The Paul Hartley Legacy

Paul Hartley's self-portrait "My Room is Turning".

The Paul Hartley Legacy exhibit at Raleigh's Lee Hansley Gallery includes art by Hartley student Scott Avett (center). photo by Sarah Hall, Salisbury Post.

Visitors of all ages attended the The Paul Hartley legacy exhibit opening reception, Jan. 17, 2010 in Raleigh. photo by Sarah Hall, Salisbury Post.

Art by C. Tanner Jensen, a student of Paul Hartley.

This Rudolph-like sculpture was in front of the Lee Hansley Gallery in Raleigh, January 2010. photo by Sarah Hall, Salisbury Post.

By Sarah Hall

shall@salisburypost.com

On Jan. 17, a group waited patiently in the drizzle outside 225 Glenwood Ave. in Raleigh. Those who had made it past the white banisters to the teal porch of the house-turned-gallery, inched through the packed doorway for their turn to sign the guest register and view the art exhibit paying tribute to a teacher and friend.

This large crowd was a testimony to the influence of artist Paul Hartley, who succumbed to cancer Thanksgiving Day after a 37-year career as instructor at East Carolina University where he was professor of studio art. The reception was for the opening of "The Paul Hartley Legacy" at Lee Hansley Gallery.

The exhibit includes works by about 100 of Hartley's former students, and fills both the gallery at 225 Glenwood and the newer Lee Hansley Gallery, Too! in the next block. The exhibit will remain up through Feb. 27. According to Hansley, this is the largest show ever mounted in North Carolina by a private gallery.

And it was organized and mounted in record time, just a few weeks. Hansley and his two assistants "worked like dogs" he says, "and I was mean," but he wanted to do this for Hartley's family, and he had wanted to do it as soon as possible.

Hartley students were asked to submit six images of their work electronically, and from those Hansley narrowed down the number of pieces to be included, which were then shipped to the Raleigh studio.

The labels identifying the artists' names and locations show that Hartley's influence is not just in numbers of students, many who are now art teachers themselves, but has a far reach geographically as well, since the artists in the show live in 17 different states, and one, noted artist Kiyomi Talaulicar, from Mumbai, India.

"Paul had taught more art students than anyone in North Carolina," says Hansley. "He was proud of his students, but would never take credit for their successes. If he saw a spark of creativity he was determined to bring that out, but not by having the student emulate him."

And so the students' work is all different, although Hartley's influence can be detected, especially in the technique of acrylic lift of which Hartley was a master.

Hartley's quiet manner and personal attention are what most students remember. Hansley, who represented Hartley for the past 17 years, calls him a "silent giant."

Artist C. Tanner Jensen recalls a semester that she was Hartley's lab assistant, a job that would normally include cleaning and stocking the studio.

"When I asked him what he wanted me to do, he said, 'Paint, I want you to go to your studio and paint.' What a gift that was, what a gift to have had him as a teacher."

Artist and musician Scott Avett (of The Avett Brothers) is one of Hartley's former students. The exhibit includes several of his paintings.

Avett had graduated with a major in broadcast communication and an art minor, even though he had enrolled at ECU with the intention of majoring in art. Painting professor Leland Wallin convinced Avett to stay another year and complete a BFA in art with a focus on painting.

Wallin and Hartley had very different teaching styles, and Avett recalls how he benefitted from both.

"Leland was like a bomb going off, more pointed and direct," says Avett. It was his insistence that convinced Avett to stay at ECU.

But Avett says he realized in hindsight what a big influence Hartley had been with his style of coaching and leading, directing the responsibility to the student. Avett admits that he's never liked anybody telling him what to do, and so Hartley's approach of allowing the student to make his own discoveries made him less likely to rebel against it.

Avett went through a phase where he wasn't finishing work; his "next plan would be in operation before the last one was finished" as he was "ripping through" his paintings.

Instead of insisting that he complete what he started, Avett says Hartley told him that if he isn't going back to a painting, "maybe it's already finished."

Avett says he learned banjo from a teacher who had much this same student-directed approach. And he also compared Hartley to Rick Rubin, the legendary record producer with whom The Avett Brothers recorded their most recent album. He says Rubin guided the project, but left many of the creative decisions up to the Avetts.

In addition to his teaching legacy, Hartley leaves a large body of work , exhibited in the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, the Greenville Museum of Art, the Cameron Museum of Art in Wilmington, the Barton College Museum in Wilson and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, as well as many business institutions. A painting of his is currently going through the approval process of the NC Museum of Art.

His work had been seen in at least 25 solo shows and over 75 other exhibits. His final show, entitled "Looking Back" was at the Lee Hansley Gallery this past September and October.

Hartley was particularly noted for his mixed media works, combining oil and acrylic with collage. He would often paint realistic objects over an abstract background, giving those objects a floating appearance. With these foreground objects, he utilized an oil glazing technique practiced by Renaissance painters.

For more information, visit www.leehansleygallery.com.