Blue Ridge Realists exhibit at Timberlake Gallery
Artist Bob Timberlake sits on the Pennsylvania Dutch dowery chest he made and painted in shop class at the age of 15, which won him first place in the annual Ford Motor Co.’s Industrial Art Contest. On the wall above is his latest work, “Studio Winter,” which was painted 70 years later. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
The latest exhibit at the Bob Timberlake Gallery and Museum features a variety of mediums, from watercolor and acrylic on canvas to egg tempera and oil on linen.
But the theme the paintings all share is a love and appreciation for the beauty of nature found in North Carolina, especially the Blue Ridge mountains.
The Blue Ridge Realists exhibit opened in early December and runs through Jan. 29, 2022. The gallery, at 1714 E. Center St. Ext.in Lexington, is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
“This is an exhibit we’ve been planning for a while,” said Lexington native Bob Timberlake. “It’s pretty special.”
The Blue Ridge Realists organization was started about 50 years ago with Timberlake and Ward Nichols as originators of what was to become known as “rural realism.” Andrew Wyeth and other Realists were influences on the style.
“We’re Realists – that means we paint it like we see it,” he said.
Scott Boyle has a number of landscapes in the Blue Ridge Realists exhibit at the Bob Timberlake Gallery and Museum. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
In addition to Timberlake, exhibiting artists include William Mangum, Clayton Pennell, Scott Boyle, Jason Drake, Hal Bryant, Fredrick Craig Franz, Gary Freeman, Jeremy Sams, Chris Bell and Richard Oversmith.
The group last held an exhibit in 2019 in the Shuford Gallery at the Hickory Museum of Art.
Timberlake said he is pleased to be able to host the exhibit that showcases about 55 paintings from other North Carolina artists. He hosted an exhibit of N.C. artists years ago in his first gallery before he moved to the current location in 1997.
Timberlake noted Pennell, a conservationist and contemporary wildlife artist, is a protégé of his from Boone. Pennell, whose work has been described as abstract realism and natural pop art, developed his distinctive style focused on form, design and color during his time as a hunting and fly-fishing guide in the mountains.
Mangum, from Greensboro, where he has his own art gallery, has a number of watercolors in the exhibit, including several landscapes. Boyle also showcases landscapes in the exhibit, many from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Drake, who works in the mediums of egg tempera, watercolors and oil, cites Andrew Wyeth as an influence in his biography, which can be seen in the landscapes and people he paints.
This work by Clayton Pennell, “On the Run,” shows a fox featuring 24-karat gold and copper on canvas. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
Also cited by Timberlake as an early influence and the person who encouraged him to paint full-time, Wyeth’s impact is exhibited in the gallery building itself. The 21,000-square foot structure is loosely based on Wyeth’s gallery, the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pa.
“When we took out all the furniture, it dawned on us why we wanted to do this — to make it more of a real gallery,” he said.
This past year, the gallery hosted the Bob Timberlake 50th Anniversary Exhibit as well as the Sportsmen’s Expo 2021, which featured Pennell’s paintings, decoys and a major display of long rifles collected by Michael Briggs, who has written books on the guns made in this area in the early 1800s.
The Lexington artist added there will likely be other exhibits in the new year for the gallery, such as pottery, photography or woodcarving, but he’s not sure about the long-term use of the building. People have suggested it could be a hotel or restaurant, but Timberlake would like to see it become a center for the arts. A satellite branch of the N.C. Museum of Art is an idea he likes.
“I’d like it to be a cultural center or a home for the arts,” he shared. “I want it to be something good for Lexington. My dream is to see something here permanently while I’m still alive.”
