A “Meet and Greet the Artist” reception for Margaret DuBois will be held on Sunday, October 16, from 2 until 4 p.m. at Lackey Studio, 1432 Roanoke Road (Botetourt Plaza), Daleville. Light refreshments will be served. Her work varies from pastel landscapes to enamel on copper paintings and jewelry.
Formal art lessons began in high school and continued in college. She earned a BS Degree in Art from Longwood College and taught art in the Roanoke County school system for several years. She also exhibited her oil paintings and serigraphs on weekends. During her teaching tenure, enameling was added to the art program, which she taught from her studies at Longwood.
Eventually, DuBois gave up teaching oil painting and serigraph to concentrate on improving her enamel skills and knowledge, attending workshops sponsored by the National Enamellist Guild. Enameling is the fusion of oxidized glass and a metal. The enamels are sifted onto clean metal (i.e. copper) then fired at 1500 degrees from 2 to 5 minutes. It is a multi-firing process, requiring 8 to 30 firings per painting.
Another medium that DuBois enjoys is oil pastel. Oil pastels were developed in the mid-20th Century as an alternate to oil paints. First developed as Sakura Cras Pas in 1925, Sennelier developed a professional grade oil pastel in 1949 with the help of Pablo Picasso. The medium is a quicker process – a painting can be completed in days, whereas the enamels take weeks or months to complete.
Since her first exhibit in1967, DuBois’s work has been shown around Virginia and has been added to many collections. Permanent collections include: Lynchburg College, Buckingham County Arts Council, Hampden Sydney College, City of Salem, Virginia Western Community College, General Electric Drives Systems in Salem, and Roanoke Sister City – Wonju, South Korea, and the White House Ornament Collection in Washington, D.C. Her enamels have been included in International Enamellist Society Juried Exhibitions in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2005.
The artist can be contacted by email to artbymargaretdubois@gmail.com.
Patrons and fans of the artist are encouraged to attend the artist reception on October 16; however, the exhibit may be viewed at any time during the month when the gallery is open.
~ The Fincastle Herald
