Carolina Arts Unleashed

After a very crazy Saturday, April 30, 2011 – the day we have to pull everything together to launch the May 2011 issue of Carolina Arts before midnight – Sunday was a day of relief. That last day of the month for us is the day of reconciliation. That’s the day we see if my layout matches what Linda, my better half, has as far as ads go – some I’ve never seen. As things go, just before the end, we found one ad was missing. My mistake – this time. But lately I’ve been leaving a few escape hatches to bail me out, just in case, and I was saved with just a little rearranging. You would think that after 24 years I’d pick up a few tricks and I have.

After a jammed packed week we had some places to visit in North Charleston on Sunday, which reminded me that the Main Event would still be going on for the North Charleston Arts Festival. I had made a little joke on facebook after sending out e-mails, and posting notices of the new issue on our blogs, that I was going to the Festival. Like when they ask the winning quarterback in the Super Bowl what he’s going to do after winning the big game.

Anyway after a morning of waiting, waiting and disappointment – which I won’t go into, and then lunch – we finally get to the Charleston Area Convention Center Complex just before 2pm. Once in the door we were greeted with the sounds of a beehive of children’s art activities. As we wade through what looks like the largest children’s birthday party in the world, we finally get to where some of the exhibits were on display.

As I’ve said many times before, the hallways of the Convention Center are not the best places to display art or even for looking at art, but the North Charleston folks do with what they have. And there are no possibilities for taking decent photos, so I don’t even try in most cases. In some cases you even have to get on your hands and knees to see the name of the artist on the tags placed at the bottom of images.

I could bitch, whine, and raise critical cane, but when you think about the fact that they took in hundreds of artworks just a few days before the two-day event begins, get it displayed and judged, before the doors open – it’s an amazing feat.

At this point I’ll reveal that they gave Linda and I Festival T-shirts, as good supporters of the arts in North Charleston, but it would take a lot more to change my views on what I saw that day. I’m full of suggestions on what they should do to make things better, but since I can’t make a major financial donation to the Festival or pitch in physically and help – I take the exhibits as they are, with one exception.

As we worked our way down the hallway toward the space where the City of North Charleston Art Gallery is I noticed that it was pretty dark down there. It looked like a lot of the lights were burned out – which is the case in all art facilities – even major museums have lights burn out in the middle of the day, but once I got up to them – the lights were off. I went to the gallery desk and reported this fact to Olga Bixby, who looks after the gallery space, and she tried turning them on, but they wouldn’t come on. She said the Festival was having some electrical problems. A few minutes later we ran into Marty Besancon, director of the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department, and told her about it and she went off – later the lights were on. It was probably just one of the fires she had to put out that weekend I’m sure.

Even with the gallery lights on, they were having a hard time illuminating the large works by Pedro Rodriguez, winner of the 2011 North Charleston Arts Festival Design Competition, which are on view through May 31, 2011, but they looked better.

Anyway, in viewing the fine art show we started to notice that there was a new sheriff in town- so to speak – named Denise L. Greer. She had won the Best of Show award for a mixed media work, the First Place award for another of her works in the mixed media category, and First Place in the watercolor category. Charleston artist Bob Graham, who I call the king of the North Charleston Arts Festival fine art show, did win a First Place in the drawing/pastel category and a Second Place in watercolors, but who was this new queen? And, to top it off she was doing abstracts – my favorite kind of art. More about this later.

I also liked works by Kathy Clark, who won a First Place in the oils category. I was agreeing with Michael Haga of the College of Charleston, this year’s judge – almost 100% – most unusual. I don’t often see eye to eye with jurors of these kinds of shows. But, I know Haga has a good eye for art. But, I have to say, I hope he was carrying a strong flashlight when he was viewing this show, as it was pretty dark in some areas of those hallways.

Although this show had some great works in it – it by far in no way represented the full scale of works by artists from the Charleston area. I couldn’t begin to compare it to the works you can see in a few weeks at the Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Arts Show and that show is just a sampling of local talent.

We headed off to the SC Palmetto Hands exhibit which is in better lighting – not great, but better. The first problem here is there was no handout listing the participants and their works. So, out comes my notebook. Again, for some reason, there was no time this year to print up the handout. If it wasn’t for exams, I wish the College of Charleston could throw their hands into this effort with the help of their Art Management students. This would be good experience for them – working against a ticking clock.

Bird of Prey, Best in Show by Matt Wilson

Fiber piece by Judith Heyward

Except for a few out of town entries, the SC Palmetto Hands show is down to being a competition between local artists, due to the fact that the work has to be delivered to North Charleston. For what was once organized to be a state-wide exhibit, it is now a local exhibit – by most of the same people every year. The show is still full of works by very creative artists, but it doesn’t seem to draw from much of the state’s craft artists. I’m not sure what the problem is, but I can think of a few – high gas prices, the show’s short length and venue, artists afraid of having their works selected for the Traveling Show and being bounced from one end of the state to another for a year, or just a lack of notice – many may not even see the call of entries. SC doesn’t have a craft guild or a statewide organization dealing with craft artists. The SC Artisan Center in Walterboro, SC, helps with this event, but they don’t represent the best craft artists in this state either.

Work by Susan Lenz – one of the hardest working artist in SC

A closer look at Susan Lenz’s work.

Of course there is the SC Arts Commission, but their focus is on holding on to their funding and keeping their jobs long enough to retire. Plus they have no real way of making contact with the craft artists of this state. No one knows who and how many artists we have in this state.

I took a few photos of some of the works that caught my eye, but there were others that I wanted to mention but I just couldn’t get a decent photo of them.

An up close look at a basket by Mary Jefferson

I loved two works by Arianne King Comer: Haitian Mardi Gras Festival and Peace; the clay works by Dede Vergot; and the inlaid wooden bowls by Kenny Teague.

Again, the photography show and competition seems to get better every year, which wasn’t always the case. There was a time when it seemed they put everything and anything they got on display. I assume they are being more selective and it really makes a difference.

Some people think that putting not so good work next to good work makes the good works stand out, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes, really bad work in a show can bring one’s perception of the exhibit down a notch or two. I have always felt that a good juried show is one that is very selective so that anyone who gets in can think of themselves as a winner for making the cut. Winning an award or cash prize is a bonus. But that’s me.

So, who is this Denise L. Greer? Before we left the Main Event, Linda went and checked out the gem show, which gave me lots of time to do some checking. I found the folks who had the check in sheets for the various competitions and when we located Greer’s entry form in the first category – her address was left blank. It was the same thing in the other category she entered. That was strange and they were a little concerned as that would make it hard to notify her of her winnings, but then she has to pick up her works in a few days – they’ll find out then. But, before I left the convention center, I went and looked on the back of one of her works and saw that the tag showed she was from Rembert, SC.

When I got home I did a Google search and was I surprised what I found there. This artist was on fire in competitions all over South Carolina. She won First Place in the 22nd Annual Friends of the Florence Museum Miniature Art Competition; Best in Show at the latest Trenholm Artist Guild show at HoFP Art Gallery in Columbia; and she won the second top award at the SC Watermedia Society’s annual show last year in Rock Hill.

Juried competitions around SC – keep a look out for Denise L. Greer!

The only puzzle was that address or lack of one. I also found that it’s a little fuzzy as to where Greer lives. In one reference to the Sumter Artist Guild they say she’s a long time Sumter artist. Write ups about her victories in Florence and Columbia say she’s from Boykin. Her tag on the back of her works showed she was from Rembert. Boykin and Rembert are towns next to each other and like most places Sumter probably wanted to claim this rising star as its own. Also, when you live in a small town that most people don’t know where it is – it’s easy to say the name of the largest town they might recognize – mystery solved.

I know Rembert, because you have to slow down to 35mph in going through it – for a whole minute – if that. It was on my delivery trail at one time – passing through on the way to Camden.

Before I finish this posting, I’m going to throw in a few words about our trip to the North Charleston Arts Festival Art Walk, held on Wednesday, May 4, 2011. Why Wednesday? Well, perhaps the best choice, I guess. If they tried to have it Friday, they would be in competition with one of the biggest art walks of the year in Charleston. Saturday would put them in competition with the Festival’s finale at the North Charleston Riverfront Park – just down the street. That leaves Thursday – still a workweek day – toss a coin – I guess they got Wednesday.

It was a perfect and rare May evening in South Carolina. A cold snap had come through that morning making the temps around 73 degrees at 5pm, when it could have been 90. The Olde Village area of North Charleston has gone through a lot of changes in the last two decades, from a hang out for sailors from the old Navy Base, to what is kind of a mini main street for the 2nd or 3rd largest city in SC. There are lots of little pubs and restaurants offering all sorts of fare. Music was in the air – what a great night for an art walk.

I wish I had photos to show you, but I like to look before I start taking photos so I was holding off. At one point we’re walking from one place to another and we came to a spot where a stage was set up for a band, The Lime and the Coconuts, who were playing. As we get alongside to pass by, one of the band members says, “Hey Mr. Starland”, and when I look up it was Mary Edna Fraser playing a banjo. That’s Mary Edna Fraser, Charleston’s famous batik artist. We were there for the visual arts, but who could pass this by. We sat and listened for a few numbers, watched Fraser play several different instruments and sing a few songs. Some people have all the talent.

Mary Edna Fraser – not sure if she’s the Lime or one of the Coconuts

You never know what you’ll see at an art walk. I took a few photos, which I soon learned would be my last of the night. My camera had been getting a workout lately and the batteries decided they had given enough right then and there. Extra batteries were way back in the car. So I grabbed some images off the internet of works by artists who were there that evening, but not the same works – but just as good.

A work by Madeline Dukes. She was showing at the Meeting Place

Works by keller Lee. He was showing at Charlestowne Stained Glass

Work by Kelly Thiel, showing at Village Hall

Work by Liv Antonecchia, also showing at Village Hall

Work by Arianne King Comer, showing at 1st Citizen’s bank

By the time we left, there were still just a few people here and there that looked like they were doing the art walk, which might have been what you would expect for a Wednesday evening.

Art lovers in the greater Charleston area have to get over their perceptions of North Charleston, there is more to it than shopping centers and malls – if you look hard enough. No one is promising you things on the scale of downtown Charleston, but not all gems are found in just that city. Give North Charleston’s art community a chance sometime.

Events are still going on and some exhibits will be up into June. For info visit (www.northcharleston.org) or visit Pages 6 & 7 of our May 2011 issue of Carolina Arts found at (www.carolinaarts.com).

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