May 30 - June 27
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 30 / 6:00-8:00 PM
Wilson Arts Center / 204 Nash Street S
Sponsored by: Wilson Arts Visual Arts Committee

“Frans van Baars – Painting Journey: Awakens Memories,” exhibition will feature a selection of land and seascapes, Whirligigs, community events, still life, and abstracts. It embodies a series on Wilson and our county in addition to his travels to other parts of North Carolina as well as, South Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, the Netherlands and more.

His early art is detailed in exquisite draftsmanship and masterful watercolors the latter of which he turned into a series of Watercolor Memories. “As I got older, I got bolder. Drafting and drawing helped me become loose, and more abstract over time. It was as though I was liberated and free,” he says of the use of oils and acrylics. His composition or subject matter is usually not contrived or constrained. Oftentimes he works in plein air as it allows him to capture the spirit and form of the place while on location. It’s there that he enjoys, “Painting what I see, the life before me,” he said. It’s the beauty he seeks when composing each piece of art and an integral part of his work spanning over forty years.

This solo exhibition celebrating van Baars’s travels and love for Wilson opens on Thursday, May 30 with a reception from 6:00-8:00pm. The show will feature watercolor, pen and ink, oil, and acrylic works and free and open to the public!

Artist Bio

Frans van Baars is a Dutch American artist from the Netherlands. His father was a merchant marine captain. His mother was the daughter of a fisherman. As a child, growing up in the Netherlands during WWII was difficult. It left him with an everlasting memory of hardship, destruction, and fear when his province was occupied by the Nazis. After the war was over, he took great reprieve while traveling the world on his father’s merchant ship. It was in those times where on occasion, they would stop and visit galleries and museums along their way.

In 1956, Frans arrived in the United States intended on giving back to the country who saved him as a child. It was the day before his nineteenth birthday. Not long afterwards, he enlisted in the Navy where he enjoyed his time in a submarine and at sea. A freak accident and a broken neck later changed his trajectory in life. He received a medical discharge, then chartered his way into the arts.

Frans studied art the Ivy School of Arts in Pittsburgh, PA after leaving the Navy. After college, he started an art program and was the art instructor at Coastal Carolina Community College in Jacksonville, NC. In 1980 and 1981 he participated series of classes with, Artist-in-the-Schools near the coast of NC, teaching art to students in the public-school setting. He went on to become a full-time. Frans’s artworks have been sold commercially and individually all over the world.

Frans and his wife, Brenda owned a gallery in Washington, NC for twelve years prior to moving to Wilson in 2002. The House of van Baars Gallery on Douglas Street is where they currently reside while also featuring a collection of his artworks. Throughout his life, he’s stayed true to what guides him. For over thirty years, he has participated in the Mile of Hope for children with cancer. Additionally, he took part in the East Carolina Telethon benefitting a children’s hospital, has given to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, and donated art that amassed a remarkable amount in fundraising for moving Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.