Journalism grad hosts first art show

Anne Welch, who received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism at the University of Central Florida, hosted her first art show this summer as part of The Artists at Edgewood series.

Visitors met Welch and viewed her mixed media creations. During her 20-year career as a reporter and photographer for various daily Florida newspapers and as an editor for a Florida publishing company, she longed to pursue her long held dream of becoming an artist.

She always kept her paint and brushes limbered up by attending art classes in the evenings, but just couldn’t let go of her first love … art, a spokeswoman for the series said. At retirement, Welch joined several art groups and eventually taught watercolor and drawing classes for 12 years in central Florida. After moving to North Carolina in 2009, she has taught at the Caldwell Arts Center in Lenoir and won several prizes locally for her art. As a teacher, she encourages her students to choose whatever subject and medium they want and to present their subject in a unique way; in short, to “think outside the canvas.”

Welch believes that art sparks a spiritual connection between artist and viewer. In her own work, she strives to communicate how she feels about what she sees rather than simply to create a literal record of it. She said she is not afraid to “color outside the lines.”

To read more about the art show, please click here.