CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Addie James is a hero to some in North Carolina. 

She’s a local artist who developed a friendship with a nurse, who adored her art later in James' life. 

What You Need To Know

  • Peggy Higginson hopes to continue to donate throughout the area so everyone knows Addie James' name

  • Higginson says the civic center in her area has put funds aside to display glass cases of James' art for the town to see

  • There is a book on James, that was written by Kate Merrill, called "Miss Addie’s Gift"

  • One of those books is in the Statesville Historical Collection

Now that James has passed, nurse, friend and fan of James, Peggy Higginson, is making it her mission to make sure everyone knows her artwork and her name. 

“The first time I saw her art, I was just blown away. I bought about six of her pieces that day. It just made me feel at peace, her art,” Higginson said.  

Higginson is an avid art lover and when she moved to Statesville, she found some of James' art and was immediately hooked. She knew she had to meet the woman who created it. 

“I went to all the art crawls and I would specifically look for Addie, and I’d sit and visit with her,” Higginson said. 

James passed away in 2011. 

Higginson, a retired nurse, became close with James and always made sure to see her while she was in the hospital.

“When she was a patient at the hospital, I’d make a point of going up and visiting with her and spending some time with her, she was just a lovely soul,” Higginson said. 

Since her passing, Higginson has contacted her city council and her mayor to showcase James' art more throughout the city. 

Higginson says a gallery in Mooresville is dedicated to James and caught the eyes of some big names.

“They have a gallery and they must’ve sold them directly to Maya Angelou, and Oprah loved her work. So both of those very famous people have collected Addie James, she’s also in a number of museums,” Higginson said. 

One of the museum is in James' hometown; the museum in Statesville. 

Steve Hill is the owner of the Statesville Historical Collection, and said that a lot of young people come in asking to see her artwork.

“It’s good for me to be able to point out people who’ve come through this community, grown up in the same neighborhoods, gone to the same schools they’ve gone to, to let them see that they too can become as good as they want to be,” Hill said. 

Hill worked with Higginson and the city council to make sure more of her art gets seen across the area.

“She was as colorful as her artwork is,” Hill said.

As Higginson made her way around the area making sure James' art continues to live on in her hometown, she herself has made her home an Addie James gallery.

It doesn’t matter where you walk in her home, you can see James' creations everywhere.

Her work now goes for close to $1,000 a piece.

“I’ve never sold her art, but I’ve probably given away close to a dozen pieces of art. I felt she was a very special woman and it just didn’t seem right to sell her art, it was a part of Addie,” Higginson said.