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Rocky Mount, N.C.—An exhibition of the landscape paintings of North Carolina artist Sam Shelby will open with a reception for the artist on Friday, October 1, at 7 p.m. in the Mims Gallery in the Dunn Center at North Carolina Wesleyan College. The reception is free and open to the public, as is the exhibit, which will run through October 31.

Shelby lives in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., where he grew up and completed high school. He earned a degree in commercial art from Halifax Community College but says that painting "was where I wanted to go." He taught himself the fine art of oil painting and began a career that has spanned 20 years and attracted art collectors nationwide.

He credits his teacher Walter Mack Anglin for his formative artistic inspiration, and also acknowledges the influence of his aunt Nancye Knott, also an artist.

Not unlike George Inness, his favorite landscape painter, Shelby composes his pictures in the studio, where he says he can concentrate on the essence of nature, as opposed to non-essential details. Shelby finds that idyllic landscape, warm sunlight, and long shadows can have a restorative effect on the human spirit. He paints the world in affirming terms, and although there are no people in his pictures, his landscapes are humanizing by virtue of their beauty.

He won first prize in painting at the 2003 Rocky Mount 46th Annual show and is represented by the Lee Hansley Gallery in Raleigh and the North Star Gallery in Wilson.

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