Smithfield has, for more than a decade, branded itself as the home of “hams, history, hospitality and heArt” – the latter deliberately written with the “A” in “heart” capitalized.

It’s a nod to the town’s vibrant arts community, which largely owes its existence to the late Margaret “Ann” Hubbard.

Hubbard, a founding member of what would become the Isle of Wight Arts League, died Aug. 29 at age 82. She’d moved from Richmond with her husband, Carroll, to a historic home on Smithfield’s Main Street in 1987, and by 1991 had opened the town’s first commercial art gallery, dubbed “The Collage,” with fellow artists Sandra Killette and the late Carolyn Taylor.

“A lot of people say Ann started art in Smithfield, and in a way she did,” Carroll said.

By 1993, Ann had arranged a series of workshops with well-known artists, drawing attendees all the way from Richmond to Smithfield.

Robbie Younger, who moved to the town in 1992 and was working at the post office in the city of Hampton at the time, was one of them.

Younger operated her own “Painted Garden” gallery on Main Street from 2000 to 2020. She credits a workshop at The Collage with internationally known artist M. Douglas Walton and Ann’s mentorship over the decades with spurring her own interest in the arts.

It was Ann who “urged me to enter my first art show,” Younger said, which resulted in Younger being awarded honorable mention by the late Christopher Newport University professor and art juror Betty Anglin.

The Collage, at the time Ann rented the space, consisted of studio and wall space she would sublet to area artists looking to show their work, and a large gallery on the first floor where she, Killette and Taylor would host juried shows with catered receptions like the one Younger entered.

“Everybody would get all dressed up and come to the receptions,” Carroll recalled. “You couldn’t find a parking space anywhere on Main Street the night of a reception.”

Younger said she remembers vividly the sight of crowds overflowing onto the wraparound porch at The Collage to attend the “Artists & Authors” exhibits Ann started for local artists to collaborate with local writers.

When Killette and Taylor pulled out of the space, Ann continued to run The Collage as a solo operation before turning it over to a board of directors, Carroll said. By 1994, according to an advertisement that ran in The Smithfield Times that year, The Collage had obtained nonprofit status and rebranded as the Isle of Wight Arts League.

By 2009, the Arts League had relocated to a converted storefront at 319 Main St. it shares with the county’s and town’s shared tourism department. The Arts League has since grown into an umbrella organization that oversees the gallery that’s been branded the “Arts Center @319,” the Sundays at Four classical music recitals at Christ Episcopal Church and the Downtown Smithfield Summer Concert Series on the lawn outside the Times’ office.

Upon turning the Arts League over to a board of directors in 2005, Ann opened a new gallery she dubbed “Color Scapes” on the first floor of her and Carroll’s home.

The house, painted yellow and orange, stands as a testament to her fondness for bright colors.

“She has a big inventory of work,” Carroll said. “I’m keeping it open.”

Carroll said Ann, whom he met and married in 1973, taught piano lessons when the couple lived in Richmond before making her foray into painting and ceramics.

Throughout her life, Ann remained a vocal supporter of the arts in all their forms. In 2014, amid controversy over the departure of then-Smithfield High School Band Director Aaron Hill, Carroll and Ann joined in a student-led protest outside the county courthouse, according to the Times’ reporting that year.

Ann primarily worked in acrylics, but had started with watercolors, Carroll said. She also worked in oil paints and had a clay studio in the backyard with several kilns. In the front yard outside Color Scapes sit three statues that Ann made herself.

“You name it, she did it,” Carroll said.

Her devotion to her craft often consumed much of her time.

“She just loved her art, worked on it day and night, sometimes all night long,” Carroll said. “Sometimes I wouldn’t see her all night.”

According to her obituary, a celebration of life is planned on Sept. 21 at 3 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church.