, fabrics, stuffed animals — a whole range of decorative items for children’s rooms that are currently available at more than 1,000 gift shops around the country. She’s even dabbled in pet art.

Sitting with Rightsell and talking with her about her art and the business side of it, you hear the words “branching out” frequently. She’s continued to do this in just about every phase of her career as a children’s artist — always ready to try something new, whether it be manufacturing her own pieces or updating her design aesthetic to appeal to older children.

And her inspirations come in many forms. Of course, her own early love of art and the classic designs of Beatrix Potter and Tasha Tudor, as well as the brightly colored works of Eric Carle, continue to inspire. She’s learned from her own experience as an art teacher and a mother. And there are her children, whose growth and changing tastes and interests keep her eyes open and her perspective fresh. Then there’s the sheer joy in the creative process. “It’s so nice to do something I love every day,” Rightsell adds. “I never knew this was something you could do for a living.”

Still, there’s always room for the business — and her life — to evolve. When she began Kelly B. Rightsell Designs in 1998, there really weren’t a lot of people doing this sort of thing. “These days, there’s a lot of competition,” Rightsell notes. “We’re always looking for ways to keep growing.”

This takes the form of attending new trade shows, focusing on different painting styles to keep her creative juices flowing, and staying connected to her community. Rightsell recently judged a competition for Foster Friends, an art and writing contest for children in foster care. Experiences like these keep her grounded. “Children have such an open point of view,” she says. “I’d really rather look at their art than my own.”

She stays connected in other ways as well, donating art for auctions benefiting the Children’s Museum and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and volunteering at her children’s schools.

For Rightsell, art provides a way for her to love the community that she’s called home for 13 years. “We’re so lucky to live here,” she promises.

That’s really the heart of this artist/entrepreneur/dreamer. She creates out of the things that she loves, to share with other people. She dreams of brightening the lives of children — and their parents — with her designs, while inspiring them to give wings to dreams of their own.

It’s a passion that keeps on growing with the years.