BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Beverly Perdue opened her new art exhibition on Sept. 30 at the Beverly Perdue Gallery in the Forrer Learning Commons at Bridgewater College to a crowd of students, faculty and community members.
The gallery is named after the artist, known professionally as Bev Perdue, for her contributions made during the renovation of the Learning Commons. Michael Hough, Associate Professor of Art at Bridgewater College and the gallery director, said the art faculty was especially interested in showcasing Perdue’s work in celebration of Homecoming month.
“We try to choose artists who bring something new and something different to our students to see, to learn from,” Hough said.
Perdue’s displayed pieces included oil paintings, watercolor paintings and reproductions of oil paintings called giclée. Her career has given her many opportunities to show her pieces at various locations, from the National Watercolor Society and Montpelier Center for the Arts Show to the University of Virginia Hospital and the Riverfront Plaza in Richmond.
Perdue has also won multiple awards and acceptances, including Best in Show at the Virginia Watercolor Society and the Crossroads Art Center Show, but she said that in her career, painting is not about winning awards.
“These paintings…they’re all my children,” Perdue said in her speech during the exhibition.
Perdue may be best known for her career in artistry, but she started out graduating from Bridgewater College in 1968 with a degree in Biology. Her mother and sister had gone to James Madison University, but Perdue said she wanted a smaller, co-ed college.
“I wanted to know my professors,” she said. “I didn’t want to be a number in a room.”
While teaching in Staunton, Perdue remembered how much she had enjoyed taking art classes in college, having put forth her interest by painting on the walls of her dorm.
“A lot of dentists become artists,” she said. “A lot of lawyers become writers.”
Perdue emphasized being able to connect to other people through how she stylizes and creates her pieces. Her artist statement stresses how she strives to not only paint what an apple looks like but also what the apple tastes like.
In addition to her exhibiting work, Perdue has reached out to others through volunteering. For the past several years, she has been teaching art classes at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women in Goochland.
Perdue said she reminds her students to listen to one’s inner voice.
She encouraged everyone at the exhibition to unleash their inner child and do what makes them happy. Perdue said that for her, her happiness lies in painting.
“I hope I haven’t painted my best painting yet,” she said.
