Show uncovers vintage artists

The names Vicki L. Outman and Herb Wickham are well known in Southeast Missouri art circles, so it is not surprising that Outman's "Lake Boutin" won a Best of Show award and Wickham's "Bollinger Mill in Snow" a Juror's Award in the new exhibit opening today at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.

Linda S. Wilmes, who won the second Juror's Award for "The Treehouse," is from Wentzville, Mo., and is one of the entrants from outside the region.

The surprise of the "Missouri AARP Good Vintage Senior Art Exhibit" is that juror Roy Schoenborn chose a painting by Cape Girardeau resident Sue Burton Cole as Best of Show in the age 65-plus category. Nobody at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri had ever heard of Cole before.

Cole, who moved to Cape Girardeau six years ago from Jackson, Miss., seldom enters shows. "I think you paint because you want to paint. Most of my paintings don't appeal to most people," she said.

"Most people like paintings they can really relate to."

Uncovering artists in an underserved population -- seniors -- was one of the goals of the exhibit, says Becky Fulgham, executive director of the arts council, and it succeeded.

Thirty-two artists submitted more than 100 works, including paintings, drawings, collage, wood carving, photography and digital art. "It's amazing to us how much talent is in this area," she said.

Schoenborn, a professor emeritus at Southeast Missouri State University, also awarded honorable mentions to 14 artists: Anita Dickerson of Cape Girardeau, Arthur Edwards of Jackson, Sharon Forthofer of Sikeston, Mo., Dessie Gross of Charleston, Mo. (2), Sheila Kennedy of St. Louis, Vicki Outman of Jackson, James Parker of Cape Girardeau, Barbara Ross of Sikeston, Tony Schuch of Cape Girardeau, Ann Schuchart of Sikeston, Alice Sudmeyer of Fredericktown, Mo., Louis Taylor of Jackson, Richard Webb of Cape Girardeau and Linda Wilmes of Wentzville.

New work by the Visual Arts Cooperative also will be on display. Featured in the front display windows will be work by Dallas Pike, Rick Procter and Scott Kelley.

Cole moved to Cape Girardeau because her brother, Vance Combs, lives here. Before that she and her late husband, Robert, lived in Fort Worth, Texas, Coral Gables, Fla., Alexandria, Va., Alaska and Germany. They moved around so much because her husband's profession, meteorology, allowed them to.

She graduated from the University Kansas with a degree in design and studied painting for two years at the American University in Washington, D.C. But she didn't start painting "semi-seriously" until her husband's death in 1990, when she decided she needed something to do.

When Cole took a house at Chateau Girardeau, she made herself a studio by moving the washer and dryer out of the utility room and into the garage. "Fortunately it had a northern exposure," she says in a soft, cultured voice.

She works in watercolors or "water media" -- her painting "It's a Small World" was created with watercolors, gouache and watercolor crayons. Her landscapes are very minimalist, sky and little else. Lately she has been interested in pears. "I think pears are an interesting shape," she said. "All pears are lopsided and different."

Painting can be very frustrating, Cole says. "You may be a little unhappy if you're not able to do it. On the other hand, painting requires a lot of concentration. You don't just slap on paint. You may look like you do ... It's never quite what you hoped it would be."

Cole compares painting to golf, a sport she doesn't play. "I know people who do play golf who keep thinking they're going to get better at it," she said.

It's the same for painters. "You think maybe the next one I'll really like," she said.

She doesn't even think her friends like them. "If I didn't give them away I'm afraid they wouldn't pay $5 for them."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182