Arts and Farmers

Katie Murray’s office sits behind the loading dock of an old mill on the Eno River, in the back on the lower level. To get there, you have to bump down a steep, rough incline. You also have to make sure you don’t turn in six feet too soon or you’ll wind up in the Eno River Brewing Company parking lot. Trust me on that one.

Katie’s previous office was in a now-defunct Orange County government building, at the end of a long corridor lined with polished wood doors, all opening to trim and tidy offices for county officials and sundry bureaucrats – and all closed. Katie’s office was different. The open door was plastered like a corkboard with notices, miscellany, and offbeat art – a bit of whimsy in downtown Hillsborough, NC. 

“I didn’t really fit in,” she grins, exuding pride with just a soupçon of mischief.

 Katie is the Director of the Orange County Arts Commission, a taxpayer-funded agency created in 1985 and charged with promoting and strengthening the artistic and cultural development of the county.

She is also, ex officio, the executive director of the Orange County Art Alliance, a 501 c3 charitable organization funded by private donations and grants. The two organizations work together on various projects to stimulate Orange County artistry.

 
The one that brought all this to our attention here at Union Grove Farm was the 2023 version of the “Paint It Orange: Plein Air Paint-Out and Wet Paint Sale.” (As far as I can determine, the French word, “plein”, all by itself, does not exist in the English language. However, the Merriam Webster Unabridged Dictionary, contains no fewer than five entries for two- or three-word phrases containing plein, including plein air, which means simply “outdoors,” as in the sentence “Farmers work in plein air.”) Don’t tell me the Little House columns aren’t educational.

We owe our interest in the PIOPAPO&WPS to Doris Friend, vice-president of the Alliance and a neighbor to Union Grove Farm. Back in the day, Doris was one of those locals who bought milk on the honor system from Maple Grove Dairy (Now part of Union Grove Farm. See “Roger That,” the Little House offering of August 4.)

It had been decided that Paint It Orange for 2023, the 7th annual, was to feature paintings of farms – fields, farm buildings, and what-all, and Doris asked Greg and Meredith if Union Grove Farm would be willing to participate by becoming a sponsor of the event and more importantly allow artists to come onto Union Grove property to set up their easels and daub away. Of course, they said, “of course.”

Doris also confessed to being a reader of these Little House columns. “She’s a fan of yours,” Meredith exaggerated. “How would you feel about doing a column on the Arts Alliance?” “Sure,” I answered. I’m easy.

The actual plein air painting would be done October 4-6, Doris explained, and the exhibit of the work would open at the old mill office the very night of the sixth, the paint still wet, although framed and having already gone through a judging process. 

Meanwhile, way out in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a talented young painter named Lila Hudgins was completing a commission from yours truly to paint a picture of a rooster to grace the walls of my office here at the Little House. Lila happens to be Greg’s grandniece. I saw her for the first time since she was a child last summer at the Bohlen family reunion in St. Louis. Having previously seen photos of a couple of her works, and being impressed, I asked her if she was still painting now that she was in college. She said she was taking some classes and had had a few commissions. Commissions? “I’ll give you a commission,” I said. “What would you like me to paint?” “How about a rooster.”

Her eyes got wide. “I could do a rooster,” she exclaimed, and the deal was cut.

Greg, Meredith and I went to the Paint It Orange exhibit opening. The room was crowded, and the walls were lined four high with fresh, new paintings, including several done at Union Grove Farm, one of which won an Honorable Mention in the judging. “Talk to Doris,” Meredith whispered to me. “Tell her you want to do a column.”

I found her in one of the back offices, a petite, pretty woman, tastefully dressed. We chatted for a few minutes and she agreed that a column about the Arts Alliance would be a great idea. A few days later, I gave her a tour of the farm. I learned she was an Ohio girl, and went to the Ohio State University, starting off as an art history major but switching to the business school, which pleased her parents. Then she got married and moved to Chicago, where among other things, she worked across the street from the Chicago Art Institute, a favorite old hangout of mine. After various other adventures, she moved to Hillsborough, and stayed. On the tour, I noticed it was the visual things that really caught her attention, including the R.E.O. Smokewagon, a 1927 Reo with the truckbed tricked out and turned into a meat smoker. It’s a good example of the kind of thing Greg does when he’s not busy. “The artists would love to paint that,” she said, and I promised to make it available. 

The show-stopper, though, was bringing her into the Moweaqua Pines house, the eight-bedroom French Country manor where Greg lives, when it isn’t being rented out via Airbnb. Elegantly furnished, it houses Greg’s stunning art collection, headlined by a genuine Van Dyke, and a “studio of” Rembrandt,” painted by one of his students, with in all likelihood a few brush strokes from the master added. Room after room the place is pretty impressive, as I think the knowledgeable Doris would agree. It’s not part of the regular tour, but you can probably arrange to see it yourself. For that matter, you can rent the place for a weekend, eight bedrooms, sumptuous furnishings, Old Masters and all.
Doris put me in contact with Katie who put me in touch with the Paint It Orange artists.

 I met with Maya Barton at the exact spot from which she painted her beautiful watercolor of the farm, with the famous silo in the background, which will soon be on permanent display at the Center for Regenerative Agriculture. It was a good spot to meet, being a picnic table at the Maple View Ice Cream store. We munched waffle cups as we talked. Maya is from India, married to an American Yalie from Connecticut. The whole family is super high achieving, mostly in science and engineering, including biomedical engineer Maya, who took up serious painting just five years ago. At least three times she interrupted the discussion to point out how beautiful the late afternoon sky behind the farm buildings was, remarking on the subtle color changes it made, minute by minute. I tried my very best to see what she saw through her artist’s eyes, but it was no use. Some people got it. Some don’t, On her I-phone, she showed me some of her other work, including a breathtaking copy of Caravaggio’s “St. Matthew.” “My husband’s name is Matthew,” she told me, grinning.

 Somewhere in the midst of all of these goings-on, my Lila Hudgins painting arrived. She didn’t just paint me a rooster, she painted me the Father of All Roosters  - a brilliantly feathered god-like Chanticleer larger than the barn he is perched on and beheld with amazement by a farmer in the foreground and a befuddled heifer nearby – all delightfully rendered and backed by a complex sky I think Maya Barton would appreciate.

I may put him on display at the C.R.A too, but his permanent home is in my office here at the Little House.

 Artist Marie La Francois, who no doubt knows the meaning of the word plein, won an Honorable Mention award for her elegant oil on canvas “Union Grove Vista,” She told me about the light she had while she worked on it. “It was the golden hour,” she said, and the warmth of the painting is a wonderful reflection of the moment. Marie has painted all over the world, even in China, although she began her adult life as an occupational therapist. She hails originally from Manhattan but decided to come to North Carolina after reading an article in Southern Living. When not at her easel, she works as a translator and interpreter in several languages. She lauds the Arts Commission for helping people understand “the importance of art in our lives.”

Orange County does indeed give far more support to the arts of all kinds than do most other local areas, due in large measure to the hard work and talent of Katie Murray, the steadfast support of citizens like Doris Friend and a population replete with artists of every kind. Even poets, it turns out, who get an open mike night every month. I think I’ll go next time and give it a whirl.

You can see Maya’s and Marie’s paintings, along with Susan Eversole’s delightful “Mapleview View” and other art works at the C.R.A. when you take your own tour of Union Grove Farm, which I heartily encourage you to do by visiting the link HERE. Whether you come for the art, the vines, the worms, the sheep, the silo, or any of the other features of Union Grove Farm, you’ll have a great experience.