Southport Magazine

A look back at Southport’s Art Legend
Story by Kass Fincher
Native son Art Newton is arguably the most well-known artist that Southport has ever produced. He was an accomplished photographer who, in the 1940s and 1950s, catalogued the changing waterfront and the devastation of Hurricane Hazel. But it is his oils, watercolors and pencil sketches that continue to capture our imaginations and the colorful vitality of our lovely region.

Celebrating the artist’s life and works is our own well-known resident, Tommy Harrelson, in his book, “Southport’s Art Newton.” The paintings and drawings leap from the page in a beautifully illustrated publication that not only documents Newton’s work, but also the changing Southport landscape during this time. Harrelson describes his interest in the project. “My dad owned Dan Harrelson Grocery on the waterfront” he says. “Art painted it and my dad bought the grocery store painting in 1950. The store was destroyed in the hurricane, so I wanted to hold onto that painting. I would put it out at my business later and share it with people. Someone would say, ‘oh you like Art Newton? I’ve got one, I’ll sell it to you!’ So I formed my collection that way.”
Harrelson hung his collection of three pencil drawings and five paintings in his front room so he could look at them. “I guess they started talking to me,” he says. “I started thinking about how I might share them and other Newton works. Someone said why don’t you write a book? I said well, that can’t be that hard. So I did! I had no idea what I was doing, but I had a lot of help along the way.”
Harrelson chronicles Newton’s life from childhood to his death in 1964 at age 42. As a child nicknamed “Snooks,” Newton’s parents died within a week of each other when Art was only 13 years old. Raised by his aunt and uncle in Southport, his interest in and talent for drawing surfaced early. After graduating high school, he worked in Wilmington to earn money for formal art training, eventually entering the Central Academy of Commercial Art in Cincinnati.
When WWII erupted, Newton entered the Coast Guard and served for four years as a photographer. After leaving the service, he received more art training in New York. But never forgetting his hometown of Southport, Newton came often to exhibit his work, and in 1946 met his wife, Valli Bryant, here. They lived in New York City for a few years where he worked in the art department at Avon. But when their first child Jon Arthur was born in 1949, they decided to move back to Southport in search of a more family-oriented community.
Newton was determined to make a living here with his art, painting everything from houses to portraits. As Southport’s first professional artist, Newton opened a small store on Moore Street where he sold cameras, art supplies and his own artwork. He also offered art classes in the back room. “When I was a boy my sister and I both took art lessons from him,” says Harrelson. “My sister – Anne Ward – is an accomplished artist in her own right. She has a beautiful oil painting of his, one of the few oils. The painting is in her home here.”
When he wasn’t pursuing his artistic interests, Newton was fishing and shrimping to earn more money for his family. Many of his scenes are of local fishermen and shrimp boats, busy at work on the Cape Fear. Perhaps one of his most famous works is of the Roland, a ship carrying 15 refugees from Russia that entered our waters in 1948 and whose occupants were eventually granted the right to stay in America. Newton photographed the then-sunken vessel and painted several watercolors of the scene.
Harrelson describes Newton’s process. “He flew in a plane from the fish factory and took photos,” he relates. “There were two fish factories – menhaden plants – they had a landing strip there and they would fly out and look for schools of fish and let the fishermen know where they were. There’s one beautiful painting of the waterfront with the Roland in it.”
A co-founder of the Associated Artists of Southport, Newton was also involved with the Wilmington arts scene. One of his most prominent patrons there was Samuel Bissette, president of the Peoples Federal Savings and Loan. Bissette was a prominent businessman and ardent art lover, eventually becoming an accomplished artist himself. His collection of Newton’s work can still be seen in what is now First Citizens Bank on the corner of Market and Fourth Street in Wilmington.
Trained primarily in commercial art, Newton also worked at the Wilmington television station WECT (formerly WMFD) and Wilmington Printing Company as art director. Additionally, he designed and wrote several travel and tourism publications. Unfortunately, much of his commercial artwork has been lost over time.
As many artists would tell you, it’s tough to support a family on your art. Newton pursued every avenue he could to support his wife and three children, and despite local and regional acclaim as an accomplished artist, in a small community like ours it was a struggle. In 1964, Newton died on the river he so loved; his body was found upriver from his home. Explanations vary as to the cause but most believe it was accidental.
Though he died too young, Newton’s art continues to inspire, in many ways thanks to Harrelson’s dogged efforts to track down Newton’s works and share them. Today, Harrelson’s book is widely available in Southport – at the Maritime Museum, Ports of Call, Southport Visitors’ Center and Ricky Evans Gallery. Upon request, the Evans Gallery can also make prints of any image in the book. Harrelson credits area collectors and gallery owners for helping him put the book together to celebrate Art Newton’s life and work. “Almost all the collectors have Oak Island or Southport ties,” he says. “They were so generous and trusting in lending me their pieces. Ricky and Debbie Evans took each piece and scanned or photographed them to create digital images. They would remat or reframe them too. I so appreciate their help.”
It’s what a small community like Southport does – we join together to celebrate one of our own.