ELIZABETHTOWN – Two local artists put together an incredible art gallery Sunday at Whimsical Florist and Gifts at 312 Poplar St. in Elizabethtown, which included original paintings by both artists, Ed Harris art teacher from Bladen County schools and a former student, Barton Hatcher.
The show was attended by hundreds of people who could not only view the art, but also purchase the creations.
“I think this is great,” Harris said. “Barton is a good kid and he’s always been good. Since he graduated, he has professionally grown and he is really good.”
The styles of art are both very different, but have that thread of what Harris taught Hatcher while giving him direction where the two first met at Clarkton High School.
“He is often surrealistic and abstract,” Harris said. “I am strictly realistic. I taught him the basics, and at the time I was teaching him, I wasn’t doing then what I am doing now. It’s something that you grow to as you go on. Some of the things I’ve noticed in his work are similar to what I had him do in high school. I think some things have never left him. I’ve had some other students that have majored in art that are here today.”
Hatcher, who unveiled some things that showed the community where he has come from since high school and people were wowed at what they saw.
“The whole idea was to tell a story,” Hatcher said. “And I think that’s what’s happening. It gave people a chance to come out and see the work that I’m doing now and to meet the person who kind of helped me along the way and who encouraged me to do what I’m doing. So, I’m loving this.”
Both artists shined in the midst of the beauty they created and were thrilled at the chance to showcase Bladen County – inspired art. There were many, according to the artists who they hadn’t seen in a while who came in to view the show.
“There was a lady that came in that I hadn’t seen in over 35 years,” Hatcher said. “And there were others. Lots of people I haven’t seen in a while.”
Hatcher who has the talent and the passion to take this further has other endeavors in the works.
“I have a show going on in New York right now,” Hatcher said. “Not my personal show, but I am part of a show that’s going on in Red Hook in Brooklyn. It’s a show that was curated by a lady named Robbie and she has put together a show of just North Carolina artists.”
According to Google, “Red Hook is a neighborhood in Brooklyn set against a backdrop of shipping yards and pre-Civil War warehouses. Red Hook has a laid-back seaside village vibe. Young families and creative professionals make up a large part of the community. A mix of homey eateries and quirky bars, plus edgy art galleries and boutiques proliferate along Van Brunt Street, the main artery.”
Hatcher was born and raised in Bladen County and since has moved on to be a very successful artist and designer.
He never forgot the ones who helped him and mentored him on the way up. Enter Ed Harris. Hatcher’s high school teacher who, according to Hatcher, inspired him to be the success as an artist that he’s become.
Hatcher was actually born in a small doctor’s office in Clarkton, North Carolina, and has come a million miles since that first cry rang out into the Bladen atmosphere. From the auspicious start in Clarkton, he grew up in Council, North Carolina, which is an unincorporated community in Bladen County and located just north of Lake Waccamaw.
Hatcher began school at Booker T. Washington school and then went to Clarkton High School where he graduated in 1976.
“My grandfather was a farmer and had a 200-acre farm,” he said. “He grew tobacco, corn and other row crops. There was always something to do. I am one of six kids that worked on the farm when we weren’t in school. I think back to growing up and I’d kind of like to have some of that back again.”
Hatcher who has not lost the wonder of a child in his eyes and sees things that he is able to put forth into the world in the form of his art.
While at Clarkton High School, he was inspired by one of those teachers that the kids will always remember. The fun teacher. The intense and passionate mentor. The inspirational leader whose name remains on the lips of students long after high school becomes a distant memory. In this case, North Carolina was blessed with Harris. They formed a bond that has made them life-long friends and now colleagues.
“Mr. Harris tried to figure out a way so I could get a small scholarship to go off to college,” Hatcher said. “My family certainly wasn’t able to afford to send me.”
“I was teaching art at the time,” Harris said. “I started with the program here in 1974. I had taught English for eight years before I started teaching Barton at Clarkton. The state department had a program for the gifted and talented and the superintendents wanted to get our program in all the local schools.”
At that time, there were two schools that did not have art programs for their students.
“These students were given the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT),” Harris said. “I scored it and I had some good kids. They were good students. They had potential.”
Hatcher who said he always had aspirations to be an artist from a young age and was placed in the right school with the right teacher to help nurture his aspirations. According to Hatcher, the real passion for art was when he found a niche at Cape Craftsmen in Elizabethtown.
“It was a company that made little small décor products,” Hatcher said. “It was started here in Elizabethtown. I ended up working with them for 32 years. The last 20 years of that time I spent designing home décor products, a line of furniture specifically fashioned for the Charleston Historical Society and I was asked to do some drawing and artwork for them.”
Using his expertise in painting, oils, acrylics, etc. became a part of his job in design art. He also takes his art to the environment and owns a landscape business.
“My art now is a reflection of Mr. Harris, and is similar to what he does,” Hatcher said. “I can remember as a kid always creating things. I love to make things with my hands.”
Harris was a teacher that had the ability to teach out of the box and tells the story of combining the art of writing and illustration.
“I read a short story to my class,” Harris said. “I wanted them to illustrate a portion of it. And Barton, I remember, came up with a little castle and it had a little moat around it and a little drawbridge going up to the castle door.”
Hatcher was amazed that Harris remembered that story and recalled that one of his family members still has that particular piece of art.
A piece of high school art. So striking that his teacher remembers it after 40 years and a family member still possesses it. And his legacy continues back in Elizabethtown with a combined art show featuring both his and his former teacher’s art.
“Mr. Harris and I became good friends,” Hatcher said. “We established a friendship that I think is more than just being a student of his. It’s been 50 years since I first met him. After high school and getting a job and living my life, I stayed in contact with him.”
To hold the combined art show is a reunion of sorts. It’s a collaboration of sorts. It’s a tribute to each other. It’s a show that both artists really looked forward to.
“The plan was, I wanted to show about 25 of his pieces and 25 of mine,” Hatcher said. “It gave people a real look at where my work has gone from to where it is now. Mr. Harris really did a lot of painting in the genre of surrealism, and it’s one of my favorite types of work. I still do it. He was the one that kind of headed me in that direction. My work now is a whole lot more abstract but surrealistic as well.”
The idea came from inspiration of other mentor/student shows and their excitement level is high for this Bladen County event.
“I talked to Mr. Harris and suggested that we do a show together,” Hatcher said. “He’s painted for all these years; he’s still painting.”
Hatcher brought in panels and is created a special walk-through art gallery. In addition, there were refreshments and “oohs and ahhs” from the crowd as they moved through the building and had many pictures taken next to the pieces that were their own personal favorites.
Mark DeLap is a journalist, photographer and the editor and general manager of the Bladen Journal. To email him, send a message to: mdelap@bladenjournal.com
