Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 1, 1995 TAG: 9508010032
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STACY JONES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Now, at the age of 31, he may be ready to settle down.
He has plans as detailed as the pen-and-ink drawings that cover his Roanoke studio.
He wants to become an architect and a successful artist, and he is well on his way. He will begin his architectural studies this fall at Virginia Tech.
As for the art, he has been working freelance for the last four years - four growing, if not completely prosperous years.
``I'm enjoying the limited success I'm having,'' said Hart, who specializes in architectural renderings of historic Virginia buildings. ``The biggest thrill is not the money, it's knowing hundreds of people have my art work hanging in their house and see it on a daily basis.
``I'm not abandoning my art, I think architectural training will enhance it and give me the financial flexibility to make it grow.''
Thirteen years ago, stability was the last thing the Ferrum native was concerned with. As a freshman at Ferrum College, where his father was president, Hart was admittedly a lackluster student.
``I wasn't really concerned with the academic side of college,'' he said. ``I wanted to see some things that I saw in my mind and dreamed of.
``In my own defense, some people awaken at different times in their lives,'' he added.
Before his awakening, Hart moved to West Virginia's Canaan Valley, which he had learned to love as a child vacationing with his family.
``I worked in the ski industry, which is a glamorous way to say I was a ski bum,'' he laughed.
Restless after a few years, Hart headed south. He settled in Miami and landed a gig on the Anheuser-Busch corporate yacht.
``It wasn't the life you might expect,'' he claimed. Still, not everyone gets to ferry high-powered executives and celebrities around on a $15-million dollar vessel or spend a good part of the year anchored at St. Thomas.
``It was a great experience,'' said Hart. ``But, often I found myself looking at the mountains of St. Thomas, which reminded me of the Blue Ridge. When I found myself staring at them more and more, I decided to come back home.''
It was in Ferrum that Hart returned to the one constant in his zig-zag life - art.
Like a Fuller Brush salesman, he hit the pavement, portfolio in hand, going door-to-door to drum up clients.
``He has a lot of business savvy,'' said Hart's friend and former teacher, Jane Stogner, an art professor at Ferrum College.
``In order for me to survive I couldn't wait for people to come to me,'' Hart said. ``I had to go out and beat the bushes.''
It worked, resulting in a steady flow of commissions. And growing confidence.
``You expect to have the door slammed in your face, but that only happened maybe twice in four years,'' explained Hart. ``It was a dawning. People actually paid me for my work.
``I thought if I got into a bigger market, I could do much better.''
He moved to Roanoke in 1990.
``I've worked myself into this niche of home renderings,'' said Hart, who counts U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown among his clients. ``I didn't realize there was such a market for it.''
Ted Beindorf, owner of Gallery 3 in downtown Roanoke, has three of Hart's pieces for sale - an original of five Roanoke College campus buildings for $1,000 and limited-edition prints of Hotel Roanoke circa 1950 and the Norfolk and Western 611 steam locomotive for $35 apiece.
Beindorf said selling history is easy in this town.
``Roanokers like Roanoke,'' he shrugged. ``It's a very tight-knit area, people are always looking for memories.''
Hart does business elsewhere too. He documented the Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon and made a fan of Susan Jacobs, marketing director of the four-star establishment.
``Can you call a picture articulate?'' she asked. ``It's perfection in pen-and-ink. His perspective and attention to detail is just incredible.''
``His drawings do capture the spirit of a place,'' said Stogner. ``When you see his work you go `Ah ha, I've been there' or at least feel like you have.''
Mark Ladd, of the Boar's Head Inn in Charlottesville, commissioned Hart to sketch the resort and now sells prints in the gift shop. Ladd also uses the renderings for stationery, promotional materials and on the labels of the inn's private line of champagne.
``His style projects the country charm that the Boar's Head Inn represents,'' Ladd said. ``I'd call him again if the need arose.''
It seems the question is not whether Hart will succeed, but to what degree.
``He'll have to expand to Richmond or Washington, D.C., because this is a limited market,'' offered Stogner. ``But ... he could do it if he wanted it bad enough.''
``My feeling would be that it is probably too specialized,'' said Gallery 3's Beindorf. ``Now it's really an extra income item, more of a hobby type thing.'' As an afterthought, he agreed that tapping larger markets might tip the scales.
Add the Highlands Group to the list of Hart's cheerleaders. The Roanoke architectural firm, where Hart works part time, has offered him a job when he graduates.
``That's a nice little motivator,'' laughed Hart.
One senses he could need it. Good intentions notwithstanding, his voice betrays a longing for something beyond the boundaries of an orderly future.
Recalling an episode at sea during his free-spirited past, Hart's eyes dance, his reserve fades. He describes a cold front, 30-knot winds, 15-foot waves.
``It was just like something out of National Geographic,'' he said.
``I loved it. I couldn't get enough. I was never in fear of my life, but it was on the edge.''
|By STACY JONES| |STAFF WRITER|
For Brian Hart, life once meant serving as second mate on a 150-foot luxury yacht, hitting the ski slopes in West Virginia and taking things as they came.
Now, at the age of 31, he may be ready to settle down.
He has plans as detailed as the pen-and-ink drawings that cover his Roanoke studio.
He wants to become an architect and a successful artist, and he is well on his way. He will begin his architectural studies this fall at Virginia Tech.
As for the art, he has been working freelance for the last four years - four growing, if not completely prosperous years.
``I'm enjoying the limited success I'm having,'' said Hart, who specializes in architectural renderings of historic Virginia buildings. ``The biggest thrill is not the money, it's knowing hundreds of people have my art work hanging in their house and see it on a daily basis.
``I'm not abandoning my art, I think architectural training will enhance it and give me the financial flexibility to make it grow.''
Thirteen years ago, stability was the last thing the Ferrum native was concerned with. As a freshman at Ferrum College, where his father was president, Hart was admittedly a lackluster student.
``I wasn't really concerned with the academic side of college,'' he said. ``I wanted to see some things that I saw in my mind and dreamed of.
``In my own defense, some people awaken at different times in their lives,'' he added.
Before his awakening, Hart moved to West Virginia's Canaan Valley, which he had learned to love as a child vacationing with his family.
``I worked in the ski industry, which is a glamorous way to say I was a ski bum,'' he laughed.
Restless after a few years, Hart headed south. He settled in Miami and landed a gig on the Anheuser-Busch corporate yacht.
``It wasn't the life you might expect,'' he claimed. Still, not everyone gets to ferry high-powered executives and celebrities around on a $15-million dollar vessel or spend a good part of the year anchored at St. Thomas.
``It was a great experience,'' said Hart. ``But, often I found myself looking at the mountains of St. Thomas, which reminded me of the Blue Ridge. When I found myself staring at them more and more, I decided to come back home.''
It was in Ferrum that Hart returned to the one constant in his zig-zag life - art.
Like a Fuller Brush salesman, he hit the pavement, portfolio in hand, going door-to-door to drum up clients.
``He has a lot of business savvy,'' said Hart's friend and former teacher, Jane Stogner, an art professor at Ferrum College.
``In order for me to survive I couldn't wait for people to come to me,'' Hart said. ``I had to go out and beat the bushes.''
It worked, resulting in a steady flow of commissions. And growing confidence.
``You expect to have the door slammed in your face, but that only happened maybe twice in four years,'' explained Hart. ``It was a dawning. People actually paid me for my work.
``I thought if I got into a bigger market, I could do much better.''
He moved to Roanoke in 1990.
``I've worked myself into this niche of home renderings,'' said Hart, who counts U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown among his clients. ``I didn't realize there was such a market for it.''
Ted Beindorf, owner of Gallery 3 in downtown Roanoke, has three of Hart's pieces for sale - an original of five Roanoke College campus buildings for $1,000 and limited-edition prints of Hotel Roanoke circa 1950 and the Norfolk and Western 611 steam locomotive for $35 apiece.
Beindorf said selling history is easy in this town.
``Roanokers like Roanoke,'' he shrugged. ``It's a very tight-knit area, people are always looking for memories.''
Hart does business elsewhere too. He documented the Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon and made a fan of Susan Jacobs, marketing director of the four-star establishment.
``Can you call a picture articulate?'' she asked. ``It's perfection in pen-and-ink. His perspective and attention to detail is just incredible.''
``His drawings do capture the spirit of a place,'' said Stogner. ``When you see his work you go `Ah ha, I've been there' or at least feel like you have.''
Mark Ladd, of the Boar's Head Inn in Charlottesville, commissioned Hart to sketch the resort and now sells prints in the gift shop. Ladd also uses the renderings for stationery, promotional materials and on the labels of the inn's private line of champagne.
``His style projects the country charm that the Boar's Head Inn represents,'' Ladd said. ``I'd call him again if the need arose.''
It seems the question is not whether Hart will succeed, but to what degree.
``He'll have to expand to Richmond or Washington, D.C., because this is a limited market,'' offered Stogner. ``But ... he could do it if he wanted it bad enough.''
``My feeling would be that it is probably too specialized,'' said Gallery 3's Beindorf. ``Now it's really an extra income item, more of a hobby type thing.'' As an afterthought, he agreed that tapping larger markets might tip the scales.
Add the Highlands Group to the list of Hart's cheerleaders. The Roanoke architectural firm, where Hart works part time, has offered him a job when he graduates.
``That's a nice little motivator,'' laughed Hart.
One senses he could need it. Good intentions notwithstanding, his voice betrays a longing for something beyond the boundaries of an orderly future.
Recalling an episode at sea during his free-spirited past, Hart's eyes dance, his reserve fades. He describes a cold front, 30-knot winds, 15-foot waves.
``It was just like something out of National Geographic,'' he said.
``I loved it. I couldn't get enough. I was never in fear of my life, but it was on the edge.''
by CNB