ROCKINGHAM — Artist Hannah Cole Buie grew up in Rockingham, and on Tuesday she was able to showcase her talent in her hometown during the “Spotlight Show” art exhibit inside the Arts Richmond building downtown.
Buie said during the well-attended opening reception that she began painting with watercolors in high school. Her earliest inspiration, however, came from her mother, well-known artist Kate Buie, when the two would travel to Murrells Inlet, South Carolina to paint boats and seascapes in oil while Hannah drew in pen and ink. Hannah called those trips “the happiest of times.”
Buie was once again happy on Tuesday as an entire wall of the Arts Richmond building was dedicated to her oil paintings of still-life scenes. She said landscapes, particularly French landscapes, are her favorite subjects to paint.
“I like doing interiors,” she said. “I like florals, but you have to have a lot of creativity doing that. At one point I used to do a lot of still-life.”
Although the “Spotlight Show” is a first for Buie in Rockingham, it’s not the first time her work has been on display in her hometown. She said herself and her mother’s works have been on exhibit at Leath Memorial Library as well as inside the Arts Richmond building.
“I had just started doing oil paintings,” she recalled about her exhibit at the library.
Unlike her mother, who studied at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida, Hannah chose to attend the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and major in art education. After a short experience teaching, a watercolor course in Myrtle Beach helped her decide that her time would be better spend painting. She began selling her work in Greenville, North Carolina.
“I’m getting back into watercolors,” she said Tuesday. “I love pastels. I didn’t put any in the show, but I love those.”
Following a visit to a gallery in Greensboro where she saw vibrant oil paintings from Matthews-area artist Connie Winters, Buie attended a workshop led by Winters and followed that with a 10-day plain air workshop in Brantome, France, also led by Winters.
Buie’s art is and has been shown in Greensboro, Cottage Chic in Pinehurst, Chanticleer of Southern Pines, Aberdeen, The Campbell House of Southern Pines, a gallery in Atlanta’s Buckhead district and a bed-and-breakfast in Senoia, Georgia. Now Leath Memorial Library and on Tuesday, Arts Richmond can officially be added to that illustrious list.
“I paint as often as I can find inspiration,” she said. “I have accumulated thousands of photos from which to paint and carry my camera with me everywhere I go for additional scenes which inspire me.”
The “Spotlight Show” art exhibit featuring Buie will run from 2 to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday until March 18 inside the Arts Richmond building, 123 E. Washington St. in downtown Rockingham.
Reach reporter Matt Harrelson at 910-817-2674, follow him on Twitter @mattyharrelson and listen to him at 12:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays on G-104.3 FM.