Two works by Breck Smith, associate professor of art at Campbell University, have been selected to appear in an exhibition at the Lee Hansley Gallery, 225 Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh, N.C. The exhibit, “The Southern Landscape,” features the works of 23 artists who were born or now live in North Carolina. It opens Sunday, August 27, from 2 p.m.-5 p.m.
Smith, whose works have been included in juried exhibitions in North Carolina, New York and New Jersey, said his work is influenced by the 20th century painter, Charles Hawthorne. “I try to paint subject matter within the environment that attracts my attention,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve noticed that certain themes have emerged in my painting, the contrast between light and dark, for example. I try to capture the beauty in the world that I feel God wants us to see.”
Smith’s entries in the show include “Study for November Sunrise” and “February Morning.”
Smith graduated from Averett College in Danville, Va. with a Bachelor of Arts in 1980. He received a Master of Fine Arts in 1982 from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His work has been exhibited at the Bowery Gallery National Competition in New York City, the Art Center of Northern New Jersey, the North Carolina Artists Exhibition at the Museum of Arts in Raleigh and the Chapel Hill Public Library. Smith also received a Visual Arts Fellowship from the North Carolina Arts Council in 1990.
The Lee Hansley Gallery showcases quality fine art through a series of changing exhibitions, both group and solo shows, featuring works by mature professional artists from North Carolina, the Southeast and the nation. The gallery opened in 1993 with a modernist aesthetic rooted in the Bauhaus tradition. It maintains an art historical attitude in the manner in which exhibitions are organized and staged. The gallery organizes at least one historical exhibition annually exploring the work of a single artist or group of stylistically related artists.