Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The paintings of Wilmington artist Gladys Faris are being exhibited in the UNCW Cultural Arts Building Art Gallery through Aug. 7. The UNCW Department of Art and Art History is hosting a free opening reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 1. Regular summer gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday. For further information, call 910.962.3440.

A native of Greenville, SC, Gladys Going Faris was born October 15, 1930. After attending Greenville High School where she studied under a family friend, Bob McLean, she finished high school at Sullins Academy in Bristol, VA.

She graduated with Honors from the University of Georgia in 1953. After college, while traveling through Europe with friends, Faris found herself rising early to paint scenes from the streets while her traveling companions slept.

Faris returned home and continued her studies with Tom Flowers, head of the art department at Furman University and with Gil Petroff of the Columbia Museum of Art. She exhibited with the Creative Artists of the Greenville Museum and at the Florence Museum.

Faris moved to Wilmington in 1971. She made a point to meet Caroline Milner, who directed St. John's Gallery, which later became the St. John's Museum of Art. She was honored with the opening exhibition when Alan Aiches was hired as director. Faris taught watercolor classes in the Cowan House at St. John's Museum of Art and at the Cameron Art Museum from 1981-2005, along with other workshops and demonstrations regionally. Her work is found in the Permanent Collection of the Cameron Art Museum and corporate collections of Pfizer, Inc., New York Times, Duke University Hospital, Worsley Companies, Bank of America, SAS Institute and others.

A long time member, exhibitor, and award winner in the Watercolor Society of North Carolina, and The Wilmington Art Association, Faris never stopped pursuing educational opportunities. She studied in workshops with nationally-known watercolorists including Marc Moon (1923-2006), Zoltan Szabo (1928-2003), Robert E. Wood (1926-1999), Jeanne Dobie (1930), and Don Andrews (1951). She regularly took advantage of auditing art classes at UNCW.

In the early 1980s, she founded with fellow artists, Anne Brennan, Betty Brown, Doris Rudolf, and Carol Rabb, a co-operative gallery at The Landing at Wrightsville Beach.