About Nora Whelan

Nora Whelan is a self-taught autistic artist who grew up in Posey County, Indiana. She has been creative for as long as she can remember, inspired by her parent’s creativity in drawing, woodworking, crocheting, etc. She has always felt that she was created to create.

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Her style is something she likes to call One Wild Shape. Inspired by “wild style” graffiti, it began as a doodle in the corners of her notebooks to help her focus as she sat in classes during her fifth year of studies – not art related – at Bethel College in Mishawaka, IN (now Bethel University). After college she began to experiment with the style using Sharpies, particularly the silver Sharpie to fill in the single black line that squiggled around the paper to form a design.

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When the pandemic hit and the structure she knew began to change, she felt drawn to return to her creative roots and pour her energy into developing the style she had put on pause for several years. She is now using Montana Acrylic Paint Markers on canvas to bring her One Wild Shape to a larger scale.