“Every artist was first an amateur” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Cape Fear Studios at 145 Maxwell St. invites the public to the Student Exhibit open until Feb. 25. The Cape Fear Studios Student Exhibit features the artwork, paintings, and drawings of the art students of Cape Fear Studios members. The exhibit hours are Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. General admission is free. For more information, the Cape Fear Studios website is www.capefearstudios.com. The Cape Fear Studios member instructors are Rose Kennedy, Sara Jane Lee, and Gene Davis. The featured student artists are Saktish Mandjny, Becky Broadwell, Charlotte Baker, Sue Godwin-Baker, Mary Pat McDonald, Lani Dickey, Ellen Bowman, Rick Booth, Marilynn Winters, Lena Simmons, Sophia Conquest, Vivian Conquest, Carter Patterson, Mikaela West, Daniel Reeves, Jessica Karis, Conner Graybill, Carly Reeves, and Chris Leal.
Georgia O’Keefe, renowned artist, maintained an artist home in Abiquiu, New Mexico with the desert vistas of Ghost Ranch. Charlotte Baker, a student of Rose Kennedy, experienced the location and desert vistas of Ghost Ranch. One of the featured paintings within the Cape Fear Student Show is Abiquiu. She also includes inspiration from a trip to Venice, Italy. The painting is an interplay of light, lines and composition.
Baker shares her views about her painting of Venice and Abiquiu, “I choose to paint from photography, so my work is my original. My husband took the photographs in Venice, Italy. I chose the focus of the light reflecting the sunny day on the architecture of the building and the water. I also visited Abiquiu and painted the view of the Ghost Forest.”
“As one of the instructors at Cape Fear Studios, I am pleased that the studio is featuring our students in an exhibit. I have a wonderful, engaging, and fun group. The artwork hanging on view displays the challenging work and continued studies in a cohesive and beautiful way,” said Kennedy.
Pandora Autry, Cape Fear Studios Board President, shares, “We have a wide range in diversity of our painters here at Cape Fear Studios in age, background, skill, and ethnicity. Our teachers are wonderful in meeting the needs and collaborating with them at their level of skills and interests, helping them to discover their own artistic voice.”
The Cape Fear Studios Student Exhibit is a must-see art show. It is an opportunity to see the emerging mastery of local artists within the Cumberland County and Fayetteville. For more information contact, Cape Fear Studios website, www.capefearstudios.com or call 910-433-2986.

(Photo: Paintings created by student artists hang at the Cape Fear Studios' Student Exhibition. Photo by Lena Simmons)