RECENTLY . . .
Valarie Schwartz
Calm usually does not describe an artist at his or her first solo exhibit.
Calm, happy and comfortable can all be applied to Ben Gunter, 27, at his first solo show at Carrboro Town Hall last week. Gunter greeted friends, family and supporters — many who had never seen his work — with hugs, high fives and relaxed smiles. For this young man, support and networks keep him functional.
“Ben was born with tuberous sclerosis,†his mother, Kay Gunter, told me. “He was three months old when he had his first seizure.†Seizures remain an issue even after brain surgery in 2004.
“It’s just a small part of him,†Kay said. “He can’t drive, but he can do so many things.†He assists a coach in training a wrestling team, plays basketball on a team, sings in a choir, is learning to play guitar and has his own lawn-mowing service. “Ben LOVES mowing,†Kay Gunter said, “If there were a strip of grass all the way to California, he’d mow it!†Kay has been a stay-at-home mom for Ben and his elder sister, Kate, and has become adept at networking to find the best answers, helping Ben live as independently as possible. A business partner in the mowing business does the driving.
Ben told me that his grandmother gave him his first paints. She was an artist, and when he was a child they would go to the beach together and paint.
Ben loves colors, and when describing a piece of art he starts by naming the colors. When a friend asked what kind of paint he used, Ben answered, “Dark.â€
His teacher, Maggi Grace, of Carrboro acknowledged that he opts for few pale colors in his palette of ink, tempera and acrylic paints. “He chooses color with absolute certainty. There are no aesthetic norms; the world is open to him, with no reason to resist any notion that he has.â€
Grace said that where many painters struggle to blend colors without leaving sharp edges, “Ben just takes the brush, dips it in the red and paints; then he dips it into the blue without washing it. It’s very spontaneous.†After he has finished a piece (and
Grace said he knows emphatically when it’s finished), he looks at it to learn what he has painted, then provides the title.
“Ben has several things he really loves and weather is one of them,†said a friend, Deborah Grammer. It’s obvious in his titles: “Purple Rain,†“Gigantic Tornado†and “It’s Raining Again,†among others.
“It’s wonderful to see the confidence he has about the work he does — and he should,†said Chris Beacham, who lives and works in downtown Carrboro (he’s a policy consultant at RTS) and became an artist himself about four years ago during a mid-life crisis. He too is a student of Grace. “Maggi helped me through a very bad time in my life. She taught me how to think.†He now chairs the Carr-boro Arts Commission.
Danny Lloyd of Carrboro has known Ben all his life. “His father, Barrett Gunter, was a college roommate at UNC,†Lloyd said. “We go to a lot of games together. Ben’s a diehard Tar Heel basketball fan.†Ben was happy to see Lloyd, who very much liked his art.
Ben and his father, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Durham Regional Hospital, enjoy a close relationship, and a highlight of the evening was when Barrett arrived with another group of supporters.
Afterwards, Barrett told me that by the end of the event about 60 people had visited. “We were told that it was one of the best turnouts they’ve had and that nobody ever sells anything at these shows.†Ben, however, sold four paintings.
“Ben, I think, sells himself a little bit short, but he and his art teacher, Maggi, have a pretty special relationship,†Barrett said. “He’s able to capture things. It’s something he enjoys.â€
“His art is beautiful for art’s sake — not because of his disability,†Grace said.
Contact Valarie Schwartz at 923-3746 or valeriekays@mac.com