CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- His roots are inauspicious, yet his early accomplishments in the art world showed an artist who would succeed far beyond his small West Virginia hometown.

An early exhibit as a junior in high school sponsored by the Rainelle Woman's Club included character study, animal and nature, still life and landscape in oil, crayon, pencil and watercolor by young Max Hayslette. His colleague for the event, a classmate of the same age, showed works "mostly on note-book or tablet-paper, mounted on construction paper," according to a story in the Beckley Post Herald.

Hayslette, 80, stayed ahead of the curve. He's been called a true Horatio Alger tale, a leader in his discipline and one of West Virginia's jewels. Add world-renowned and prolific artist to that list.

Hayslette was born in Rupert in 1930 and "lived in the valley of the Greenbrier, between the Meadow River and the Greenbrier River, which wend their way into the New River, and north to the Ohio," he says. "Over the many decades I have painted my vision of this bit of Americana countless times; it is a vision close to my heart."

Numerous clippings pasted into Hayslette's old scrapbooks describe his early art successes (inclusion in the Allied Artists' exhibits when he was just 17) and his other accomplishments (Rupert High class of 1949 valedictorian).

An early patron, town physician Theodore Millman, bought all 49 paintings in Hayslette's first solo show at the Dickinson brothers furniture store in Rainelle. Millman helped finance Hayslette's education at The American Academy of Art in Chicago and at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago.

Success continued. Following a stint in administrative positions in the U.S. Army, Hayslette took a position as chief of typography at Olson Designers in Chicago, an industrial design firm specializing in exhibit design. In 1962, he relocated to Seattle where he joined Berg Craftsman Co., another industrial design firm, and began as design coordinator for the Alaska Pavilion at the 1962 World's Fair.

Hayslette received critical acclaim for many exhibits, including a mention in the January 1969 issue of the trade publication Display World. The article headlined a display for Pacific Northwest Bell, designed by Hayslette, which had large cubes featuring the iconic bell telephone logo. It was describe as the "focal point of the Luxury Living Show."

An early work for the Boeing Co. was hailed as a 600-panel marvel, complete with one-of-a-kind screen printing, detailing the characteristics and construction details of the company's "fantastic SST, which will span international skies at supersonic speeds."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- His roots are inauspicious, yet his early accomplishments in the art world showed an artist who would succeed far beyond his small West Virginia hometown.

An early exhibit as a junior in high school sponsored by the Rainelle Woman's Club included character study, animal and nature, still life and landscape in oil, crayon, pencil and watercolor by young Max Hayslette. His colleague for the event, a classmate of the same age, showed works "mostly on note-book or tablet-paper, mounted on construction paper," according to a story in the Beckley Post Herald.

Hayslette, 80, stayed ahead of the curve. He's been called a true Horatio Alger tale, a leader in his discipline and one of West Virginia's jewels. Add world-renowned and prolific artist to that list.

Hayslette was born in Rupert in 1930 and "lived in the valley of the Greenbrier, between the Meadow River and the Greenbrier River, which wend their way into the New River, and north to the Ohio," he says. "Over the many decades I have painted my vision of this bit of Americana countless times; it is a vision close to my heart."

Numerous clippings pasted into Hayslette's old scrapbooks describe his early art successes (inclusion in the Allied Artists' exhibits when he was just 17) and his other accomplishments (Rupert High class of 1949 valedictorian).

An early patron, town physician Theodore Millman, bought all 49 paintings in Hayslette's first solo show at the Dickinson brothers furniture store in Rainelle. Millman helped finance Hayslette's education at The American Academy of Art in Chicago and at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago.

Success continued. Following a stint in administrative positions in the U.S. Army, Hayslette took a position as chief of typography at Olson Designers in Chicago, an industrial design firm specializing in exhibit design. In 1962, he relocated to Seattle where he joined Berg Craftsman Co., another industrial design firm, and began as design coordinator for the Alaska Pavilion at the 1962 World's Fair.

Hayslette received critical acclaim for many exhibits, including a mention in the January 1969 issue of the trade publication Display World. The article headlined a display for Pacific Northwest Bell, designed by Hayslette, which had large cubes featuring the iconic bell telephone logo. It was describe as the "focal point of the Luxury Living Show."

An early work for the Boeing Co. was hailed as a 600-panel marvel, complete with one-of-a-kind screen printing, detailing the characteristics and construction details of the company's "fantastic SST, which will span international skies at supersonic speeds."

Yet fine art kept calling. In 1972, he founded Olympus Graphics Inc., a small silkscreen company located on Bainbridge Island, a 30-minute ferry ride from Seattle.

"The knowledge he acquired during his years as a designer would form his artwork and lead his small company to produce large-scale, abstract serigraphs specifically intended for the sophisticated design and corporate art market," according to Larry Winn, a friend and business partner.

It was in 1976 that Winn "found" Hayslette's art in a furniture showroom.

"Like Dr. Millman 31 years earlier, I realize I have encountered a special talent, an artist worthy of the support necessary to pursue his passion. We met and the chemistry was right," Winn said. Winn promoted Hayslette's work to art galleries.

Gallery owner Marilyn Cooper of Lewisburg has carried Hayslette's works since 2004, and said she "found" him when attending the 2003 Art Expo in New York.

"I had no idea how successful he was until I looked him up on the Internet. He is another one of West Virginia's jewels," Cooper said. "The Greenbrier Valley scenes are in many of his works. His paintings are in many public and private collections. He is still working six days a week and does modern abstracts one week and switches to his popular traditional landscapes the next."

Hayslette likes to work onsite for his paintings whenever possible. He takes photos, renders sketches and creates color notes. He takes particular care in recording "atmospheric color temperatures," as he believes different areas of the world have very distinct color temperatures. His travels to the Asia, Europe and the Middle East influence his art, and his works range from abstract expressionism to pastoral landscapes.

Hayslette is represented in more than 300 private, corporate and public collections, most notably The Rockefeller Foundations, Stanford University, and Wells Fargo Bank.

An abridged list of his exhibitions includes: Art Institute of Chicago; Seattle Art Museum; The Feragil Gallery, New York City; The Findlay Gallery, Chicago; Christopher Clark Gallery, San Francisco; Ken Behm Gallery, Seattle; Hanson Gallery, Carmel; the Biennale Internazionale Dell'Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy; and Cooper Gallery, Lewisburg.

Reach Sara Busse at sara.bu...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1249.