Enjoy Our Library of Paintings

I’ve been a regular patron of the on Selman Drive for years. I’ve checked out books, sat at the tables working on projects with my children or researching a topic of my own, I’ve utilized their extensive video collection, taken advantage of  their story time and reading clubs for kids during the summer months and even enjoyed the artwork scattered along the walls.

Yes, the artwork. Notice the walls the next time you visit the library. The walls are full of pieces of art.

Some of the pieces are like old friends to me as I come and go each week, so I finally inquired with the library if they had information they could share with regarding the collection. I discovered they actually have a self-guided tour with information regarding each piece of art in their collection, and found it very helpful as I took the time the other day to visit each work of art and take photographs.  

The library’s art collection is quiet extensive, and is "provided to enrich the lives of library patrons." Each piece was selected by a committee who hoped the collection would grow in importance and value.

Over the next few weeks I hope to bring some of the artwork to life for you, but for now I want to share three interesting pieces.

One of the most famous artists featured in the collection is Andrew Wyeth. He is described as "one of America’s premier artists," and hails from a very artistic family with five separate members making huge contributions to the art world.

The Douglas County Public Library owns a signed print of Andrew Wyeth’s Open House he painted in 1980. It’s an interesting image depicting an abandoned house that has been taken over by a few horses. The painting is indeed a house that is open, but instead of being filled with welcome and light, it has been abandoned to (the horses).

This is where the genius of Wyeth is shown. He was known for creating a realistic painting "while giving his subjects an abstract quality. He went beyond the subject stating that (subjects) mean many more things to (him) than just one image.”

In order to attain the “realness” Wyeth saw in his composition, he altered the sizes of the arrangements for effect. As you view the objects in his work, you can see the emphasis that brings out an abstract patter and realistic detail.

Andrew Wyeth passed away in 2009. His official website can be found here where you can view many of his other works.

The second painting I want to share with you is titled Path to Sweetwater by the artist Ray Byram, a former Douglasville resident. I was really drawn to this work of art since I had written about Sweetwater Creek State Park

I posted my photograph of Byram’s painting on Facebook a couple of days ago where it received a few comments mainly dealing with how real the painting looked. 

Those friends have a good eye since Byram paints "in a realist fashion, but this (particular) piece is more typical of his impressionistic style….because he used dabs or strokes of paint to give the effect of reflected light."

One of my friends, Calvin Quinn, an avid fan of Sweetwater Creek State Park and experienced hiker on the trails inside the park stated, “(The location in the painting) looks like the red trail, coming down from the parking lot. Turn right at the creek and it takes you to the mill. Turn left and you go to the sight of the Factory Shoals Road bridge. I think...”

I’m just awestruck at the beauty of the painting.

Today, Byram lives in North Carolina. His website found here, "advises he is presently a freelance artist working in oils, watercolor and printmaking. He has done extensive commission work for private and corporate collections."

Byram’s website continues, "Although he has worked in a variety of genres, styles and mediums from abstract to surreal to neo-realism, from oils to watercolors, etchings, woodcuts and serigraphy, it has been landscapes in oil that has been his primary pursuit such as Path to Sweetwater." You can view more of his paintings featuring paths and trails here.

One of the most amazing things I discovered along my self-tour of the library’s art collection is the Douglas County Public Library has something in common with the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

Yes, I know. They ARE both libraries, and they both contain books, but they share something else. 

They both own works of art by the very famous folk artist, Howard Finster, from Summerville, GA.

The piece the Douglas County Public Library owns is one of the many angels painted on plywood that Finster created over the years.

Howard Finster never went beyond the sixth grade, but earned his experience in life based on several occupations including serving as a Baptist preacher.  

His work falls into the Primitive style meaning that Finster relied on simple images to portray his art.

Finster has been described as an "inveterate storyteller." One of his best known tales explains how he came to be artist. In his book Stranger From Another World: Man of Visions Now on This Earth, Finster states, “…one day I was workin’ on a patch job on a bicycle, and I was rubbin’ some white paint on that patch with this finger here, and I looked at the round tip o’ my finger, and there was a human face on it…then a warm feelin’ come over my body, and a voice spoke to me and said, ‘Paint sacred art.’”

Every painting has a number because God told Finster to spread the Gospel by painting 5,000 works of art. He reached that number by Christmas, 1985, but kept going. The figure of completed works stands close to 46,000 today. Written messages–mainly Bible verses–are incorporated into his art.

Finster’s images range from pop culture icons like Elvis Presley to historical figures such as George Washington and also include religion figures such as John the Baptist or the angels such as the one that graces the conference room wall at the Douglas County Public Library.

Finster found national fame when his Paradise Garden was the location of R.E.M.’s video for the song "Radio Free Europe." Finster’s Paradise Garden is an assemblage of found objects he arranged and decorated in his unique fashion on his property in Summerville. His artwork was also used for R.E.M.’s album cover for "Reckoning." The band Talking Heads also used Finster’s art for the cover of their album "Little Creatures." It was later named album cover of the year in 1985 by Rolling Stone.

In 1994, a section of Finster’s Paradise Garden was included in the permanent collection of Atlanta's High Museum.

Though Finster passed away in 2001, you can visit his webpage here.

Stay turned. I plan to post more information regarding the interesting art collection at the Douglas County Public Library here and there over the next few months.