NORTH LITTLE ROCK — B. Jeannie Fry has always said she wants her paintings to “make people feel good.” The Cabot artist has joined with two of her friends to participate in a new exhibition that she hopes will do just that.
“Three Stories … Shared is an exhibition representing how art enhances our lives,” Fry said of the exhibit on display at the Argenta Branch of the William F. Laman Public Library System in North Little Rock. “It is also a celebration of the life ties that bind three individuals together in friendship.
“We came together through our spiritual journey at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in North Little Rock and found our commonality through our love of art,” she said. “This exhibit represents how art has enriched three lives. I hope it enriches the lives of the viewers, too.”
Fry has 20 pieces in the 60-piece show that she shares with Suzette Patterson and Barbara Rhodes, both of North Little Rock. Fry has been painting most of her life, but it was not until retirement in 2001 that she began painting full time. She is an active member of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists, currently serving as treasurer; she is also a past president of the organization.
“I have some of my more realistic paintings — landscapes — in this show, but a lot of the work is more abstract, contemporary, as one friend calls it,” Fry told visitors recently at the library’s gallery. “I’ll always do my landscapes, but recently, I’ve been experimenting with other media and collage. Most of my work is watercolor, but there are also some acrylics.”
Fry said several pieces in the show have a message.
One of her more contemporary works in the show, Trek, reflects on immigration, especially the Syrian refugee crisis. Another contemporary piece, Com-Passion, reflects on Fry’s belief that amid “all the scary things in the world, a little patch of light shines through. … Compassion will prevail.”
Fry said she is always going to do the realistic paintings, “but I like the others, too.
“It just depends on which me shows up that day to paint,” she said, laughing. Fry paints in a small studio, and sometimes outside, at her home near Cabot.
Three Stories … Shared will remain on display at the Argenta branch library, 420 Main St. in North Little Rock, until Aug. 12. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. It is closed Sundays.
Fry will also show some of the paintings in this exhibit at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre on Aug. 23 through Sept. 17 during the theater’s production of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, by Rebecca Gilman, based on the novel by Carson McCullers.
Additionally, Fry is making plans to participate in the 25th annual Mid-Southern Watercolorists Special Open Membership Exhibition, set for Sept. 14 through Oct. 12 at the Argenta branch library. She said she plans to enter her work in the 48th annual MSW-juried exhibition that will open in March 2018 at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock.
“And I’m waiting to see if my work is accepted into the Arkansas Arts Council’s 2018 Small Works on Paper exhibit,” she said. “Getting in that show is like entering the lottery. … You just have to take your chances.”
Fry is a member of the Arts Council’s Arkansas Artist Registry; visit its website, arkansasarts.org.
More information on Fry and her artwork can also be found on her website, bjeanniefry.com, or her Facebook page, B. Jeannie Fry Fine Art.