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Discover Smith Mountain Lake
SUMMER 2015
34
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BY KATE HOFSTETTER
Ross Arkell is fond of saying that his wife,
Judy, was only 12 years old when they got
married 55 years ago. Then, he likes to add
that he was just 18. People might believe him
if it weren’t for the fact they each had their
college diplomas and Ross did four years in
the Navy before they tied the knot.
It’s not their ages, however, that are
exceptional. It’s the vast amount of collecting
they’ve done over their long marriage that
got our attention. Moreover, they are both
accomplished, fruitful artists whose works
have been regularly featured at local art
shows. It is, they say, what keeps them going
besides each other.
They have stopped buying now, but they
continue to create, although every available
wall and corner of their Water’s Edge home
serves as a showcase for their treasures. The
new pieces must be stored vertically in the
busy workroom downstairs and a former
guest bedroom upstairs. Even each of the
bathrooms displays art objects.
There are miniature scenes in shadow boxes
and on tabletops. Each piece, of course, has
a story, which the two can relate, along with
how much they paid and where they bought
it. Their collections are no doubt the reason
they are on a first name basis with more than
one Roadshow appraiser, although selling
what took almost a lifetime to collect seems
out of the question. It is pretty obvious
that their collectibles bring them a sense of
accomplishment and satisfaction.
Among their prizes are: reverse paintings
(art on the back of glass); homemade area
rugs; old quilts; antique dolls; stuffed bears
(some wearing ancient eye glasses); wood
carvings; doll houses; majolica pottery;
salt glazed pottery; tramp art; prison art;
antique furniture; antique toys; French
beaded wreaths; old oil portraits, which Ross
says (jokingly) are dead relatives; along with
paintings and pastels they have produced
themselves or inherited from Judy’s father,
also an artist who earned his living as an
architect. They likely have enough pieces of
art, antiques and collectibles for a show at
the Louvre.
H ME
is where the is...
Celebrating Art &Marriage
The fact that everything has been thoughtfully displayed
doesn’t keep first time visitors from being overwhelmed.
Certainly, it would take several visits to the home, or several
hours, to take in the details. Having an affinity for art and
collectibles, myself, it was like being the proverbial kid-in-
a-candy-store.
Ross and Judy came to the Lake 22 years ago after he retired
from his job as chief design sculptor for Oldsmobile and
later Pontiac. A sculpture of the newly designed automobile
is the final step in creating those sleek, new, assembly line
models. Automotive sculptors actually build life-sizemodels
from clay. It was while Ross was still at General Motors that
his interest in woodcarving as an art form blossomed. One
of his pieces is called “Dr Detroit”: a red convertible with a
wind-blownman in sunglasses behind the wheel. A Chrysler
executive purchased it for Lee Iacocca as a birthday present.
Supposedly, Iacocca still owns the carving, which Ross has
replicated for his personal enjoyment.
“I draw in volume as opposed to line drawing,” Ross
explained, “so I would draw something and then enlarge it
on the office copy machine and carve it out of laminated
(scrap) pine. I used so much of it that everyone at work
started calling it ‘Ross Wood’”.
Drawing in volume gives the picture or object a three
dimensional look as compared to the flat, one dimensional
look of line drawing.
Although he single handedly removed two dead trees from
his property the day before we met, Ross mainly puts
brush to canvas these days. Oil is his favored medium. Of
particular interest are his “shaped” paintings, so called in
this case because the canvas is stretched over a frame that
has, at least partially, been
cut to the shape of the image
being painted. They are
unframed and eye-catching.
Judy prefers pastels and still
life. She also teaches art in
her home twice a week to
a handful of women, who,
she says, are good friends.
Both Ross and Judy’s work,
in recent years, has been
featured at the Westlake
Library and in Roanoke’s
Market Gallery, although
over the years they have
also had one and two-man
shows at several colleges
in the Roanoke Valley and
Discover Smith Mountain Lake
Winter 2015
