BY PAULA MONTGOMERY

Special to The Pilot

Photographer Rick Smith and painter Richard Oversmith are January's featured artists at the Campbell House Galleries.

This father and son duo are originally from Michigan. In the early 1970s, the family moved to North Carolina, where both pursued careers in the arts.

Rick Smith attended Brooks Institute of Photography in California and then returned to Michigan and began his real education in the field by working for one of the largest studios in the Detroit area.

After moving to North Carolina, Smith opened and operated a commercial advertising photography studio. During 25 years of operating the studio, he continued to explore new subjects and created many of his most memorable personal images.

Smith has won numerous national and international awards for his work, including the most coveted honor of selection for inclusion in an international exhibit in Cologne, Germany. His work (one of only 100 images chosen from more than 27,000 submissions) is also included in a permanent collection at the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y.

Smith has lectured at Rochester Institute of Technology and is a regular lecturer, workshop leader and contributor in North Carolina's Randolph Community College photography program.

"I draw inspiration in the stillness and silence of my subject matter," says Smith. "I am especially drawn to the pastoral countryside and am fascinated by forms and textures in nature. I like to focus on the complex unpretentiousness in everyday objects and visually transform the ordinary into the extraordinary."

Richard Oversmith received formal training in fine art illustration at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Mich. While at Kendall, he was invited to study at the Royal College of Art in London, England, where he gained experience in plein air painting and found direction in his work as an oil painter.

Oversmith resides in western North Carolina, where the natural beauty has proven to offer infinite inspiration for his impressionistic landscapes. He has painted all over the United States and spent six months living and painting in Brittany, France.

"My purpose in painting is to provoke the viewer to interact with my pieces," says Oversmith. "My paintings are my voice, and stroke by stroke, I compose a whole that relates to my vision."

Oversmith has derived his style from a lifelong study of past masters, the influence of contemporary painters he admires and elements that have evolved from deep within himself. He allows the setting to speak to him, creating only as many brushstrokes as are needed for the viewer's eyes to understand and connect. Whether painting landscapes "en plein air" or creating classical or imaginative still life works in the studio, Oversmith says he strives to achieve a mood in every painting by manipulating color, edges, and values and drawing with the brush.

Oversmith is an active member of the Oil Painters of America and the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast. He is represented by galleries throughout North Carolina and Anderson Fine Art Gallery in St. Simons Island, Georgia. He has participated in countless solo and group shows throughout the country and has been featured in the Art Collector Magazine.

"Of Similar Vision," featuring works by Rick Smith and Richard Oversmith, opens Friday, Jan. 7, with a reception to meet the artists from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibit is on display through Jan. 28, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekdays. The galleries will be closed Monday, Jan. 17. Rick Smith will present a slide show of his photography on Friday, Jan. 14, at 3 p.m. The show is free and open to the public.

The Campbell House Galleries are located at 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines.

For more information about the January exhibit, contact the Arts Council of Moore County at (910) 692-2787 or visit the Arts Council website at www.mooreart.org.