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June Issue 2003
Beaufort Art Association in Beaufort, SC, Features Works by Anita Blewer
One of Beaufort, SC's and Charleston, SC's bestselling artists is Anita Blewer, who actually lives in North Charleston, SC, but finds much of her inspiration in the marshes and woodlands of Hunting Island and the Ace Basin areas of SC. An exhibition of works by Blewer will be featured at the Beaufort Art Association Gallery in Beaufort, SC, from June 26 through Aug. 5, 2003. The artist recently suffered a stroke but still is painting.
Blewer
won first place at the 2001 Piccolo Spoleto Artist Exhibit with
a golden collage of natural forms done in earth colors. She began
winning prizes for her art in 1995 and has taken numerous top
prizes in Charleston and other Lowcountry art shows every year
since then. Last year at Piccolo Spoleto, a print from her "Swamp-Stompin"
series - a frog, alligator and an egret making music in the woods
- was so popular it sold out. When she arrived back at her tent/booth
the next morning, there was a crowd waiting to see if she brought
some more. The "Swamp-Stompin" series, plus a print
of an artist painting at Hunting Island, have been popular with
visitors to the BAA Gallery, as well as her originals that reflect
South Carolina's coastal beauty. Versatile, she works in oils,
acrylics, pastels and collage.
In April, Blewer endured a stroke. It was after church. She went
to her studio in her back yard to paint, and suddenly "my
eyes went crazy, my hands weighed 20 pounds, my face was tingling."
Her husband rushed her to the hospital and her recovery has been
good except she sees two of everything; her eyes are not working
together. Her doctors say this will clear up in time. Meanwhile,
Blewer works with alternating eyes, wearing a patch over one eye
at a time. It is not an easy solution for an artist.
Blewer, a mother of five and grandmother of 9, is tall and lean
with a mop of white hair and the last person one would expect
to be a candidate for a stroke. She eats well, exercises, is an
early-to-bed, early-to-rise person who spends a lot of time out
of doors.
Early on Blewer ran a riding (horseback) school in Long Island.
Later she moved to
Charleston, WV, which has two race tracks. She and her husband
owned a breeding farm and the "Race Track Kitchen".
They held a horse auction once a month on their farm. When she
moved to Charleston, SC, they had two convenience stores, sold
cars and trailers, and began to manufacture trailers in Ravenel,
SC. Blewer first turned to painting for pleasure and then for
livelihood as her intimate visions of nature in the Lowcountry
began to catch on.
A graduate of many artist workshops in Beaufort, the Carolinas
and Florida, Blewer exhibits regularly at the BAA Gallery, at
Art and Soul in Beaufort, at the Hilton Head Art League Gallery,
Hilton Head, SC, and at the Designer Showcase in Mount Pleasant,
SC, as well as annually at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston,
SC.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the gallery at 843/379-2222.
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