Walking into the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, a series of frames display black-and-white images of human hands, eyes, faces and more.

From a distance, the frames appear to contain photos. But stepping closer reveals tiny pencil lines and eraser marks – signs of the work of realistic artist Nason Stephens.

“One of these has a square (in it). A sticker got stuck to the back of the drawing,” Stephens told The Dispatch on Wednesday. “And it’s where the price of the paper was. And a lot of these, if you look real close, you’ll see the outline of a square. The outline is a mistake, but I think it adds to the character of the drawing.

“I could be so intricate that I make these perfect in every way,” Stephens added. “But I don’t like the idea of perfection. I love the idea of mistakes. Mistakes make art creative.”

Stephens was born in Gulfport, but he grew up “everywhere,” moving around frequently throughout his adolescence. He always had a passion for art, and he started displaying his skill for realism early, after entering his first art show at 12 years old with a pastel drawing of a cat and a pencil drawing of a hawk.

“The cat did well,” Stephens said. “It got a ribbon. Doesn’t mean I won anything, but it was exciting to have a ribbon. And the hawk was disqualified, because they thought I had traced the drawing.”

At just 14, Stephens learned the beginnings of a technique he still uses to create his pieces today – creating a grid over a photograph and then focusing on recreating it by drawing one square at a time. In each square, he tries to accurately represent light, shadow, texture and other details he sees before moving on to the next.

“An art teacher came in and had us take photographs, portraits. … And then put sheets of paper in front of us, and we covered the whole thing except for one square,” Stephens said. “And she had us draw a square at a time. And when we finished, we unveiled the whole drawing to see if they all matched up. And mine, when I finished the drawing, it sort of blew me away because I’d never done anything that detailed.”

Stephens attended Mississippi School for the Arts in Brookhaven for two years, graduating in 2006. At the time, he said, he believed he would pursue art as his career. But there was no clear path forward for him to pursue his passion.

Stephens ended up moving to Colorado, where he lived and worked for five years before returning to Mississippi. He came to Columbus seven years ago, where he got his current job at Granite Guys and met his wife Coarie.

Coarie, seeing Stephens’ passion for drawing, encouraged him to pursue it more seriously.

“She got ahold of a drawing and said, ‘you love to draw,’ and I said, ‘in the past, it was my hobby.’ And she pushed me to do bigger and do some more,” Stephens said. “And then my father-in-law bought me a drafting desk.”

Stephens was also motivated by the stories of those around him to draw and display his work.

One of the pieces hanging in the library, he said, is of a former sobriety mentor, Bill, who passed away. When Bill’s family learned that Stephens had drawn a portrait of him, they asked if the portrait could be framed and displayed at the funeral.

Having his art used as part of Bill’s memorial motivated Stephens to keep going, representing other people close to him in his life. His collection now includes several pieces depicting his favorite aspects of his wife, like her hands – including her fingerprints – and eyes.

The collection also includes a representation of his stepdaughter with dramatic makeup on her face, surrounded by the products she used to create the look.

Each piece, Stephens said, takes about 40-60 hours to complete, usually spread out over the course of about a month. Stephens creates the pieces with nothing but an ebony pencil, mechanical pencil and kneaded eraser.

Drawing so intricately comes with its sacrifices, but Stephens said he loves the tedious nature of the work. He also loves the idea of creating something that lasts beyond him.

“The ultimate goal is to create something that outlives me,” Stephens said.

Stephens started displaying his work publicly only recently, with his collection hanging in a group show at the Columbus Arts Council’s Rosenzweig Arts Center in July. Stephens was excited to have the opportunity to display his work in the library’s smaller gallery space, he said, and he is planning on rotating the pieces on display until the exhibit comes down at the end of April.

Columbus-Lowndes Public Library Archivist Mona Vance-Ali said she was happy to invite Stephens to display his work in the space. The library curates all kinds of exhibits, from collections of things like dolls and White House ornaments to art pieces like Stephens’ regularly, she said. Vance-Ali encouraged members of the community to reach out if they have something they would like to show.

“We as the library really encourage people from the local community to show the work that they do, the collections that they have,” Vance-Ali told The Dispatch on Thursday. “It’s a chance and an opportunity for the community to see what kind of talent we really have, because it often goes unseen.”

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