Editor

Red Tree Gallery owner, artist and musician Linda Dye was recently named the 2008 Friend of the Arts by the Fairfield County Arts Council at their annual meeting earlier this month.

Dye, who opened Red Tree Gallery in 2005, has proved to be a promoter of the visual arts, encouraging and exhibiting new artists through her gallery, and is acting as a one-woman music promotion machine, instrumental in getting several new and some well-known musicians to Winnsboro, usually to perform inside the Gallery, setting off what can only be described as an extended party every time someone plays there.

In her remarks, Dye said, “I am honored by this award. I feel like (the arts community in Winnsboro) have made it possible to do the things that I do.

“I wish my mother could be here tonight, She would have been absolutely thrilled by this honor…she was a very good teacher and inspired a lot of artists, and if I can be one-third of what she was, in inspiring and promoting the arts, artists and children, I’ll be happy.

“These people that say they can’t draw or can’t sing--if you can speak, you can sing. If you can write your name, you can learn how to draw, so don’t come to me and tell me you don’t have talent, because before you leave, you’re going to be doing something.”