Southport Magazine

Artist, Barbara McFall is driving force behind successful Southport Art Hub

Story and photos By Carla Edstrom

We are creative beings. Everything we use in daily life was once a mere thought and created tangible by someone. Art is a demonstration of our lives and goes beyond social, economic and cultural barriers. Barbara McFall, the Director of the Brunswick Community College Southport Center on Lord Street, understands not only an artist’s drive but how important the arts are. Being a pottery instructor at the center, I have talked with Barbara many times about her future goals and dreams for the center that she helped build from the ground up. The spark in her eyes and love in her words are evidence that she is right where she belongs. Being a lifelong artist herself, Barbara’s creativity, passion, and support for the arts is the driving force that is behind the BCC Southport campus. They have taken a ram shackled old building and created a haven for artists, craftspeople and musicians where they can enjoy the freedom to create.

Being an NC native, Barbara has a unique perspective on our little town, spending a lot of time as a child around the area. “I grew up in Charlotte, but in many ways, you could say that the Carolina Coast and I grew up together,” said Barbara.  “My earliest memories of the Coast are of the Summer of 1954.  My sister Peggy and I are playing with our cousins in the great room of the Swinson’s cottage in Myrtle Beach. I can still feel the polished pine floors underfoot as we skipped together from one end of the room to the other under the watchful eye of a giant marlin.  We colored beach scenes before bed and posted them on the refrigerator for viewing,” she said. 

Her fond memories of the area as a child were hampered by the hurricane that changed everything about the area. “We returned to the Swinson property in October that year.  This time however it was to inspect the damage done by Hurricane Hazel.  It was total destruction,” explained Barbara.  “There was nothing left standing for miles. The summer home that had shaped my mother’s teenage memories would not be rebuilt. Hazel had cleared the way for Myrtle Beach to become the high-rise tourist destination that it is today,” she said. “In 1954, this County was an agricultural community.  Southport, the County Seat, was a small fishing village with oyster shell roads.  The Brunswick County beaches were just beginning to consider development.  All were in for a major setback.  At high tide, Hazel put the beaches on the bottom of the ocean obliterating 352 of the 357 buildings on Oak Island.  The waterfront fishing industry in Southport was destroyed, never to return.  Having lost its primary livelihood, the local economy languished for nearly twenty years,” she said. “My family returned to the beach year after year during that time, mostly camping at the old Lake Arrowhead Campground.”

As a young woman, Barbara cut her teeth working as an artist. “The year I graduated high school, I spent the summer in Ocean Drive (now North Myrtle) drawing tourist portraits at the Pavilion to earn money for college,” she said. “It was a happy interlude of Beach Music and shag dancing before beginning freshman year as an art major at East Carolina in the Fall of 1966. Over the next twenty years, I married twice, raised two children (a girl and a boy), and made homes in Fort Bragg, Charlotte, Houston, and Phoenix. I worked as a portrait artist and interior decorator as well as in small business financing and the building industry,” said Barbara.  “As I moved around, Mom, Dad, and my two sisters remained anchored in Charlotte.  We all gathered at my younger sister Carol’s beach house on Oak Island for most family holidays,” she said. “In the early ’70s, left with rows of empty storefronts downtown, Southport merchants decided to gather whatever merchandise they could make or find locally and stock the shelves with antiques, collectibles, art, and crafts.  Twelve local artists formed a collaborative, The Associated Artists of Southport, and opened the Franklin Square Gallery in the old school building. Going forward, Southport would develop as a beloved destination for those prizing local galleries, antique shops, and specialty boutiques, fine food, and music.” 

Growing with the coast and seeing the changes first hand, Barbara has a unique perspective on its history, what is happening now and what our future holds. “The ’80s and ’90s saw another major shift in the life and work of Brunswick County,” said Barbara.  “With the development of several major retirement communities, the County became one of the fastest-growing areas in the State and the Nation. And the demographics changed significantly.  What had been a close-knit community of working families with roots in the sea and soil here for many generations was becoming older (50+), wealthier, more highly educated and no longer employed.  In many cases, the newcomers were couples from the urban northeast with no family or friends in this area.”

In 1984, Barbara and her family took off to tour Europe for a year, living in Germany and Greece, and then settled in Roanoke, Virginia. “There we bought an arts/crafts gallery, surrounded ourselves with very talented artists, learned professional picture framing, and hand-built a rustic cabin by a waterfall nestled in a bend of the Blue Ridge Parkway,” she said. “As the children went off to college, I returned also, completing a Masters at Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. at Saybrook,” Said Barbara.  “I joined the tenure track at West Virginia University and soon became Director of the Division of Design and Merchandising with programs in Interior Design, Fashion Design, Product Design, and Design Studies. These were accredited majors serving undergraduate (BS) and graduate students (MS, Ph.D.).  We also led annual study abroad programs in Milan (Fashion and Product) and Prague (Interiors and Design Studies). The Division grew into a School by 2013.  It merged with Landscape Architecture and Resource Management under a new name the WVU School of Design and Community Development,” she said.

In true serendipity, Barbara moved back to Southport at the perfect time. “With my husband’s health declining, I retired to return home to North Carolina,” she said. “At this point, these divergent histories come together as BCC Southport Center,” Barbara explained. “Because the city of Southport was developing as an arts hub, my daughter, her husband and I had bought a summer/retirement home here in 2012.  It was the ultimate fixer-upper. It was, however, only two blocks behind the BCC Lord St. facility which was also under construction.  I found employment as Director of the coming Center and moved here permanently Spring 2014.  I was also juried in as an exhibiting member of Franklin Square Gallery and elected to the Board of the Brunswick Arts Council.”

Barbara’s dream of Southport Center being a local art center is close to reality with more art and music classes in the works, and many more students. “BCC had a firm commitment to a pottery studio and a painting studio at the new Southport Center.  All other classrooms were general purpose. So, with a burgeoning retirement population and strong support for the arts in the area, the BCC Southport Center rapidly took form as a place for adult education in the arts, crafts and cultural heritage. What began in 2015 with a handful of classes has grown to 67 offerings for Fall 2019.  Over 850 registrations were processed in 2018-2019.  We currently employ 25 instructors and 3 staff. Committed students, faculty, staff, administration, and friends all play important roles in the growth and development of a facility such as this. All seems to be aligned to carry this project forward.

* Fall classes are starting in August, so make sure to register today for some of these amazing arts and craft opportunities offered at the Southport  and Leland locations. 

Some of the classes include: Pottery, Songwriting, Fabric Arts, Metalsmithing, Glass Works, Bead Works, Piano, Creative Writing and much more.