Hambidge Art Center is just off Betty Creek Road, which is just outside Dillard, Georgia. It started in 1934 and last year the wild fires came close to the facilities. . It sponsors a wonderful program for artists called the Fellows Program where you are provided an isolated studio and given space to use it. During my time, there I did portraits of several mountain people, including Hugh, shown here. The first time I saw Hugh, he was balancing atop a 15-foot ladder which was atop the cab of his truck. When he came down, I asked him to model for me. Reluctant at first, as are all mountain people, he soon agreed and I was able to quickly capture his craggy likeness in clay. Those were happy days filled with art and the early evenings filled with a thousand fireflies. Not since my youth in the low country of South Carolina had I seen such a glow.
![Hugh_on_Ladder2.jpg](https://static.livebooks.com/e94a7d8560e74c03ad89f3d56bb30524/i/ae82510fd8774684a771a3000a42cbed/1/4SoifmQp45JMgBnHm9g4L/Hugh_on_Ladder2.jpg)
HAMBIDGE FELLOW
![IMG_1340.jpeg](https://static.livebooks.com/e94a7d8560e74c03ad89f3d56bb30524/i/e42f4aa79262493cbb0c9f0bbc00c38a/1/4SoifmQp45JMgBnHm9g4L/IMG_1340.jpeg)