February 2011

NC Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC, Features Works by John C. Gay and John W. High

NC Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC, is presenting an exhibit of works by two art teachers, John C. Gay and John W. High, with over 66 years combined dedicated service two Rocky Mount public school children, on view in the Dunn Center Mims Gallery, through Feb. 12, 2012.

Rocky Mount has been ever so fortunate to have dedicated public school teachers like John C. Gay, current Art Chair at Nash Central High School and John W. High, now retired from teaching art at Swift Creek and Red Oak Elementary. It is NC Wesleyan College’s privilege to feature the artworks of these two champions for our youngsters with an exhibition of their oil paintings.

John C. Gay is a talented oil painter, a dedicated art professional and has been sharing his knowledge and talent as a teacher since 1983. A graduate in Art Education of Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, NC, John Gay has taught in Charlotte, Nashville and Rocky Mount. Gay has soloed at the Rocky Mount Imperial Centre and has been awarded significant acknowledgement as Best Rocky Mount artist, 1995, 2000, and 2005.

About his painting, Gay says, “I grew up on a farm in Edgecombe County and I guess I’ve never gotten over my attachment to the Eastern North Carolina landscape...When I paint a tree, cow or abandoned home… I enjoy exploring the aesthetic qualities of the common place and over looked… many of the old tenant houses and pastures that I painted just a short time ago have been replaced by some form of development. This shift away from small family farms often tinges the landscape with a melancholy.”

John Wesley High, Jr. retired a few years ago from a long professional career as an art teacher in Nash, Edgecombe and Halifax County schools. With his Batchelor of Science in Art Education from ECU in 1971, his service as an art teacher ever since graduation has touched three generations locally. He has exhibited artwork in various competitions and shows in Richmond, VA; Harrisburg, PA, and at NC Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount. His specialties are plein aire landscapes and florals. High’s influences have been Monet, Donald Sexaur, Francis Speight, and Charles Brooks the Artist in Residence at the Imperial Centre in Rocky Mount.

High prefers French Barbizon inspired plein aire landscape painting which is painting on location out of doors on a river bank or woodsy spot in the country. Most important to him, however, have been the many bonds and friendships formed with his students and colleagues. High says, “Art is for lifting and inspiring people, rather than the many other pursuits in the art fields today.”

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call Everett Adelman at 252/985-5268 or e-mail to (eadelman@ncwc.edu).

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