O’Brien Returns Home with Powerful Art Exhibit

 

 

MORGANTOWN — An exhibit of the Art of Pat O’Brien will open at the Butler County Arts Guild with a reception Saturday, March 7, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Guild’s gallery at 115 W. Ohio St., Morgantown. The public is invited to view the exhibit, meet the artist and enjoy refreshments. The exhibit will remain on display through March 28.

O’Brien is a 1975 graduate of Butler County High School, where he was active in football, baseball and track. He went on to play football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. It was at Centre that his interest in art began after he enrolled in a winter-term drawing class.

“The class was taught by a grumpy old Texan named Jack Kellam,” O’Brien said. He earned an “A” in the class — grades he said were hard to come by at Centre — and continued taking every art class Kellam taught.

After graduation, O’Brien entered the grocery business, owning stores in Lewisport, Kentucky, and Boonville and Tell City, Indiana. When he later sold the stores, he told his wife, Joetta Pearson O’Brien, that he wanted to return to painting. With guidance from Debbie Atwell of Gray Wolf Studio and Rhonda McEnroe of Enroe Studio, the 2019 Kentucky Derby Artist, he began again, focusing primarily on oils of buildings and portraits.

Several moments have marked his artistic journey. In 2014, the beheading of journalist Jim Foley in Syria deeply affected O’Brien. Creating a painting of Foley helped ease his grief. He sent the painting to Foley’s mother and began corresponding with her. Diane Foley later said she would use the painting to benefit a foundation in her son’s name.

O’Brien also painted the late glassblower Stephen Rolfe Powell, a longtime Centre College professor and world-renowned artist. Years after sending the painting to Powell’s family, O’Brien was surprised to see it displayed among Powell’s works at the Art Center of The Bluegrass in Danville.

He later painted a portrait of former president George W. Bush when Bush began painting portraits of fallen soldiers. Bush responded with a kind note and comments about paint mixing and blending.

Despite his artistic accomplishments, O’Brien still proudly calls himself a “Butler County Bear.” He recalls as his proudest athletic moment playing Warren Central in 1974. With only 17 players on Butler County’s roster compared to Warren Central’s, more than 100 players and 22 seniors, officials considered forfeiting the game.

 

 

“We voted to play the game,” O’Brien said. “We lost. We were not shut out. Warren Central fans shook our hands and hugged us after the game. I cry every time one of the ‘17’ dies.”

O’Brien and Joetta have been married for 43 years and live on Kingfisher Lake in Daviess County with their dog, Radar, “The Wonder Dog.” They sell real estate in Kentucky. They have two children, Ian and Maika, and four grandchildren, with one on the way, who live in the Napa, California, area.

He is the son of the late Richard and Lois Faye Childers O’Brien. His siblings are the late Kevin Lee O’Brien and Kathy (Matthew) Hampton of Logansport.

In addition to exhibiting at the Owensboro Art Guild, the Owensboro Museum of Art and Kentucky Wesleyan College, O’Brien accepts occasional commissions and performs art restoration for antique dealers. He acknowledges that he continues to struggle with tones and blending and expects he always will.

The Arts Guild gallery is open Fridays from noon to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Butler County Arts Guild meets the last Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. For more information, contact the Butler County Arts Guild at 270-999-0834.