| For more information about this article or gallery, please call the gallery phone number listed in the last line of the article, "For more info..." |
May Issue 2009
The Art League
of Hilton Head on Hilton Head Island, SC, Features Works by Terry
Brennan and Susan Ellzey
The Art League of Hilton Head on Hilton Head Island, SC, will present dual exhibitions at the Art League Gallery including: The Lowcountry, an exhibit of 35 new oil and watercolor paintings by local artist Terry Brennan, and Spirits of the Sea, a collection of ceramic art by Susan Ellzey. The exhibits will be on view from May 12 through June 6, 2009.
Terry Brennan
Largely self-taught Terry Brennan's work reflects the beauty of the Lowcountry landscape with its weathered buildings, scenic waterways, shrimp boats, marshes, and its live oaks dripping with Spanish moss. His pallet expresses the colors of the seasons and the changing light. "I enjoy the challenge of capturing sunrises and sunsets, the play of light on the water, and the shadows of a pine forest," says Brennan. "Value and color harmony are critical to the success of my work. I usually keep the foregrounds in warm colors and use cooler, grayer colors as the planes recede. With each landscape I attempt to capture the emotions and mood of that moment in time."
An engineer by trade, Brennan retired to Hilton Head Island sixteen years ago and has taken workshops with noted plein air painters Tom Lynch, Irving Shapiro, Tony Couch, Charles Gruppé and Morgan Samuel Price. He has been President of the Art League of Hilton Head for the past three years and also served as past president of the Society of Bluffton Artists. His commissioned works hang in many homes and businesses throughout the area.
Susan Ellzey
Susan Ellzey began working with ceramics when she retired in 1996. The world of clay continues to be one of exploration and discovery for her. Her theme of Spirits of the Sea is expressed in her original fish, shells, driftwood and unique figurative works, suspended and stacked sculptures; it also alludes to the symbolism of water in ancient cultures. "I hope my work reveals the joy that I experience in creating it," says Ellzey.
Ellzey is intrigued by the timeless and eternal quality of the clay she is working with. To her it feels as if the wisdom of the ages is intrinsic in the material. Joseph Campbell, the authority on mythology and symbols, found statues of female idols and referred to them as eye-goddesses, some were found with blue eyes of lapis believed to be the "eyes of the heavens," some were found with no eyes, their image was more mask-like. These insights served as inspiration to Ellzey's work when she began creating masks that have evolved into a series of women and children. She considers the women goddesses and some of them she gave blue eyes; they are all connected by way of the sea. Ellzey's totemic sculptures, however, evoke the fragile and universal connections that tie us to nature and to each other. Susan is now working on suspending ceramic creations that may suggest a story or memories for the audience. All her work is hand built and original; most of it is fired in the Raku process.
Ellzey has participated in workshops with Patricia Hankins, Rick Berman, Joe Bova, and Jerry Maschinot. She had her first show in 2002 in Georgia, was featured 3-D artist at the Beaufort Art Associations in 2007, and now for the third time at the Art League of Hilton Head. Ellzey was an English professor and college administrator and holds a PhD in Renaissance Literature from The Florida State University.
For further information
check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the gallery
at 843/681-5060 or visit (www.artleaguehhi.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.