Written by AARON OGLESBEE   |   Photographed by SARA MOORE

If there were a category for hospitality, Martin Pate, voted Best of Coweta’s best local artist for 2023, surely would have taken that honor, too.

The popular Newnan artist is true to his Southern upbringing. Visitors to his home and studio will likely catch sight of him coming out to the porch to welcome them almost as soon as they pull into his driveway. With a warm smile and a handshake, he’ll usher them into a beautiful, early 20th century home that he and his wife, Rhonda, have painstakingly restored to its original style and feel.

That Martin has a powerfully developed sense of the aesthetics of architecture is no surprise to those who have enjoyed his paintings. In fact, as a young man considering his future, he had originally thought to pursue a career as an architect. But when his brother was accepted into Sarasota’s Ringling College of Art and Design, Martin, who also had a love and talent for painting, took notice.

“When I saw what my brother was doing, I knew that was what I wanted to do,” Martin recalls.

After graduating with honors from Ringling, Martin and Rhonda, his high school sweetheart, married in 1981 and moved to Atlanta where he had accepted a position as an illustrator.

“I’ve always loved illustrations,” he says. “My heroes [such as N.C. Wyeth] were illustrators.”

Recalling that time in his life, the artist smiles, saying, “I graduated, got married, got a job, and moved to Atlanta – all in a month. It was insane, but it was really exciting.”

In 1984, the family relocated to Newnan where, having left his position in Atlanta, Martin began to focus more on portraiture and figurative painting.

Over the years, much of his work was featured regionally and nationally at various exhibitions and galleries. A few years ago, several of his pieces were exhibited at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art under the collective title of “Within: Looking Beyond the Surface.”

That title could describe the overall artistic perspective behind so much of his work. One of those paintings, “Within,” is of a lovely ballerina kneeling on the floor, her body resting on the back of her legs, her hands on her knees, and her head bowed in introspection and contemplation.

The painting is the quintessence of Martin Pate’s focus on that which is just beyond the surface of the obvious or apparent.

In the early 1990s, Martin began to work extensively in interpretive art in what became an extended relationship with the National Park Service. His paintings of historical and archaeological sites across the country have assisted the Park Service in educating the public and enhancing public consciousness of the significance of these important sites.

In a related endeavor resulting from a collaborative effort between the National Park Service’s Southeast Archaeological Center and Fort Moore (formerly, Fort Benning), Martin produced a series of well-received paintings depicting different historical eras on the military reservation, ranging from Native American presence to the early 20th century period of the Army base in Columbus.

Throughout his professional career, Martin has enjoyed and nurtured relationships with his fellow artists, both in Newnan and across the country.

Locally, he has long been active in the art community, and over the years he has noted and appreciated the growth of that community. Some of that can be attributed, as he sees it, to young artists developing in local schools. Martin notes, “I’ve judged a lot of high school art shows, and I think the quality of high school art in Coweta County is very good. It’s a lot higher here than when I was in high school. I see a lot of potential.”

In recounting his own time as a student in art school, some of Martin’s most powerful recollections are of the comradery among his peers – but also the competition between them.

“I was very much inspired by my fellow students,” he recalls. “We just pushed each other. We all aimed for that badge of honor.”

That badge: the distinction of having their works displayed in the school’s hallways if instructors deemed them to have risen to a level of excellence.

That appreciation for his contemporaries has not diminished. True to his gracious nature, when asked about his selection as the county’s favorite artist, Martin Pate humbly redirects attention to his peers in the community and asserts: “This county is filled with talented artists.” NCM