WILMINGTON, N.C. — A critically-acclaimed national author, college professor, talented musician and modern-day Renaissance man has been selected as the 2015 North Carolina Azalea Festival featured artist-Wilmington’s own Clyde Edgerton.

Edgerton took up oil painting after discovering the art of local architect and artist Chip Hemingway. Plein air landscapes are Edgerton’s forte, though he is also beginning to work with human faces, human form and abstraction.

His painting for the Azalea Festival will be unveiled Thursday, Oct. 16, at the Official Artwork debut sponsored by Wilmington Health. The unveiling begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Terraces of Sir Tyler, 1826 Sir Tyler Drive.

“I’m honored to be this year’s Azalea Festival artist, especially in view of the fact that all sorts of excellent but little-recognized artists perform and work in our community,” says Edgerton. “The mission of the Azalea Festival-to showcase nationally the rich array of Wilmington’s art, gardens, history, and culture-is spot on. Within our borders are communities and cultures that exist within a broader Southern culture of inclusion…art, gardens, history and culture. The Azalea Festival will continue to bring our Wilmington communities together-to make things happen in a big way.”

Along with being an accomplished artist, Edgerton is well-known for his illustrious literary career. He has published 10 novels, a memoir and a nonfiction book about fatherhood. He is the Thomas S. Kenan III Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at UNCW, where he teaches fiction and nonfiction writing as well as-currently-a course on literature, race relations, community and culture in the South. He lives in Wilmington with his wife, Kristina, and their three children, Nathaniel, Ridley, and Truma.

“Clyde is one of those rare individuals who can creatively do it all. I feel that as an artist who is a writer, he tells a story within each of one of his paintings. The festival is so fortunate to have him as our featured artist,” says 2015 North Carolina Azalea Festival President Liz Carroll.

Thursday also marks the beginning of the Azalea Festival Children’s Art Contest. The contest is open to elementary and middle school children in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender Counties. Young artists are asked to submit an illustration of their favorite Azalea Festival tradition. Children’s Art Contest first place winners receive an invitation to the 2015 Governor’s Press Conference in Raleigh to present official contest artwork, an invitation to ride in the 2015 North Carolina Festival Parade, and Festival tickets and other prizes. The deadline is January 16, 2015. Winners will be notified in February. For more information click here.

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