photo by Mark Wagoner

While preparing for my interview with artist Bill Mangum, I couldn’t help but notice the words “William Mangum, North Carolina’s Artist” printed across the home page of his Web site.

I think it’s a little confident of him to say that and I tell him so. He smiles sheepishly: “It’s interesting you picked up on that!” This was a bold choice on his part, Mangum admits, but he’s ready to defend the title.

“I love this state and I honestly believe that I’m probably the most prolific artist that has celebrated North Carolina,” he says. “I’ve painted over 2,000 paintings, captured every season, been licensed by the most prominent resorts and Fortune 500 companies in the state. I’ve painted the governor’s Christmas card seven years in a row; I think I have some qualifications!”

Boldness aside, Mangum has had a pretty remarkable career — and a remarkably successful one for the art world as well. Born in Pinehurst and raised in Sanford, he discovered an early love for art and distaste for the classroom. “I was fortunate enough to get great accolades from my teachers, and in high school I figured out how I could leverage that,” Mangum recalls. “I was a very poor student academically, so I did bulletin boards for extra credit and that’s basically how I graduated high school.”

What could have been a failure actually nurtured a gift. He attended Sandhills Community College, where he discovered a deeper love and broader talent for art, especially ceramics. “I went from being a terrible student to making the dean’s list,” Mangum says. He chose to attend the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to study art education.

Then came a turning point.

One Christmas, lack of money forced his creative hand when he couldn’t afford to buy his mom a gift. He stopped in at Woolworth’s at Friendly Center, bought a tray of watercolors for 59 cents, and painted a winter scene for her. She loved it and encouraged him to pursue watercolors. Mangum listened and the rest is, as they say, history.

He became an artist in residence at UNC Greensboro while he was in graduate school, essentially pursuing watercolor independently since no courses in the medium existed yet at the school. His first show yielded a tenfold profit and he became a successful artist right out of college.

There are a number of words you could use to describe Mangum today: resilient, resourceful, and, of course, gifted. His story reads in some ways like the classic American tale of a spunky guy with talent and a few dollars making good by sheer will and a little bit of luck.

But you discover something when you delve into his life and work: He’s an intelligent man who loves art, loves North Carolina, and knows how make connections. He’s connected with other artists and power players in the state, as well as the countless people who’ve fallen in love with his work.

How do you begin to capture the essence of such a man? Mangum offers an insight: “When I began to reflect on what I’ve attempted to do in this business of art, the acronym ART really applies.”

The A stands for alliance; he aligns himself with entities and seeks to give them a recognizable identity through art. Over the years these alliances have helped him get his work in front of a wider audience.

The R is resourcefulness. Rather than rely on one way — say, a painting on a wall — to present his art, he chooses to publish in a variety of forms — puzzles, books, cards — to, again, reach a broader public.

The T is, appropriately, tenacity. “You have to believe in yourself,” he says. That tenacity is what has kept him moving forward — that and a real joy in his work. “Quite honestly, I cannot wait to get to the studio every day and I can’t wait to get to the gallery.”

An artist who is integrally involved in both the creation and the merchandising of his pieces, Mangum wears many hats.

Now 30 years into his career — in what he calls “the autumn of my life’s creativity” — he finds he’s doing some of his best work. He has a recognizable style and people who like it want more of the same. This could be a trap — doomed by his own success, so to speak — but Mangum doesn’t see it that way.

“One of the tag lines that we’ve used in my business is ‘Celebrating Life Though Art,’ and that’s really what I’ve tried to do,” he explains. “Whether it’s a third-grader or the CEO of a huge corporation, I really find it a privilege to share my art with other people.”