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APRIL 17, 2005. THE GREENVILLE NEWS, GREENVILLE, SC.

Article on Elder Gallery artist,Carl Blair

Greenville Painter Wins Coveted Verner Arts Award

Sunday, April 17, 2005
ByAnn Hicks
ARTS WRITER

The back yard is awash in birdsong. Little nooks and winding garden paths not only enchant the eye with the loving handiwork of Margaret andCarl Blair, but lead to the latter's neat-as-a-pin studio.

Blair ducks inside that cozy womb to paint the landscapes that not only cover the walls, but also lean against them in neat rows, awaiting transportation to yet another show, this one at Columbia's Lewis & Clark Art Gallery.

The painter's works have been exhibited in hundreds of venues, from museums to universities to galleries. Some 2,500 of his paintings are in permanent private, corporate and public collections.

Add to that list of accomplishment the recent announcement that Blair is to receive the 2005 Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, the state's highest artistic recognition, given by the governor.

Over the years, Blair has had numerous exhibits at the Greenville County Museum of Art, whose director,Tom Styron, says "the Verner Award couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."

"He's the hardest-working man in show business," Styron adds with a laugh. "Through the years, I've always been impressed with his commitment to his career as an artist, and that kind of seriousness should be rewarded."
But Blair the artist is also Blair the arts educator; he retired fromBob Jones University after 40 years of teaching.

And he's Blair, the part-owner of the prestigious Hampton III Gallery, and arts advocate who served on the S.C. Arts Commission as a member and chairman for nine years.
And let's not forget that he's "a most happily married man," he says as a big grin overtakes his chiseled face.

"Without Margaret, I'd still be down on the farm knocking flies off the wall with one squirt," says Blair with a twinkle in his eye.
Squirt?

"Oh, yes," he laughs, "you know when you're milking a cow and you hit the fly on the wall with a squirt of milk. I'm an 'Andy Griffith' kind of guy. I watch that show religiously."
Ensconced in his studio every day, the 72-year-old artist paints what he loves most: landscapes. Many feature half-moon-kissed evening skies, depicting his favorite time of the day.

They bounce at you in dark hues or brilliant shades to reveal Blair's nativeKansas through matrix-shaped farmlands, or they speak lovingly of his adopted home in the Appalachian foothills, in undulating lines and peaked shapes. Large canvases vie for attention with his new favorites — landscapes in miniature.

"Margaret and I love to just ride around and see this beautiful landscape, then later in the studio things begin to emerge for me," he explains as he pulls CDs from a shelf.
Blair's work is greatly influenced by his favorite tunes, ranging from Civil War songs that he plays "over and over and over again" to frontier, Western and romantic tunes.
"Oh! Susanna" and "My Old Kentucky Home" snuggle up to "Perhaps Love" and other ballads, crooned by Blair's favorite tenor, Placido Domingo.

Blair often titles his paintings after songs he listened to while creating them. As he shows off a midsized oil called "Perhaps Love," he bursts into the first few bars of "Come Let Me Love You" while uncovering a lively landscape with that title.

"All my stuff stands to be on the melancholic side," he adds, surveying his work. "I was a very melancholic child, probably because of my artistic bent, but living with Margaret changed much of that."

Self-effacing, Blair says the Verner Award is nice to have and he appreciates it — "but I haven't lived for it. I've always been a servant type, the kind of person who enjoys waiting on others. I'm good at that, and it is something that gives me a lot of satisfaction."