Of special interest

The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Century Farm Family Program is the focus of a series of paintings by Kannapolis artist Walter Stanford on display now at the Cabarrus Arts Council in Concord.

A total of 17 pieces, created with pastels and acrylic and focus on agricultural life and work scenes, will be on display through May 20. Stanford’s art will also be on display at the Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury Nov. 29-Feb. 12, 2011.

The paintings represent three Century Farms – Indigo Farms in Brunswick County, George Pless and Sons Dairy Farm in Cabarrus County and Brushy Mountain Farm and Orchard in Wilkes County.

Stanford was one of 20 artists to receive a 2009 Regional Artist Project Grant from the Arts and Science Council of N.C. to work on this project. The grants were made possible by support of the N.C. Arts Council, the Blumenthal Endowment, and the arts councils in Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Rutherford and Stanly counties and York, S.C.

Stanford is a 1986 graduate of East Carolina University.

The Century Farm Family Program recognizes farms that have been in continuous family ownership for 100 years or more. To find out more about the Century Farm Program, go to www.ncagr.gov/paffairs/century/.