Sharing Memories

Watercolors take artist back to the moment

Tom Hoehn calls his artwork — and even showing it for the first time — “selfish.” “I paint from photos I’ve taken on my various travels,” he explains, and when he prints out an image and re-creates it in watercolor, “it brings me back to that time. I get to spend more time in that scene, feel the sun on my face. When it’s done, I’ve got a memory to hang on the wall.”

Hoehn doesn’t intend to sell the 26 artworks

— both paintings and photographs from Italy, France, China and New York — that are on show at Ramo d’Olivo Olive Oil, Vinegar & Wine Bar in downtown Bentonville, either. In fact, he admits it takes courage just to “put myself out there.” But “if others can find enjoyment in them,” he takes satisfaction in that — and is sorry his dad can’t be in on it.

“My father was a self-taught artist. When he passed away I picked up his paints, brushes and papers and followed this same path. I wish that my dad were still here so I could ask him a thing or two about my own painting.”

Part of Hoehn’s inspiration is his dedication to downtown Bentonville and the explosion of culture that has hit the community in the past few years. He says when he moved to town from Rochester, N.Y. five years ago to lead social media marketing for Wal-Mart USA, real estate agents showed him homes in the suburbs. He said no, that with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art just outside of downtown, he expected great things. Now he walks to work and is a member of Bentonville’s Public Arts Advisory Committee, a Peel-Compton Foundation board member and a programming contributor, bringing “legacy films” to the Bentonville Film Festival.

“What I like is you can be part of the growing, shaping and molding of this community,” he says. “That’s pretty exciting.”

COURTESY IMAGE Tom Hoehn creates watercolor images of places he’s visited around the world, including the Rialto Bridge in Venice.

Hoehn