So far it’s been a pretty wet delivery (of Carolina Arts) cycle for me this month – everywhere I have gone has been rained on or is raining cats and dogs and I swear I saw some cows falling out of the sky in Clemson, SC, the other day.
Nothing was different on my trip up South Carolina’s northern coast toward Calabash, NC, and back again through Mt. Pleasant and Charleston, SC – rain – high humidity – more rain.
File photo from 2008 – look, it’s Francis Marion looking over this show.
After I finished my deliveries in Charleston and North Charleston I planned to visit the 2010 Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibition in Marion Square in downtown Charleston. I was thinking that it must have been a heck of a week for them with all the wet weather we’ve been having and I wanted to see how things were going. I hoped they had been keeping dry.
Each day when I got home I checked out Amelia (“Mimi”) Whaley’s blog from the 2010 Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibition – she has posted more pictures of winning entries from this show and the artists who made these works. Visit this link to see a great Memorial Day event that took place in front of her camera.
File photo from 2008
Unfortunately, as I reached Georgetown, SC, at about 1:30am on Thursday morning heading back toward the Charleston area I got a view of a heck of a lighting show in the sky over Charleston. It was like watching a major nighttime battle. By the time I got to Mt. Pleasant the storm had moved out to sea. But when I finally got to Marion Square Park around 9am, after finishing my deliveries around Charleston, North Charleston and out to a few of the barrier islands – I could tell it had been a rough night for the tents in the park. One tent was blown over leaving a photographer’s art exposed to the elements. It was a sad scene, but I later read that the frames and photos survived – works would have to be re-matted and re-framed and a new tent was on the way – so life would go on in the park for this photographer. I had hoped to talk with Vickie Ellis, one of the show’s coordinators, but she was a little busy dealing with the storm’s aftermath.
The daily threat of rain, thunder storms, heavy winds, steamy temps, and who knows what else Mother Nature will throw at these hearty artists is only one of the challenges these people endure. It seemed that by the conservations I was having with some of the artists – the economy was taking a toll on this year’s event as well. Yet, as we talked on that Thursday morning – there was still hope and two more weekends to go.
As I mentioned in a previous posting on this show, one of the benefits to all involved – artists and visitors alike is that this is an annual gathering. I liken it to going shopping in a Mall during Christmas – you run into all kinds of folks you haven’t seen in a year – since the last outdoor show and some folks you haven’t seen in years. Many are long time veterans of this event, some were first timers or short timers, and a few artists roaming the park were artists who had long ago given up their park days for downtown galleries. I think a few were walking down memory lane. At one time or another – many of Charleston’s now famous artists sat in the park, and some still do.
File photo from 2008
I enjoy the fact that some of the artists are from different areas around the state – Greenville, Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Florence, Beaufort – giving me an opportunity to hear how things are going in other communities for these visual artists.
I couldn’t stay long – I still had lots of deliveries to make.
What they all need and hope for is more people who are willing to spend their money on art. There are still lots of people out there that are spending lots of money on fancy meals, sporting events, high tech gadgets, etc., but it seems less people are spending there money on art. All these other things will fade with time – some faster than others (I’m talking about the high tech gadgets), but a purchase of art can deliver enjoyment for years – generations.
I hope to get back to the park now that my deliveries are finished, but I just wanted to post this to remind folks – this adventure in art continues in Marion Square Park daily through the end of the festivals. So you still have lots of time to go find a treasure and put a smile on an artist’s face. It doesn’t take much to do that these days.
Maybe I’ll bump into you there?
One last thing. When I was dropping papers off at the Charleston Visitor Center I noticed they now had both sets of rest rooms open. As Martha Stewart says – “That’s a good thing”.
And, in a second look at the 2010 Piccolo Spoleto Festival Juried Art Exhibition, I noticed that the tags on the works told where the artists were from and most were from the Lowcountry area of SC, but one entrant listed his residence as Savannah, GA. How these people who live outside of South Carolina keep getting in a show for SC artists only – I do not know. You think the person typing up the tags would have raised an alarm, but there is probably some exception that was made – a weak part of most juried shows with some entry restrictions. Why have them if you’re not going to stick to them? It’s bad enough when artists get relatives to allow them to use their addresses to get into restricted shows.
What you gonna do?
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Tags: 2010 Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Charleston SC, Marion Square Park, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Vickie Ellis