It’s a Dog’s Life at Pittsboro’s Carolina Brewery and Grill

By Forrest C. Greenslade
Posted Sunday, February 10, 2008

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Pittsboro, NC - Chatham County painter Shannon Spoor Bueker will exhibit a whimsical collection of canine shenanigans in the February/March Chatham Artists Guild show at the Carolina Brewery and Grill on route 15/501 in Chatham County. "Dog Life" contains over a dozen paintings of dogs in the woods, both joyful and trouble-making. Art-lovers, dog-lovers and brew-lovers are invited to meet the artist at a reception on Sunday, March 2nd from 4 to 6.

“I love dogs. I love their beauty, energy, silliness, optimism and intensity,” Bueker says. “Living with dogs in a rural country setting has been filled with joys and punctuated by sorrows. I have learned over and over that dogs are predators. It's great to let them run in the woods, but they definitely do not always tread lightly on their paths,” she continues. “I care for all animals, so in my years of dog ownership, I leashed up my dogs more and more. That way, I could look the other animals in the eye without guilt. We are all tangled up together in nature, each of us affecting the others we live with and alongside.”

“Every one of Shannon’s paintings tells a story of dogs intersecting with Chatham’s rural nature,” notes Forrest Greenslade, Guild President. “In one painting, squirrels and foxes scamper in all directions just ahead of curious dogs. In another, an opossum scrambles to the top of a tree just in time to escape a night time pack of mischief.”

Bueker’s use of line and spare color pallet give these paintings an earthy feel full of action. “For me, the most compelling puzzle artistically continues to be orchestrating line and color, she explains.

“The process of my painting is layering color and line, keeping wispy lines of charcoal, describing movement and strengths, and developing a rich, varied surface. I see my work as trying to expose the grace, reveal the density of it, unfolding the layers of interactions, interconnections and the surprising overlaps.”

Bueker has lived in Chatham for 15 years. Her studio is in her basement, where she and the paintings vie for space and light like plants. “This life we have is a gift. It is a wonder to me that it comes in so many shapes, sizes and forms,” she asserts. “My drawing and painting have long been motivated by the need to respond to the beauty I see around me -- the amazing grace of trees and plants, the fluidity of animals, the outrageous colors of the earth.”

The Chatham Artists Guild is a non-profit organization of regionally and nationally recognized visual artists. Each year, Guild members open their studios to the public through the Chatham Open Studio Tour. Visitors travel throughout lovely rural Chatham County to meet artists in their own work spaces, and share their ideas on art and the creative process.

Carolina Brewery, a locally-owned brewery and restaurant, has drawn international attention for its handcrafted beers, all brewed in-house by Brewmaster Jon Connolly and his team. Carolina Brewery is equally dedicated to food and its expanding menu, which raises the bar on traditional bar fare. Both the Chapel Hill and Pittsboro kitchens feature Culinary Institute of America graduates.

Carolina Brewery & Grill Pittsboro feature the same award-winning beer and great food as the Chapel Hill location. Brewmaster Connolly oversees brewing operations in Pittsboro, and the new facility produces all beer for Carolina Brewery’s expanding restaurant, grocery, and direct to consumer sales. In the kitchen, Head Chef and Culinary Institute of America graduate Andrew Forster has moved from Chapel Hill to run the Pittsboro restaurant.