Voices of the Triad: Anna Jarrell

By: Nancy Tuohy

Photography: Lindley Battle Photography

Photography: Lindley Battle Photography

Anna Jarrell is a Winston Salem portrait and abstract artist. She is a Wake Forest University graduate and a native of High Point, NC. Growing up, Winston was always “the big city and where you went to shop and maybe eat dinner if you were lucky.” All total, she has been in Winston Salem for 18 years and considers it home.

Scout Guide gets to know Anna better…

 What do you love about Winston Salem

“It’s amazing how a town you weren’t born in can feel like home. I love being close to High Point but being in my own place. I’m a food person and an outdoors person.” For Anna, Winston Salem feels like a small town because it’s a place where you likely know the restaurant owners. Even with that sense of community, Winston Salem has so many great restaurants, Anna says it feels like a bigger city.

 One of her favorite outdoor things to do is walk from Graylyn to Reynolda Gardens and even sometimes continue on the path through Wake Forest University. She loves that Winston is a town that has opened up the large old estate homes to the public for various uses.

If someone was visiting Winston Salem, what would be on your one day tour guide itinerary?

Here is Anna’s itinerary for a fun-filled day in Winston:

●     Start off with baked goods at Bobby Boy or Lavender and Honey

●     Visit Old Salem or Reynolda House and Gardens

●     Have a delicious outdoor lunch at Mozelles

●     Take in an afternoon film at a/perture cinema downtown

●     Pre-dinner cocktails at The Katharine

●     Head over to Mission Pizza for dinner

●     Walk up the street a few blocks to finish your night with live music at the Ramkat

All that sounds super busy but really highlights many areas of Winston Salem. At the end of all of this, Anna would immediately get in pajamas—she’s actually an “early to bed” kind of gal!

Anna’s latest and most ambitious project…

In 2020, Anna decided she wanted to take on a large scale practice project. She describes it as “similar to a push up challenge – it forces you to get better at a particular skill quickly.” Once COVID hit, she thought it would be a great time to do such a project.

 Her project involved 100 days painting 100 oil portraits. Anna had previously worked with Wake Forest Baptist Health raising funds and decided the WFBH COVID-19 Response Fund which covers equipment, front line patient care, employees, and research in vaccines and population health would be a worthy partner in the project.  To start, she realized she would need 100 faces to paint. Her Instagram following allowed her to gather community members to sign on to the project. Individuals and groups made a donation to sponsor a portrait of a community leader. For each subject, she took a photo, conducted a short interview, and posted a write up on Instagram. The project gained tremendous momentum. (You can follow her too at @ajarrellart on Instagram)

 Anna said, “There is so much goodwill in our city. This project gave people in the community a chance to recognize others that may not usually get recognition.”  All 100 portraits were on display and for sale at SECCA until the end of November. By the end of the year, it had raised $19,000 and the fundraising continues as the remaining pieces get displayed around town.

 The Scout Guide Triad is proud to feature Anna as this month’s Voice of the Triad. You can find a link to her website here.


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Nancy is a native of Durham, North Carolina and has lived in Winston Salem (off and on) for 20 years. The city has transformed itself since her days as a student at Wake Forest University. She attended The Madeira School in McLean, Virginia prior to college. In between stints living in Winston Salem, she has also lived in Nashville, Tennessee and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Dubbed by her friends as “the spa fairy,” Nancy loves to travel and be pampered. Her favorite vacation includes lots of hiking and outdoor activities followed by a massage and then a delicious dinner. She feels lucky that North Carolina is a state with never ending options for her favorite ventures!  

She is an avid reader but loves people too much to not have conversation so she also is a needlepointer–because you can still chat with someone while you stitch! She loves to garden and cook and hopes she is teaching her two sons to do the same.