Barr Gallery welcomes McCarthy

The Gallery @ Barr Photographics LLC is excited to announce the holiday installment of the Corner Gallery’s 2021 exhibition series with the return of Winston Salem, North Carolina “alla prima” artist Patricia Ringley McCarthy offering a collection of acrylic and oil paintings entitled “Real and Imagined.”

McCarthy’s biographical sketch reveals, “When I started painting about fifty years ago, I was expecting my first child in Eugene, Oregon. I was teaching at Lane Community College and my husband Henry was in graduate school at the University of Oregon so we had very little money. We could only afford a very used second hand crib. So I bought a few paints and painted bears and other animals on it. I enjoyed painting so much that it continued into a lifelong obsession.

“I started out as a child growing up near Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Virginia. My father died from meningitis when I was three which left my housewife mother with three small children to raise and a need to find employment. She went to work but after a couple of years, we rented out our house and moved to our grandparents’ home on Moore Street where my grandmother helped care for us while our mother worked. Several of my mother’s younger siblings were still at home. They were all interested in music and the arts. One of my aunts was a very good artist. I was encouraged in my drawing interest but took no lessons. My older sister attended college on an art scholarship but my mother felt that I would be better off with a business degree based on the reality of her life as a young widow. After my grandparents died eight years later, we moved back to our house and I finished high school and attended East Tennessee State University. I majored in English and business but continued to draw lots of figures and clowns. I graduated from ETSU on Friday, got married on Saturday, and started my first teaching job at Dobyns-Bennett High in Kingsport, Tennessee, a week after my graduation.

“Our life took many paths over the next fifty six years. We left Kingsport, and continued to move around earning graduate degrees and raising three children. We finally settled down after Henry was hired as a professor at Appalachian State University. I was fortunate several years later to join Henry in teaching at Appalachian. I became even more passionate about painting and began taking classes and workshops with many different artists including Marcus Blahove, Guido Frick, Joseph Larusso, Craig Nelson, Joseph DiGullio, and Robert Burridge to name a few. I also traveled during the summers to the Fredericksburg Art School in Texas. They brought in top instructors from around the world. I studied classic painting techniques and I painted in a traditional style for many years. During this time, I painted at home. At one time we were living in an old farmhouse in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. I set up my studio in an old well house. I was not alone in the old shed since a large black snake and many squirrels called it home. I would sometimes hear them in the rafters. Also the snake liked to sun himself on the rock wall nearby. This however did not deter my interest in painting. It was just one more challenge to overcome. It illustrates what makes painting so interesting. There are always unforeseen problems to resolve. I was always trying new techniques and subject matter and as I explained earlier, I attended classes at the Fredericksburg Art School. One summer I was asked about Scott Burdick and Susan Lyon, a very famous artist couple who had moved from Chicago to North Carolina. The person said that they would love to study with them. When I returned to North Carolina, I enrolled in their classes and became part of an atelier group that they led in Winston Salem. They had a great influence on my technique. I painted with them for many years while teaching at Appalachian State University and helping raise our family. Our work as professors allowed us to travel throughout the world. Also our son worked in international business and we would go to visit for months during summer break. I was able to paint many pieces from my travels as well as visit many of the world’s most famous museums.”

McCarthy reveals in her Artist Statement: “My style of painting has evolved over thirty years. I started out working with watercolors and experimented with various media until I began painting primarily with oils about ten years ago. My goal as a painter is to communicate my first impression of the subject and the essence that inspired me or caused me to want to share my experience. I like to work fast and spontaneously and to complete my paintings from life in one session, alla prima. Otherwise, I find it easy to drift away from the original idea. I enjoy painting outside whenever possible. I look for compositions that have strong contrasts and interesting focal points. I feel that simple painters are the best. I strive to keep details to a minimum, choosing to include only those that enhance the overall design. One of my biggest challenges has been creating compositions that work. It seems that if the composition is wrong that adding paint or trying to fix it is very difficult. Through much trial and error, I have learned to work out my compositions earlier and more thoroughly prior to putting paint on the canvas. This allows me to paint more intuitively and more effectively. I realize that painting is complex and that when you work through one problem, a new one will no doubt be on the horizon. For me, that is the challenge of painting and the reason that I enjoy it. I have spent much time in studying, experimentation, and collaboration within the visual arts community. During the last few years, I have painted a lot of abstract pieces. While I still love abstraction, I have moved back to more realistic abstracts. They are often referred to as objective abstractions. The viewer can tell what the subject is, but the technique is abstract. I think it is very useful to try different approaches and to broaden one’s reach as an artist. I also think it is important not to get into a rut of painting the same things over and over. Since moving on from the Valle Crusis house, I have maintained studios in Abingdon and Winston-Salem. My most recent experience was as an artist in residence at the William King Museum of Art. I have had many shows of my work since The Gallery @ Barr Photographics provided my first venue. I am pleased to return for a show of my recent work. Henry and I are both retired from Appalachian State University and are living near our children and seven grandchildren in North Carolina but are still involved in the Abingdon area. We have had a wonderful life thus far.

“Real and Imagined” will be celebrated with a gala reception and art talk by Patricia Ringley McCarthy, to which the public is cordially invited, on Friday, Dec. 10, from 7 – 9 p.m. at The Gallery @ Barr Photographics, 152 E. Main Street, Abingdon, Virginia.“Real and Imagined” will hang, and be offered for sale, through Jan. 31, 2022. The Gallery @ Barr Photographics LLC is housed in the Greenway Trigg Building, located in the heart of Abingdon’s main street historic district. Please call 276- 628-1486 or visit https://barrphotographics.com/CornerGalleryFeatureArtist.aspx?cms=9386 for further information.