THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 2, 1994 TAG: 9406010199
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK DuROSE, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: 940602 LENGTH: Long
The poster, in fact, is the second of three consecutive commissions. Jones is the first to be asked to repeat the honorary role as artist in the 14 years Harborfest has been using original artwork posters.
{REST} Jones, a Norfolk native, was born in Willoughby. His work is recognized and collected as far and wide as London and Berlin, and is sold in 600 galleries in the United States and abroad. He was approached last year by Karen Pinneo, Harborfest poster chairperson since 1990.
``Last year, they told me if there was an artist I really liked I could commission him,'' Pinneo said. Since Herb Jones is one of my favorite artists, I knew right away who it would be.''
The selections in the past included Bob Holland, Robert Burnell and Don Fortunato, and were chosen by executive committee. Twenty artists would be invited to compete for consideration and approval, and three finalists would make it to the table of the deciding body. So inviting one artist to accept an outright, non-competitive commission, and then to invite him back for two more years, is unique.
``Everyone on the executive committee was so excited about the one he did last year they asked me to see if he would do a three-year series,'' Pinneo said.
Despite the unprecedented and prestigous offer, Jones recalls his initial reluctance. ``I didn't really want to do them, but I sort of got sweet-talked into them,'' said Jones. ``I don't really like doing commissions that much. They gave me free reign, though, which is why I agreed to do it. Last year's was a complete sellout, and this year's is better, I think.''
Last year's effort was titled ``Harborfest Bound,'' and was a watercolor of ships entering the harbor, done in bright colors and with minimal use of the canvass area. This year's poster is a bold and beautiful watercolor rendering of fireworks exploding over the crowded harbor, with a full moon breaking through the clouds above.
``When they uncovered it (at the press conference for Harborfest '94), you should have seen people's reactions,'' said Jones. ``They all leaned back and went, oooh, just like people do when they see real fireworks.''
``That really tickled us,'' added his wife, Barbara.
Reluctance notwithstanding, however, Jones seems the perfect candidate for master artist of the state's biggest and best boat party. Five thousand paintings and sketches and a highly successful career ago, Jones had only one passion, and it wasn't art. It was sailing.
``There was a time, if you didn't like sailing, I wouldn't have much of anything to do with you. I even lived on a boat my last two years of high school,'' said Jones, who got his first sailboat when he was 13.
``Today, I have a pinched neck and a bad back, that probably came from sleeping on a stack of life preservers when I should have been at home in bed,'' said the 71-year-old painter.
Jones graduated from the 11- foot Moth vessel he first owned as an adolescent to larger, more interesting crafts, and even tried his hand at building them.
``Every winter, I used to rest up from painting,'' recalled Jones. ``And I'd build a boat in the yard. I built a few, too. It's funny, though, 'cause I used to race, and the only race I won, was in somebody else's boat.''
In fact, with his passion for sailing, fishing and the outdoors, Jones wasn't expecting the twist of fate that would decide his destiny and lead him down the corridor of art history. His high school teacher had seen some of his drawings and persuaded him to take art his senior year.
``I said, `I'm an Ocean View boy,' '' recalled Jones with a laugh. ``And we don't take art class 'cause that's for sissies.''
Nonetheless, Jones acquiesced, and one day his teacher asked him to stay after school. Jones assumed he was in trouble, but when the rest of the class had left, she handed him $82. She had gotten the money selling his drawings of sailboats on the bay to local department stores.
``Later, I was out sailing with my girlfriend instead of working, and I had $82 dollars in my pocket. I thought, `this is the life,' '' Jones said.
Today, his Bayview studio is still decorated with antique brass and wood fixtures from old sailing vessels, as well as a host of fishing citations. But it is also adorned with a rainbow of ribbons and awards for his artwork, more than 350 of them to be exact. The walls are also lined with an amazing collection of honors and recognitions, including honorary degrees to several foreign universities awarded to the self-taught artist, and even a self-proclaimed ``fan letter'' from Senator John Warner.
He has also been listed in every sort of ``Who's Who'' book, including ``Who's Who in the World,'' consistently for the past two decades, and is ranked by some international boards as one of the 20 most pre-eminent realist painters of the last 50 years.
Jones attributes much of his success to luck and an awareness of his own limitations. ``The key is to paint what you love,'' he said.
by CNB