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October Issue 2005
South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, SC, Offers Fall Art Show
The South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, SC, has selected seven artists to participate in its fall art show, Artistic Visions: From the Mountains to the Sea, on view through Nov. 28, 2005. The exhibition includes works by: Richard Bernabe, John Douglas Donehue Jr., William McCullough, Carol McGill, Ann Lee Merrill, Scott Penegar and Christie Rutigliano. These South Carolina artists submitted work that captures the beauty and diversity of South Carolina's natural habitats and supports the Aquarium's mission to inspire conservation.
The theme of the exhibition echoes the Aquarium's Mountains to the Sea theme. "An aquarium's living collection is like nature's art on display every day," explains Catherine Marshall, Director of Sales and Marketing at the Aquarium. "We hope that visitors to the Aquarium this fall will enjoy seeing how South Carolina artists capture the beauty of South Carolina's animals and habitats in their work."
Richard Bernabe's outdoor photography has appeared in hundreds of magazines, advertising campaigns, corporate annual reports, calendars and books. Bernabe is also a writer, teacher, and adventure traveler who conducts dozens of hands-on photography workshops each year. A resident of upstate South Carolina, Bernabe is committed to photographing and writing about the wild places in South Carolina, the southeast and beyond. Whether it is natural landscapes, wildlife, outdoor sports or environmental portraits, Bernabe immerses himself in the environment or activity to better express its true nature and spirit. He believes this participatory approach to photography and writing helps transform the viewer or reader into participants, not merely outsiders looking in.
Born and raised in Charleston, John Douglas Donehue, Jr. graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design in 1994. His work is influenced by the ideas of Orphist and the non-objective painter Robert Delaney, the "Boogie Woogie" of Piet Mondrian, the abstracts and "Jazzy" paper cuts of Henri Matisse, the bold lines of David Smith's steel, the whimsical nature of North Carolina artist Fred Kessler and Alexander Calder, the creator of the mobile form of sculpture. In addition to working for Brooks Sign Center in Charleston, producing signs for a wide variety of clients, Donehue has exhibited his work widely and has produced commissioned work now situated in locations including the atrium entrance to Rutledge tower at the Medical University of South Carolina, the entrance to the Marais neighborhood in Mt. Pleasant, and the entrance hall in Trident Academy's new building.
A native of Kingstree, SC, William McCullough left South Carolina in 1968 to study at the National Academy of Art and Design in New York City. He studied under acclaimed realist painters Eric Eisenberger and Daniel Greene and while in the Northeast had the opportunity to apprentice with Robert Brackman and John Koch. In the early seventies McCullough moved to the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina where he developed his painterly style of landscape and still-life. The Lowcounty lured McCullough to Charleston in 1989, where he taught painting at the Gibbes Museum Studio School and earned national recognition for his painting. McCullough is an elected member of the Salmagundi Club, the oldest society of professional artists in America. Realistic portraiture, skillfully executed still-lifes and poignant landscapes have become McCullough's trademark. His artwork has won many awards and appears in numerous private and public collections.
Carol McGill's artwork is on public display and in private collections in this country and abroad. In addition to being featured in regional and national publications, McGill teaches classes in plein air painting and winter workshops. Inspired by a deep appreciation of nature, McGill paints en plein air, forcing her to work quickly to capture the rapidly changing light and shadow. McGill's home is on Sullivan's Island, inspiring work filled with Lowcountry scenes of marshes, seacoast, brilliant skies and bridges expressed in a style that includes elements of expressionism, impressionism and abstract art.
Ann Lee Merrill earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Wayne State University and embarked on a career as a high school art educator in a small town near Ann Arbor, MI. While teaching she also earned her Masters Degree and traveled extensively, including trips to Europe, South Africa, Mexico, China, Thailand and New Zealand that allowed her to experience many of the world's great art museums. Merrill moved to Mt. Pleasant, SC, in 1995 and was inspired by the lush landscapes to return to oil painting. Merrill has been documenting the Lowcountry marshes and waterways ever since and is an active exhibiting member of the Charleston Artist Guild, the Mt. Pleasant Artist Guild and the Charleston Outdoor Painters Association.
While obtaining his bachelor's degree in art, Scott Penegar discovered that in sculpture he was drawn to realistic interpretations of wildlife and intrigued by the challenge of taking a living creature and showing the animal as an art form. A Lowcountry resident, Penegar uses his college studies in marine biology to inform his work as a nature guide. He prides himself on sculpting animals that are part of his natural environment and tries to recreate animals realistically while also conveying some of the emotion he feels when he sees them.
Christie Rutigliano rediscovered her love of painting three years ago. A member of the Charleston and Mt. Pleasant Artist Guilds, she has exhibited in local events, including the 2005 Piccolo Spoleto Art Exhibit. Her favorite subjects are flowing creeks, rivers and cascading falls and she loves painting animals as well. Rutigliano's studio is in her Mt. Pleasant home where she lives with her husband, Frank (her best critic), daughter, Margot (her PR person) and grand-cat, Bruno.
With the help of the artists, workshops are being developed to offer children and adults the opportunity to express their own artistic visions of what they see at the Aquarium. For more information on Artistic Visions, please visit the Aquarium's website at (www.scaquarium.org).
For more information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call Christine Nott at 843/579-8660, e-mail at (cnott@scaquarium.org) or at (www.scaquarium.org).
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