Artist Frans van Baars mounts farewell show

The art community in Wilson is losing one of its legacy members. Painter Frans van Baars, 87, is moving from the gallery space he has occupied with wife Brenda since 2003.

The couple has lived for more than two decades in the second story of the gallery, located at 104 Douglas St. S.

The Dutch-American painter and U.S. Navy veteran opened the House of van Baars 21 years ago.

But before he leaves, van Baars will open a one-man show, “Painting Journey: Awakens Memories” at the Wilson Arts Center. The opening reception is 6-8 p.m. Thursday.

“We are working like crazy to get everything ready to go into the show,” van Baars said last week. “We have about 60 main features and a lot of unframed features.”

In the last two years, van Baars has had health challenges.

“I have some cancer that is being treated. I have had surgery on my face,” he said. “Yes, for a couple of months there I didn’t do anything, and then lately here, I started to paint a little again.”

‘A GREAT LIFE’

Frans van Baars was born on July 9, 1936, in the Netherlands.

“He is a marine captain’s son, and he grew up on the water,” said wife Brenda.

He has always been fascinated by the nautical mystique.

“The last town I lived in, we had the harbor on one side and the Rhine River on the other. The family on my mother’s side were all fishermen,” van Baars said. “The main thing they fished was eel, shrimp and crabs; smoked eel is delicious, You can just about eat your fingers with it.”

During World War II, the family’s upstairs neighbor was a painter, an artist.

“Flip Haezer was his name. I would go to his studio and we would talk. He influenced me more than I was aware of at the time,” van Baars said. “I have a painting of his hanging upstairs.

“My parents traded for that painting with potatoes during World War II.”

As a 20-year-old, van Baars came to the United States in 1956. He joined the U.S. Navy and was a submariner for 12 years.

In the service, van Baars broke his neck after falling on a deck cleat, but the injury was a blessing in disguise.

The injury kept van Baars from a planned transfer to the USS Scorpion. The nuclear-powered submarine sank with all 99 crewmen lost on May 22, 1968.

“After I got out of there and had the surgery, laying there, I saw a beautiful stick coming out of the wall,” van Baars recalled.

It was a tiny green plant.

“I watched that thing over a period of a couple weeks,” van Baars said.

It made van Baars think of his time spent with the painter as a child.

“I said that would be a great life. So, when the Navy retired me, I went to art school,” van Baars said. “Ever since then, I have been painting and teaching. That was in 1969-70.”

IDYLLIC SCENES

The artist’s love for the sea is reflected in his paintings.

He has painted hundreds of idyllic scenes along the watery coast of North Carolina, from windswept Atlantic Ocean beaches to sound-side shorelines, hidden coves and marshy hideaways.

Since he’s been in Wilson, van Baars has created a series of paintings that capture the community’s culture, from voting on Election Day to portraits of the city’s historical buildings, rural scenes and cityscapes.

Due to his age and his battle with cancer, van Baars and his wife have decided to downsize and move closer to the water, possibly to New Bern.

He said he has enjoyed his time in Wilson and appreciates the support he has received.

“Thank you, thank you,” van Baars said. “I have enjoyed the people, and I hope they have liked me.”

He hopes the public will enjoy his last show here.

“I would like to show you what my world is, and I hope that you can enjoy that by taking a piece with you,” van Baars said. “If you don’t take a piece with you, come and look at it. And if you have questions, call me and ask the questions that you have. That’s the important part to me.”

He will deliver an artist talk at 6 p.m.

The exhibit, free and open to the public, will run through June 27 at the Wilson Arts Center, 204 Nash St. S.

“Wilson Arts is thrilled to showcase the work of Frans van Baars — a local Wilson artist with a Dutch heritage who lived through WWII,” said Cathy Hardison, executive director of Wilson Arts. “His deep connection with the water and his keen observations through decades of living in the United States will make this work interesting to really look at and engage with.”

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