THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 24, 1995 TAG: 9505230112
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
What do fat cats, a fluorescent butterfly, magnolias in bloom, Spanish missions, New York skyscrapers and Noah's Ark have in common?
Probably not a thing. But that could be exactly what makes all of the elements of Ann Hubbard's exhibit at The Collage, headquarters for the Isle of Wight Arts League, interesting.
``I love the unconventional,'' Hubbard says.
She proves it in her art.
A Richmond native who has lived in Smithfield since 1987, Hubbard has waited a long time for her very own art show. And it seems right that her art will grace The Collage this weekend, during Smithfield's Olden Days Festival. (See today's cover story.)
She's one of three artists who opened The Collage as private studios and gallery during Olden Days four years ago, in 1991.
``Can you believe it's been that long?'' she asked during a recent interview.
Eventually, her partners decided the gallery was more work than they wanted, but Hubbard stuck it out, believing it is important for the rural area she has adopted as her home to have the visual arts in its midst.
Almost two years ago, Hubbard and her husband, Carroll, turned the gallery over to the Isle of Wight Arts League. Still, she didn't leave it alone. Of all those who have worked to make the arts a part of Isle of Wight County's lifestyle, she has probably worked the hardest.
Living right across from the gallery on Main Street, she has baby sat, promoted, scrubbed floors and answered telephones. Her reward might have been displaying her own work whenever she wanted. But she hesitated even when she won the People's Choice Award in one show that offered a private showing as the prize.
``I've spent so much time promoting others, I wasn't going to do this,'' she said. ``I felt it was a little self-centered. But everybody encouraged me to go ahead. They said I deserved it.''
Indeed she does. If she has worked hard for the Arts League, she has worked even harder on her own art. It's nothing to walk into Hubbard's kitchen to find her boiling daffodil leaves to make paper or mixing papier-mache. She's always looking for the new, the different, the more difficult, never satisfied with simple watercolors or oils or acrylics. She's got to explore it all.
That could be because she started a little late in life.
Hubbard admits that she took her first art class to get out of the house at night, to take a break from three teenagers.
``I walked in, said, `I can't draw a straight line. I have absolutely no ability,' '' she recalled, laughing.
After a career as a music teacher and another in the business world, she was off - bouncing off the walls, as I have told her - in artistic exploration.
``I love it. I love the smell of the paints, all the pretty papers, and the colors. I love the colors.''
``Loving What You Do'' is the subtitle of her show: ``Passionate About Painting.''
Both titles come through in her work.
``I paint according to my mood. Growing up in Richmond, it was kind of hard to throw off the conservative lifestyle I've always known. I think I finally got rid of it all when I turned 50.''
She'd rather not say when that was, but guess what she did to celebrate? She painted another picture, a wild assortment of bright-colored shapes on a black background. Abstract - but that's not really her style.
Ask her what her style is, and she can't tell you.
She merely says that she is still learning, and that working so hard for the Arts League has been a learning experience.
``For all of the hard work I've put in here, I've received back many times over. I've been able to take classes with the top artists we've been able to bring in. A lot of what I know was learned right here at this gallery.''
Hubbard has studied with Ralph Smith, Beverly Furman (the woman she calls her ``mentor''), with Gloria Coker, Betty Anglin and most recently with Doug Walton at the weeklong workshop sponsored by the Arts League.
Her work is part of both private and corporate collections, and she has received numerous awards during her late-blooming career.
Her show, which will remain hanging at The Collage through June 30, includes papier-mache sculpture, watercolors, acrylics, a poem, even a chair painted to look like a zebra.
Stop by. Take a look. See for yourself just how passionate about painting, and about art, Ann Hubbard is. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Ann Hubbard is exhibiting her unconventional works at The Collage.
by CNB