Wes Waugh

Wes Waugh is a Boone-based artist who has made the High Country his home for the past 39 years. He began learning to paint at the age of twelve, has held over seventeen exhibitions, and has served as a workshop instructor, product consultant, guest presenter, and juror for a number of art-related businesses and organizations over his painting career. Simultaneously, Wes held a full-time teaching and administrative position at nearby Appalachian State University until his retirement in May 2019 after thirty-four years. He referred to his dual career approach as resulting from “an equal devotion to both and the inability to choose one over the other.”

He is also active as a wilderness conservationist and for six years served as the Executive Director of the nonprofit organization ACleanWilsonCreek.org, dedicated to the protection and preservation of this North Carolina National Wild and Scenic River south of Grandfather Mountain. He continues as an advocate and consulting conservationist with Wildsouth.org, the High Country Trout Unlimited Chapter, and is a representing sponsor of the annual Banff Mountain Film Festival in the High Country.