Watercolors on Exhibit at EAC

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By Brandy Nance (Contact)

Friday, September 12, 2008

An exhibit at Emporia Arts Council, 618 Mechanic St., is turning heads with true-to-life watercolor portraits that feature a Kansas artist’s world travels.

The gallery is featuring the works of Kansan Margaret Buie, whose work is inspired largely by travels and events that Buie has participated in. Buie’s works are vibrant and capture snapshots of human essence and often capture subjects participating in everyday life activities. The title of the exhibit at the arts council is “Journey.”

Melissa Windsor, executive director of the Emporia Arts Council, commented on Buie’s talent.

“The detail with the watercolor is amazing,” Windsor said. “I just love the people she captures. It feels like she really captures the spirit. I get lost in looking at them. It’s all very emotional. You can see human emotion.”

In her artist’s statement, Buie said she’s always created art.

“I’ve always drawn and painted,” Buie said. “The act of creation has given me a sense of both pleasure and accomplishment. The process of painting has become an exercise in meditation, a response to visual structure.”

Buie has taught watercolor for many years, she said.

“Although I could make the media do whatever I wanted it to do,” she said. “I finally realized that my watercolors — based on expertise and technique — did not look appreciably different from anyone else’s watercolors.”

From that realization, Buie developed her own technique by changing paper she works with and laying colors.

Before Buie paints, her subject has to capture her attention visually, she said.

“That is, there has to be strong compositional elements present before I will embark on a painting,” she said. “... I start by gathering data through on-side sketching or photography. I then select photographs or sketches or a combination of both for development into a finished composition. ...”

Buie does not consider herself a landscape painter.

“I’ve drawn to the urban scene; therefore, people have become an increasingly important part of my work,” she said. “While I enjoy the structure of architecture, I value it more when combined with the people for whom the architecture was designed.”

Buie’s exhibit will be at the Emporia Arts Council through Sept. 20. The council’s hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information call (620) 343-6473.