Local artist Campbell
takes ‘Best of Show’ honors

She creates real-life scenes in oil

By Helen E. McKinney
Contributing Writer

LA GRANGE, Ky. (July 2010) – Realist oil painter and art instructor Angela Campbell loves simply being outside. From nature she draws inspiration to provide a quality to her artwork that makes one want to reach out and try to touch what appears to be a real-life vision transferred to canvas.

Photo provided La Grange art instructor Angie Campbell poses with her “Best of Show” oil painting titled, “The Cove.”

Even though she has tried lots of other mediums over the years, oil painting “is the one thing I really wanted to do,” said Campbell, 51. “I like the way oil is very forgiving. You can paint over it because it doesn’t dry fast. You can try lots of different techniques to achieve lots of different looks.”
Her current subject matter tends to favor landscapes with water and still life scenes. She is working on a series of water paintings, and it was one of these that recently won Best of Show for the Arts on the Green Fine Arts and Craft Show, held the first weekend of June in La Grange.
Judges were unanimous in their agreement that “The Cove” should place first in Best of Show, said Marion Gibson, director for Arts on the Green. The show is sponsored each year by the Arts Association of Oldham County and this year featured more than 100 artists from as far away as Wisconsin and Florida.
Ten categories were evaluated by five judges. “After judging individual categories, the judges got together to look at what might be merited for Best of Show,” said Gibson.
Campbell’s winning work will be featured on next year’s advertising promotions for Arts on the Green.
“We had a really interesting cross section of artwork this year,” Gibson said. “And we had some fabulous work by new artists as well. Angie has been a part of Gallery 104 for a long time, taught painting classes and been very supportive in the local arts community.”
Kathy Dowling, executive director of the Arts Association of Oldham County and its Gallery 104, said, “Many of the painters at Gallery 104 started painting by taking lessons with Angie long before our gallery opened. She sparked such interest in these artists that they now each have their own styles and repertories of work.”
Campbell often exhibits her work at Gallery 104 on Main Street in La Grange. “Angie is one of the most experienced and exquisite painters we have here at the gallery,” said Dowling. She is “one of Oldham County’s best kept secrets.”
Campbell, who grew up in Oldham County, opened the Campbell Studio in 1994 in La Grange. She recently moved from 300-R E Main to 103 N. Fifth St. and offers four oil painting classes a week.
She opened the studio because she had taken several years off from teaching and missed the interaction she had with other people. She had apprenticed under late artist Mary Schrodt at the Schrodt Art Studio, and attended the Louisville School of Art and Central Academy of Commercial Art in Cincinnati.
Campbell has been painting in oils since 1981. “The Cove” was painted from a picture she took last year at Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park in Kentucky. It depicts a “calm, peaceful, very relaxing place,” she said.
Since its begging 11 years ago, Campbell has participated in all but one Arts on the Green show. For artists, it’s a “nice show and well run, with quality work represented. It’s nice to be able to support the arts in La Grange and encouraging to see the work of other artists.”
“It’s a lot of hard work to come and set up for the weekend,” said Gibson. “I don’t think artists get enough recognition for what they do.”
Arts on the Green is the only art fair in which Campbell participates. She became a member of the Plein Air Painters of Kentucky in 2009. Plein Air painting (or painting on location) is different from her usual oil painting, but Campbell enjoys the challenge.
The group spent one day a week painting in Louisville’s Olmsted park system, and their work has been on display at the Jane Morgan Studio and Gallery at 4838 Brownsboro Rd. Campbell is always up for a challenge with her own artwork and ready to encourage that of others.

• For more information about Angie Campbell’s work or classes, visit: www.AngelaCampbellArt com or call (502) 222-1698.