Art & Antique Show and Sale supports Columbus Museum

Véronique Chabot started painting 12 years ago when her husband, Philippe, was stationed in Djibouti.

Her first American exhibit will be part of the Columbus Museum’s Sixth annual Art & Antique Show and Sale this weekend.

Chabot’s first exhibit was in Africa at Camp Lemonier, which houses the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa of the United States Central Command, as well as several foreign military units, including the French.

In her charmingly accented English, Chabot (pronounced Sha-Bo, with the t silent) says she has always enjoyed painting.

“I paint when I don’t work,” she said. In France, she was the principal of a Catholic school. She is also a special needs teacher. “I painted a lot in Africa and I've painted a lot in the United States.”

Chabot’s husband, a lieutenant colonel in the French Army, is the French liaison officer at Fort Benning. The family has been in Georgia for three years and will return to France this summer. Home is a small village on the west coast of France called La Rochelle.

Their children, Victor, 11, and Anouk, 7, are enrolled in Fort Benning schools.

“Normally, I don't paint every day, but I need to paint every day,” Chabot said. The problem is her children don't like it when she’s occupied with painting because it takes time away from them. Her studio is set in the family’s sun room, which is filled with the children's toys. She mostly paints during the day while the children are at school.

Her dream is to be able to paint all day and all night, she said.

Chabot dreams about painting when she’s sleeping, and sometimes she'll wake up and sketch what she remembers from her dream.

She joined the Columbus Artists' Guild, and has become great friends with internationally known artist Bruno Zupan and his wife, who live in Columbus part of the year.

“Bruno is a great artist and I am very proud to be a friend,” Chabot said.

While Chabot is a self-taught artist, she is currently taking classes from another French artist, Lillian Nublat, who lives in Birmingham and comes to the Phenix City Art Center twice a week.

Her new teacher is helping her understand the use of color and texture, Chabot said. “It's very interesting for me. I learned I needed to put more paint on the canvas.”

Nublat is trying to teach Chabot, who is more into realism, to paint in the Impressionistic way, but she's balking.

“I think we can mix the difference styles to find my own style,” Chabot said.

The show

Columbus Museum director Tom Butler is proud to say the Art & Antique Show and Sale has become one of the premier antique, decorative and fine art events in the country. More than 30 nationally acclaimed antique dealers and regional artists participate in the event.

“Guests may take a cooking class from renown Chef Jamie Keating, and learn how to mix it up in the home and garden with our featured guest experts, Charles Faudree and Paul Redman,” Butler said. “Plus, guests will have the chance to purchase beautiful plants from the Show’s wonderful plant shop. The Art and Antique Show & Sale is the major annual fundraiser for the Columbus Museum.”

He said the nearly $70,000 expected to be raised will help make exhibitions and educational programs possible.