Photo Caption: The Canal by Charles Thomas Cox. Pieces of his work can be found at Cheekwood, David Lipscomb University, Lifeway, and numerous area banks. Featured in American Art Collector and Nashville Arts Magazine, Cox will be the featured artist in the American Art Collector Magazine in April 2013.

New Exhibit Open Nov. 21 through Dec. 21

(COLUMBIA, Tenn. - Nov. 19, 2012) - - - Columbia State Community College welcomes three Tennessee award-winning oil painters to the Pryor Art Gallery beginning Wednesday, Nov. 21 for a show titled The Art of Oil. Anne Blair Brown, Charles Thomas Cox and Gary Young will be displayed in the gallery through Friday, Dec. 21.

Brown's paintings have focused on urban and rural landscapes, people and interior spaces. Her work is displayed in galleries from Provincetown, Mass. to Carmel, Calif., from Boca Raton, Fla. to Leiper's Fork, Tenn. Her work resides in the permanent collection of the Tennessee State Museum and in many private collections world-wide. A native of Rhode Island, she currently resides in Nashville, Tenn.

Gary Young entered the art world later in life than most painters. His first oil painting was completed sometime after his fiftieth birthday. Young embraces impressionism in his work, believing that art is best experienced as an emotional response rather than a portrait of what we see. Young has won awards and honorable mentions from art guilds and exhibitions, including the Madison Art Club of Madison, Ind. And the Memorial Award from the Central South National Juried Exhibition. He is also a member of Chestnut Group, an organization of artists dedicated to preserving areas of historical locales and aesthetically significant places. A native of Houston, Texas, Young lives in Brentwood, Tenn.

Charles Thomas Cox found his passion for art while in high school in Chattanooga, Tenn. Art studies brought him from the Ringling School of Art, Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, the University of Tennessee at Nashville and David Lipscomb University. After graduating, Cox taught art courses for Lipscomb before moving to positions with advertising agencies as an illustrator and finally settling back in Nashville as a staff artist with Methodist Publishing House. Fifteen years ago, he began painting full-time. His work has won awards with 2012 Eastern Regional of Oil Painters of America, first place in Oil in the Central South Show and first place in show with the Tennessee Art League.

"We are very excited to have these incredibly talented oil painters in the Pryor Gallery," said Rusty Summerville, Curator of the Pryor Art Gallery at Columbia State. "We are even more pleased to be able to invite the public to meet the artists at the upcoming open house reception in December."

The Pryor Art Gallery is in the Waymon L. Hickman building on the Columbia campus. The exhibit is free and open to the public Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The college will be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 22-23 for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Columbia State is a two-year college, serving a nine-county area in southern Middle Tennessee with locations in Columbia, Franklin, Lawrenceburg, Lewisburg and Clifton. As Tennessee's first community college, Columbia State is committed to increasing access and enhancing diversity at all five campuses. Columbia State is a member of the Tennessee Board of Regents, the sixth largest higher education system in the nation. For more information, please visit www.columbiastate.edu.