Work by Bigelow artist to be seen in commercial

By Carol Rolf

LITTLE ROCK — Bigelow artist Phyllis Loftin has shown her work in art galleries throughout the River Valley and Ozark area for several years. A glimpse of her work will soon appear on local TV stations as part of one of four commercials promoting Conway.

Loftin’s oil painting, The Voyage Begins, was chosen by the Conway Advertising and Promotion Commission and the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce to be used in the production of one the commercials, which, Loftin said, are designed to attract people to Conway for day trips and weekends. The commercials will be aired throughout the state on broadcast channels and on Conway Corp. cable.

Loftin said the painting depicts the ship, Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower, built in England and sailed to Plymouth, Mass., taking 55 days to arrive, compared to the original 66-day voyage. It is on display at Plymouth.

Loftin, a member of the Conway League of Artists and the Perry County Arts League, was commissioned to paint the 4-by-5-foot painting by Masonic Brady Lodge No. 753 of Little Rock in April 2003. Loftin painted the ship from a photographshe took while on vacation in Plymouth. She said she does not usually work on such large canvases and created a 16-by-20-inch model painting from which to work. “It was hard to get the rigging just right,” she said. She described the work as “big and very detailed.”

Loftin said the Masonic Lodge “graciously loaned” the painting for hanging in Baum Gallery of Fine Art at the University of Central Arkansas while the commercial was filmed.

Barbara Satterfield, director of Baum Gallery, said Loftin’s painting was featured in the gallery along with three large paintings by the late Conway artist, Dorris Curtis. Satterfield said the paintings are among several things “explorers (in the commercials) discover as they visit Conway.”

River Valley Ozark, Pages 134 on 08/10/2008