The Art Room Opens New Gallery Exhibit

The Art Room located in uptown Greenville presented “Faces and Places,” which featured the work of East Carolina University art majors Rachel Bowman and Lisa Snead as well as the work of clay artist Ben Watford on Monday.

Nelle Lee Hayes received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the ECU School of Art and Design. Hayes opened The Art Room as a retirement business after being a high school art teacher in New Bern, N.C., for over 30 years. 

“Now I can just put up the closed sign on the weekends and relax,” Hayes said.

Hayes enjoys painting charcoal portraits, but does not specialize in one medium of art. She has not always wanted to be an artist, though.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” said Hayes. “Art was my favorite subject, so it worked out. I got to train while teaching for 30 years to be an artist.”

Hayes was thrilled when two ECU seniors asked her over the summer about showcasing their photographs in the gallery. Hayes agreed, and was able to incorporate the students’ work with Watford’s clay art, which is on display as well. Snead’s photographs feature places and locations while Bowman’s feature different people’s faces. 

“It was amazing how some of the images really fit with the pottery,” Hayes said.

Hayes typically only shows one exhibit at a time, but made an exception for the students.

 Watford specializes in sculpting Southern Tradition clay face jugs, which have been among African American tradition since the 1840s.

“Ben grew up digging clay out of his yard,” said Hayes. “He left Winton, N.C., and went to school at Howard University. He retired in New Bern, N.C., and has been a potter for the past 20 years.”

The jugs come in a variety of shapes and colors, each one individually unique.  Watson also has handcrafted clay teapots on display.

“The teapots are his favorite,” Hayes said.

Watson’s work is also featured at the Bank of the Arts in New Bern, N.C. The entire exhibit only took two days to assemble.

“I put Ben’s work up on one day, and then put the girls around it,” Hayes said. “I’m really pleased that the images integrated so well.”

In addition to “Faces and Places” and Watson’s face jugs, the Art Room has six items on display by the Artists Studio and Design Tour.

“These pieces will be raffled by ECU in order to gain scholarship money for art majors,” Hayes said.

ECU art professors supported the cause by submitting some of their own pieces for the raffle. The exhibit is being shown until Friday.

This writer can be contacted at arts@theeastcarolinian.com.