Davidson County people: Artist Bob Timberlake
An Artist Who
Bloomed Where He Was Planted
If
you need evidence that Davidson County is an ideal place to live, look
no further than artist Bob Timberlake, who, despite his worldwide
popularity, continues to live in the same Rosewood Drive residence in
Lexington that’s been his home since 1960.
Timberlake’s career as a painter was born five years after he moved
into the home. Married to his high-school sweetheart, the former Kay
Musgrave, and the father of three young children, Timberlake was
working at the time with his brother Tim, five years his senior, in
the family’s longtime gas company, Carolane. Combing the pages of
Life magazine, he happened upon a story and photographs of paintings
by Andrew Wyeth that moved him to turn a hobby into a business.
Now more than 36 years later, “The World of Bob Timberlake”
encompasses the art world, the furniture world and beyond. He built a
new gallery here in 1998, moving from a downtown location that now
houses the J. Smith Young YMCA Youth Center. Although the gallery is
about three miles from downtown and close to Interstate 85, it was
annexed into the city simply because Timberlake wanted a Lexington
address, says Frank Stoner, gallery president.
“Bob has worked very hard to be successful,” Stoner says, “but
he likes the simple life. And he wants to give back to the city and
county.”
You could say that’s one reason why Timberlake still calls Lexington
home. But it’s more than that, says the artist, whose biography,
Partial to Home, A Memoir of the Heart, was written with noted author
Jerry Bledsoe and published in 2000.
“Our family dates to Lexington to the 1740s,” he says. “We like
to say that Kay’s kin to half of the country and I’m kin to the
other half. You know the expression, ‘Where your heart is, so is
your treasure.’ It’s like that for us.”
Stoner, a lifelong friend of Timberlake’s, went to work as his first
gallery manager in 1977. He says it’s been a wonderful experience to
work with — not for — one of the most recognizable artists in
America.
“I knew Bob before he painted professionally,” Stoner says, “and
he has always maintained his humility, and he appreciates the
blessings that he’s been given.”
Timberlake began painting professionally in 1970. Soon, his paintings
were selling out at the Hammer Galleries in New York City. By the
mid-1980s, the local gallery had outgrown its space, and friends
encouraged Timberlake to build a new location. Then the furniture
world came calling.
When Dixie Furniture was sold to MASCO (now Lexington Home Brands),
furniture officials happened to visit Timberlake’s new studio. A few
years later when they decided to create a furniture line around a
prolific artist, they remembered Bob Timberlake. It debuted in 1990
and has become the country’s top-selling line of furniture,
according to Stoner.
A trip to a hunting lodge helped Timberlake draw inspiration for the
line. He and his companions had fished all day, eaten well, and
retired to comfortable old chairs around a roaring fire. He felt good,
and life was good.
Timberlake thought, why not design furniture that’s like that? So he
did, and now the 24,000-square-foot gallery shows off not only artwork
but furniture and accessories as well.
The gallery brings visitors and tax dollars to the city, Stoner says.
About 70,000 people visited last year and last month’s annual open
house drew the largest attendance ever. In fact, interest is so high
that a gallery recently was opened in Blowing Rock.
Stoner notes, “This isn’t just a place, this is a feeling. This is
a reflection of Bob and his love of life and his love of people. This
is a lifestyle that is real. People know that. People are searching
now for something of value, warmth and goodness, and Bob Timberlake
has that.”
And the artist, who has rubbed elbows with presidents and royalty,
maintains it in Lexington, no less. “You sort of bloom where
you’re planted, and that’s here,” he says. “There’s nothing
better than coming home. When I went to visit Prince Charles at
Buckingham Palace, the next day I was having breakfast at Whitley’s
(a Lexington barbecue restaurant).”
While Timberlake these days is perhaps best known for his furniture
line, he remains foremost an artist. “Painting on Familiar
Ground,” a continuation of a joint exhibition of art by Timberlake
and Wyeth, will be on display at the Chapel Hill Museum through March
31.
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