Benton artist Matt Coburn is a strong proponent of the Delta Visual Arts Show in Newport. “I haven’t missed one since it started,” Coburn said as he worked on a painting at his studio in The Art Group Gallery in Little Rock. “Newport’s always good.”
Coburn will be among the almost 200 artists from across Arkansas and other states who will participate in the seventh annual Delta Visual Arts Show on Saturday in downtown Newport.
“Jon Chadwell (director of the Newport Economic Development Commission) has built something quite amazing,” Coburn said. “There will be a lot of talent there. They set up ginormous tents for the artists. I’ve been in the same spot for the past six years and will be in that same spot again this year; I wouldn’t change it for anything.
“I’m taking 70-plus paintings this year,” Coburn said with a smile. “I dang near sold out last year.”
A 1983 graduate of Little Rock’s Central High School, Coburn was a hairdresser in Little Rock and Benton for 30-plus years before he gave up that career about 12 years ago to pursue being an artist.
“I don’t do hair anymore,” Coburn said. “I am a full-time artist. I work in my studio at home, as well as here at The Art Group Gallery, which is owned by 17 artists that make up Art Group Arkansas. We started as Art Group of Maumelle and moved here to the Pleasant Ridge Town Center about 15 months ago.”
Coburn said he studied art with the German-born artist Guido Frick, who conducts workshops in the United States. “He’s an oil painter,” Coburn said.
“I also studied on my own,” Coburn said. “I identify with Russian impressionist artists. I like the Russian artists. I love color. I’m known for my color. I’m also known for my American and Arkansas flags.”
Coburn’s art can be found on the website artgrouparkansas.com.
Sponsored by the Blue Bridge Center for the Delta Arts, the Delta Visual Arts Show will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in various locations around downtown Newport. There is no admission charge. Local restaurants and civic groups will offer a variety of food throughout the day.
“Over seven years, we’ve seen an incredible growth in the Delta Visual Arts Show,” Chadwell said. “We started in one building with 17 artists and 180 in attendance and have grown to six venues with over 185 artists and almost 2,000 who attend the show each year.
“It has been a fun and rewarding experience for [members of] the steering committee to work with artists and art lovers to bring this opportunity to Jackson County,” he said.
Chadwell said this year’s show features artists from three states and 56 Arkansas communities, featuring primarily artists who grew up in the Delta, live or have lived in the Delta or who produce Delta-themed work. The visual art covers a wide range of art, including pottery, paintings, jewelry and sculpture.
“Artists will have their work on display, and visitors will be able to meet the artists, as well as purchase pieces,” Chadwell said. “This is a unique opportunity to own an original piece of art and to understand how the artist produced the piece.
“Several artists will be conducting demonstrations at their booths during the show. The show features well-known
artists from throughout the state and young new artists who are setting up for the very first time.”
Following is a look at the other artists from the Tri-Lakes Edition coverage area who will participate in the Delta Visual Arts Show.
• Freda Angeletti of Benton will participate in the show for a third time this year.
“I will be in the Iron Mountain Train Depot in booth No. 8,” she said. “I will have new paintings, lots of prints, hand-built pottery, friendship balls and jewelry.
“There will be something for everyone,” Angeletti said.
“The medium I love most is watercolor, and how it flows into such surprising effects,” she said. “It is also very controllable, which allows for detailed application.
“I have been blessed to have won many awards on my paintings, and I am very grateful.”
She said most of her paintings are from photos that either she or her husband took while they lived in Romania for almost 10 years.
Angeletti is a member and signature artist with the Arkansas League of Artists and a member of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists and the Saline County Art Guild.
• Lois Davis of Alexander will make her sixth appearance at the Delta Visual Arts Show on Saturday.
“I planned to attend the first year it was organized but had to cancel because of a family emergency,” Davis said. “It is a wonderful show, and I enjoy it every year.
“I will bring pottery, jewelry and some of my pastels this year.”
Davis began her art career as an adult with classes in drawing and pastel at the Arkansas Arts Center.
“Since then, I have taken workshops from many nationally known artists,” she said. “I am a colorist, so it is always color that attracts me first. The vivid, clear colors of pastel attracted me strongly and became my medium of choice.”
Davis said that after working in pastels for nine years, she wanted to try a new medium and started working with clay.
“I was very attracted to a firing technique called raku,” she said. “Again, it was the unusual colors that attracted me.
“Today, I work in both mediums, depending on how I want to express my ideas. I love the versatility of clay, which allows me to work on large sculptures or very small pieces of jewelry.
“At the present, I am exploring alternative firing techniques to make jewelry, sculptures and wall hangings. Each piece of my jewelry is wearable art and is as unique as my paintings.”
In 2004, Davis helped organize the Arkansas Pastel Society, for which she has served as publicity chairwoman, webmaster, president, vice president and co-chairwoman of the national show.
In 2012, Davis began her business called Art by Lois and opened an online store to showcase her art. Her store can be found at etsy.com/shop/paintedbyfire.
• Sarah Johnson of Benton will attend the Newport show for a second time this year.
“I will be taking a variety of paintings and collages in watercolor and varied media,” she said.
She also will enter a painting, which she calls Cypress, in the This Is the Delta art show that is open to artists participating in the Delta Visual Arts Show. First-, second- and third-place winners, as well as a Best of Show winner, will be announced at 11 a.m. Saturday.
“I am retired and able to indulge my hobby,” Johnson said.
She said she has been studying art and participating in shows and workshops all her life.
She is a member of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists.
• Tansill Stough of Hot Springs will participate in the Delta Visual Arts Show for the third time this year.
“I have developed a unique style and have managed to balance diverse subject matter from abstract to portraiture and landscape,” Stough said, noting that her primary medium is oil.
Her work can be found in many private and corporate collections throughout the world, including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Morris Foundation. She said her JFK series, Fading Memories in Honor of JFK, is being reviewed for permanent acquisition at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, Texas.
Stough’s work is shown at the M2 Gallery in Little Rock and online at fineartamerica.com, Tansill Stough.
• Larry Wiles of Benton is a newcomer to the Delta Visual Arts Show.
“I think I first heard about it on the Internet,” he said. “I am retired, and photography is my hobby.”
Wiles will display his photographs, which are framed, at Saturday’s show in Newport.
For more information on the Delta Visual Arts Show, call (870) 523-1009.