WAC Gallery Information for July 2008

The Watauga Arts Council’s July gallery exhibits in the downtown Boone Jones House Community Center appeal to the nature lover in everyone.

Anne Hardin’s exhibit, “The Color of Summer”, in the Mazie Jones Gallery evokes a feel of warm summer days in full bloom.  From fruits to flowers to beautiful mountain scenes, her love of painting and nature is evident.

“I love to paint.  I started painting in 2002 because all my life I had a desire to paint on canvas,” she said.  “I like simple and uncluttered and I think that reflects in my work.  I see color and texture in everything.  Most of what I paint comes from my imagination, although sometimes I see something in a photo or a vista that sparks me to create and I will  carry that into the present piece.”

Raised on Cape Cod, the oldest of ten children in an Irish Catholic family, Hardin moved to North Carolina in 1993 and to the mountains in 1996. She lives in Ashe County with her husband, Tim, and her three children, three cats and one dog.
 
Hardin said her art is a combination of realism and impressionism that she uses to convey not so much a scene, but a feeling.

“I did my first wall mural in 2003 and my first commission in 2005.  I love the process and the growth in art.  I never paint the same twice and that intrigues me,” she said. 

View Hardin’s art on her website at:  http://www.annehardinfineart.com/

In the Open Door Gallery another exhibit showcasing the beauty of nature features the work of Sidney M. Boss titled “Great Grandpa Sid’s Collection.”

Boss was born in Superior, Wisconsin in 1911 and was accepted at the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 1929. During the depression he supported himself painting signs for local merchants in Chicago’s south side. His first job was with the Southtown Economist newspaper doing layouts and art ads. He formed a partnership to do advertising and eventually started Sid Boss & Assoc. His firm grew and he contracted work for several artists at his studio in the historic Marquette Building in Chicago’s Loop. His most notable client was Sears Roebuck.

At retirement he found his passion as a painter of landscapes. He and his wife, Mary, divide their time between Linville and Sarasota.

These exhibits are on display from Tuesday, July 1 until Friday, July 25 from noon to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays. The  Arts Council galleries are also open Thursdays from 7:30 to 11 p.m. during the acoustic jams at the Jones House and Fridays during the Concert on the Lawn until 6:45 p.m.

The gallery reception to welcome these exhibits is Friday, July 4 from 6:30-8 p.m. and is held in conjunction with downtown Boone’s First Friday Art Crawl. Free food and beverage will be served and the public is invited and encouraged to attend.

The Watauga Arts Council galleries are sponsored in part by Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff and Grassroots Funds of the North Carolina Arts Council. The WAC’s offices and galleries are located in downtown Boone at the Jones House Community & Cultural Center, owned by the town of Boone.