Overton Arts Hosts Paint Livingston Event

The Overton County Arts Council will celebrate the art of painting Saturday with the first-ever Paint Livingston Event.

Overton County Arts Council President Tim Richardson said 38 artists coming from throughout Tennessee will paint pictures of different locations throughout Overton County. The event will also have a quick draw competition and various art sales. Richardson said they are hosting the event to encourage kids to be more creative.

“Increasingly these days there is so much focus on math and science and that’s very important of course,” Richardson said. “Our kids need to focus on math and science but we really want to make sure that the kids in particular have a chance to explore their more creative side and to learn to see the beauty in the natural world around them.”

Richardson said the event is a way to carry on the groundwork of a Livingston native and painter named Budd Bishop. Richardson said Bishop has passed away but will always be remembered for his efforts in igniting a passion for visual arts in Livingston during the late 90s and early 2000s.

“Budd was just a force of nature and he was a prolific painter and community activist,” Richardson said. “He did a lot of things to promote the arts and to promote the downtown revitalization that we now have and we are sort of reaping the rewards from.”

Richardson said he hopes the event will have an economic impact on Livingston.

“We hope that the shop owners on the square will see an uptick,” Richardson said. “We have marketed our event throughout the Upper Cumberland. We hope and expect to get a good crowd to come out and see these artists work.”

Richardson said the artists will take their paintings once completed to the Millard Oakley Public Library to be displayed and sold. Richardson said the money will go towards the Overton County Arts Council’s programs.