Shared studio space beginning March 2012

Rob takes a photo of Kate in our shared studio

Une jeune fille by Brenda Behr, 10x8" oil on panel

Rob  had a free standing gallery/studio at Goldsboro’s Village Green which he operated until early 2012. At the beginning of March that year, he had moved his studio downtown into the Arts Council of Wayne County where we jointly shared a studio. Below is the announcement I made of that studio in my Behr Path newsletter, “Behr Path 108 — Meet My New Painting Buddy”, dated February 26, 2012.

Please join me next Friday, March 2, 5-8pm in downtown Goldsboro for the premier First Friday of the Arts Council of Wayne County. You’ll find me in a studio on the second floor.

Big News! I’ll soon be sharing studio space (mentioned above) with another artist at the recently relocated Arts Council in downtown Goldsboro. What evolved from my request to have a place one day a week in which to paint portraits is now a shared space with vetenarian-turned artist Robert Rigsby.

My primary focus will continue to be plein air painting. So, if you want to visit me in Goldsboro, do call first and I’ll arrange to meet you either en plein air or in my studio. Since Robert and I are both primarily plein air painters, we’ll be showing at the studio mostly By Appointment.

In February 2012 our painting journey began

Yates Mill by Robert Rigsby, oil on linen

Creek in Winter by Brenda Behr, 10x8" oil on panel

I am tickled. I found a whole slug of Rob’s paintings on my computer. I apologize that I do not know the sizes, or for sure, the titles of all of his works. I do know that for most of the time we painted together, Rob was painting on stretched linen.

It did not take much time for Rob and I to figure out that it would be a lot more fun and a lot more economic to car pool on our trips to the long-pose figure study sessions at Artspace, and that we could tack on an afternoon plein air excursion to these outings. Thus, our trips to Raleigh continued. In late February we visited Yates Mill just off Lake Wheeler Road south of Raleigh. I painted the creek; Rob painted the Mill. Sometimes we painted the same view; sometimes, not. Our plein air paintings were about painting, not about chatting; we had time for plenty of that during our commutes.

Nude figure study

Christina’s First Pose, 16x12" oil on linen

Over the next several years, Robert and I would continue to bump into one another. Once at an art market that proved not-so-lucrative; another time, perusing art supplies at the local Michael’s; again, when we were given simultaneous, but separate, gallery shows at the Arts Council of Wayne County.

You will think I am joking here, but when in early 2012 I bumped into Robert at an Artspace long-pose figure session in Raleigh, I realized how very serious he was about his painting. Figure study sessions is not where the lecherous go to peep at naked ladies, or necessarily where one learns to draw, but where committed artists go to hone their drawing and painting skills.

I do not have one of Robert’s nudes to share, but I will say this figure later became one of Robert’s nudes because he bought the painting from me. As I was painting the model and wanted sincerely to get Robert’s input, it was not so much a compliment to me why he responded, “Perfect.”

Meeting Robert, the Veterinarian

Most of my memories of Rob Rigsby will include his paintings, but first the story of how we met in 2007.

He owned his own practice at Goldsboro Veterinary Hospital which I had been told was the only veterinary practice in Wayne County that would treat exotic animals. My “exotic” animal was a lop-eared bunny named Magic that I loved with all my heart. I had brought Magic with me on my flight home from Minneapolis after having left North Carolina for thirty-seven years.

“My mother just died, and I can’t handle anymore loss right now. I need to buy some time,” were perhaps the first words out of my mouth when I first met Dr. Rigsby. My sweet bunny Magic was sick and after almost nine years with me, was preparing to die. I cry now when I think of it. And so, Robert helped me keep Magic alive until I was ready to let him go. He is the vet who helped facilitate the process of my letting go.

Dr. Robert C. Rigsby, Jr. 

July 1956 - February 2018