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Libby Smart Featured at Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery

Artist’s Reception August 30

Inspired by the work of children at The Crossnore School who participated in a week-long art experience she presented at the school, Libby Smart went to Bass Lake, and this painting, Around the Lake, is one of the results. An exhibition of Smart’s work opens at the Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery on Thursday, August 30. Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery will host Charlotte artist Libby Smart in a special show beginning Thursday, August 30, and continuing until Sunday, September 9. You can meet the artist at a reception to be held at the gallery on August 30 from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Smart, whose work is featured in numerous galleries throughout North Carolina and the Southeast, is a Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery favorite. Her work has been showcased in Charlotte Home Design and Charlotte Women magazines. She has exhibited in both public and private shows, and she has studied with several renowned artists, including Andy Braitman, Camille Prezodek, Kate Worm, Cedric and Joanette Egeli, Connie Winters and Joye Wang. Smart’s style is soft and colorful, and she invites the viewer into her still life and landscape paintings. Smart said of her work, “I am a colorist seeing beyond what most people see. I build my paintings using one color against another to infuse excitement, then finish with carefully selected brush marks to lead the viewer to the focal point and around the painting.”

Smart’s work has been exceptionally well received at Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery. “Everyone loves her work, and the gallery constantly receives calls requesting it,” said Lynn Mozer, Charlotte resident, Crossnore School trustee and Gallery Committee chair.

“Her commitment to our gallery and her heart for service to our children is extraordinary,” said Dr. Phyllis Crain, executive director of The Crossnore School.

Libby Smart’s On the Edge is another of the paintings featured in her exhibit at the Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery. Smart continually demonstrates her dedication to The Crossnore School’s mission of providing hope and healing to children from families in crisis. Last June, Smart and fellow Charlotte artist Laurie Richardson presented a week-long art experience for children who are residents at The Crossnore School. “This was an amazing experience for me and for the children,” Smart said. “After the first day, when we studied water lilies by Monet, I was so inspired by the children that I actually went to Bass Lake. Paintings from that inspiration are part of my show at Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery,” Smart said. The children’s artwork from the art experience is now framed and featured in the gallery as well, and some of it has been reproduced into note cards, available for purchase in the gallery. Smart said, “Working with the children and being part of Crossnore School’s mission through the gallery has been my pure joy.”

Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery opened in July 2006, the outgrowth of The Crossnore School’s relationship with renowned fresco artist Benjamin F. Long, IV and his apprentices who painted Suffer the Little Children on the back wall of E.H. Sloop Chapel. Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery features Long’s work in addition to that of Libby Smart, John Mac Kah, Dennis Sheehan, Kevin Brown, Christopher Holt, John Dempsey, Nathan Bertling, Rebecca King, Betsy Boyle Harper, Laurie Richardson, Dillard Richardson, wood turner Alan Hollar, glass artists William and Katherine Bernstein and Gary Beecham, and potters Ian and Jo Lydia Craven. Proceeds from the nonprofit gallery benefit the Crossnore School’s Stepping Stones Program, a transitional care program that targets the needs of young adults who age out of support from their home county Departments of Social Services but still need and want to continue their education.

The Crossnore School has a 94-year history of providing educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth. Last year, The Crossnore School served nearly 250 of North Carolina’s abused, abandoned and neglected. For more information about The Crossnore School and its programs, call 828-733-4305 or click to www.crossnoreschool.org.

Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. or by appointment. To learn more about Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery and upcoming shows, call 828-733-3144 or click to www.crossnoregallery.org.

Want To Go?

Date: Thursday, August 30
Time: 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Location: Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery
Cost: Free