Barkhamsted Artist Paints America

BARKHAMSTED — Carol Wallace, reknowned painter of historic landmarks and a 35-year Barkhamsted resident, was pleasantly surprised recently to find she’d made it into the 2007-08 edition of "Who’s Who in American Art."

Not that it should have come as a surprise; she’s been represented in numerous galleries across the country for decades, and collectors of her art include such personages as Rudy Giuliani and Clint Eastwood.

Wallace has spent a great deal of her life in Barkhamsted, but she was born and raised in Bucks County, Pa., a place with a rich American history.

"It has a lot of history right there," she said. "George Washington crossed the Delaware there. There’s a lot of old houses and barns, rolling green hills."

In short, a great place for an artist with a sense of history to grow up.

"There was a lot there that influenced me as far as my thinking with preservation," she said.

Wallace speaks with some regret about the way time has changed the quiet countryside where she spent her youth. She visits often, as her father still lives there. But as new developments spring up all around on those rolling green hills and the old buildings are torn down, Wallace’s desire to preserve a piece of that history just deepens.

Wallace herself is known across the country for her deft brush strokes and dedication to preserving America’s heritage through art. In 1997, she founded the Preserve America Collection, dedicated to encouraging Americans to "share their personal stories of preservation, conservation and culture through art and written history."

For this project, Wallace has completed myriad watercolor and pen-and-ink depictions of famous American sites, reproduced on postcards, notecards, stationery and other mediums — complete with historical information on the back.

Things started out slow. But in 1999, while she was working on her Berkshire Collection, painting historic buildings in and around western Massachusetts, North Adams, Mass.-based Excelsior Printing Co. took interest in Preserve America and sent Wallace on a tour across the country to capture the spirit of the nation through her artistic talents.

A brochure was created and sent out to some 400 historic addresses across the country, and the requests started pouring in from hotels, inns, historical societies and the like. In the seven years since, she has painted scores of American landmarks, and her art has become increasingly sought after. She has done paintings for tennis great Ivan Lendl and the Manheim Steamroller.

Today, thousands of brochures have been distributed, and Wallace is a busy woman. Her husband, Rick Wallace, a former attorney, frequently joins her on her artistic excursions.

"He’s semi-retired, so I’m the one that’s working, traveling around the country. He accompanies me on my trips," she said.

The couple, now married for 38 years, have two children: Richard Jr., 35, is vice president in charge of evaluations for Allied Capital in Virginia and Christine Wallace Nelson, 33, is a former basketball star at Northwestern Regional High School who went on to play at Fairfield University. She currently works as a pharmaceutical representative in Mooresville, N.C.

Carol Wallace has painted since she was a child.

"I think art defines me," she said. Though she now executes commissions, painting and drawing landscapes, animals, florals and more, she said her favorites are her paintings of American antiquity.

"My fine art is my base," she said. "A lot of people fly me out to their locations," which span the country. She has painted the 21 Club in New York City, the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Historic Jakoke Inn at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. She has rafted down the Menden Hall River in Alaska, snapping photographs, which she later transferred to watercolor.

Today, even her photography is starting to attract attention. She has two major projects in the works, outside of her ongoing Preserve America efforts. Her artwork and photography will be on display in Simsbury, Conn., and a huge stationery company in New York City, which she declined to name, has commissioned her to paint various New York City landmarks. She also has a Web site dedicated to Preserve America, preserveamerica.com.

Wallace’s heart remains with her Preserve America collection. "We tell the stories of America," she said of her work and the "Gatekeepers of History," the public service branch of Preserve America. "These are people who have spent much of their lives preserving Americana."