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January Issue
2011
Pickens County Museum of Art &
History in Pickens, SC, Offers Three New Exhibitions
The Pickens County Museum of Art &
History in Pickens, SC, is presenting three new exhibits including:
Shutter / Shuttle, featuring black & white photography
by Brain S. Kelley exhibited alongside woven tapestries made by
Connie Lippert; Melissa Earley: 10+ (A Decade of Beadwork and
Other Art), featuring beadwork and paintings spanning more
than a decade and highlighting the most significant works from
the career of Melissa Earley; and Barbara St Denis: Mixed Media.
All three exhibits will be on view through Feb. 10, 2011.
Shutter/Shuttle is a unique pairing of what some may think
is an unlikely duo will pleasantly surprise the viewer with its
continuity and kinship. The gray-scaled photographic exploration
of positive and negative relationships in light and shadow is
well mirrored by the stark contrast of the hard-edged color boundaries
created in the wedge weave tapestries. Both bodies of work embrace,
through shape and line, humankind's awe of, and influence upon,
the natural world. The visually pure derivations of the environment
around us tend to move toward the abstract, allowing the viewer
to create their own allusion.
Now living in Travelers Rest, SC, Brain S. Kelley is a multi-faceted
photographic artist who is as comfortable with fine art photography
as he is in photojournalism and studio portraiture. The exhibit
features some of Kelley's most recent black & white work,
but he is also well known for his work with Polaroid transfers,
cyanotypes, gum dichromate and hand tinting as well as his carpentry
and frame-making.
Kelley's studies have included work at Erskine College, Savannah
College of Art and Design, and Greenville Technical College. He
received his BA in IDS: Studio and Art History from the University
of South Carolina.
"Visual interpretations of my surroundings have been essential
elements of expression throughout my life," said Kelley.
"My passion for art surfaced at a very young age, yielding
another channel for communication. Through the lens of introversion
I became an observer of life." He continued, "I often
watch interactions among people, appreciate the forms created
by nature or study the light as it moves through the day. These
observations were first recorded through my drawings, which quickly
led to painting, and then sculpture. However, photography would
eventually receive the majority of my time and efforts."
Kelley has shown in numerous regional exhibitions including Beyond
the Lens at Village Studios Gallery and Artisphere's Artists
of the Upstate. He has also shown in several Upstate Visual
Arts Exhibits, Greenville's Oliver Yu Gallery and at TRAM Gallery
(now Trillium) in Travelers Rest. His work has been seen in several
Pickens County Museum's Annual Juried Shows as well as their Critters:
Animals, Nature & Man exhibition. His published work can
be found in Greenville Magazine, Metro Beat, Bold Life
Magazine, Spartanburg Herald Journal, Metro Mix, Link
and Mountain Express as well as on CD & DVD covers
for Vizz Tone Records, Woodward Studios and Plantation One Records.
He was featured in the 2010 AT&T SC African American History
Calendar.
Connie Lippert, born in Tuskegee, AL, and now living in Seneca,
SC, weaves tapestries using the wedge weave technique and yarns
hand-dyed with natural materials. She received her BS in Botany
from Auburn University in 1979 and a MS in Soil Science from the
University of California in 1981.
Wedge weave is a tapestry weave practiced by the Navajo in the
late 1800's. In contrast to most weaving which is woven horizontally
on the loom, wedge weave is woven on the diagonal, giving it a
characteristic scalloped edge.
When asked about her weavings Lippert shared, "My work celebrates
nature and the spirit that reveres the natural world. My message
is one of environmental respect and protection." She went
on to say, "The colors are derived from natural dyes - mainly
indigo, madder, goldenrod, cochineal, and black walnut. Through
my work with natural dyes, I have become aware of the rich local
history of indigo, once considered blue gold in the state of South
Carolina. All my yarns are hand-dyed using indigo leaves from
my garden, goldenrod gathered in the fall, black walnut hulls
from a friend's tree, and other commercially available natural
dyes."
Lippert also works as an artist-in-residence in South Carolina
public schools and has taught weaving to thousands of children
through residencies, summer art camp and classroom activities.
She has presented seminars and workshops for adults at national
and regional conferences.
Lippert's tapestries have been in major national exhibitions including
Craft National and Crafts National in Pennsylvania, Celebration
of American Crafts, USA Craft Today, and Craft USA in Connecticut,
Contemporary Crafts in Arizona, the LaGrange National in Georgia
and many more. She has been the recipient of three artist grants
from the South Carolina Arts Commission. Her work is represented
in museum, corporate, academic and private collections nationwide
and has been published in Fiberarts Design Book 7, Line
in Tapestry, Fiberarts magazine, Handwoven magazine
and in Shuttle, Spindle, and Dyepot (the magazine of the
Handweavers Guild of America).
Melissa Earley: 10+ (A Decade of Beadwork and Other Art)
is an exhibition of beadwork and paintings spanning more than
a decade and highlighting the most significant works from the
career of Earley. Known for her beadwork which merges an ancient
Native American bead weaving technique with original, contemporary
imagery, Earley grew up in Charleston, SC, and has been living
and working in Spartanburg, SC, since 2000. She studied drawing
and printmaking at the College of Charleston, where she received
a BA in Studio Art.
Earley began working with beads over 15 years ago as an independent
jewelry designer and was soon studying traditional Native America
loom weaving techniques. She incorporated her own paintings and
drawings into small beaded pieces, and over the course of the
following years, began learning off-loom stitches and expanding
her works into much larger, three dimensional pieces.
About her work, Earley says, "The common theme is introspection.
For me, making art is basically a form of therapy, a way of examining
my own psyche, sometimes exorcising some demons, and communicating
my thoughts, feelings and experiences to others."
Despite the often bright colors and seemingly whimsical images
in much of her work, much of the work does examine difficult themes,
such as illness and death. Earley explains, "Grief is one
of those experiences that we all share, and yet there is still
something of a taboo in talking about it publicly. Emotional pain
makes others uncomfortable and keeps us somewhat relegated to
the outside until we 'get over it'. And yet it's absolutely natural
and very necessary to the healing process, so I wanted to bring
it out into the light and share my experience with the viewer,
with the hope that we will both feeling less alone."
Earley's work can be found in private and corporate collections
across the country. She has participated in exhibitions in Dallas,
Denver, and across the Southeast, receiving numerous awards and
grants. She is proud to be an original member of CAFfeine Contemporary
Art Forum, based in upstate South Carolina.
The final featured exhibition is Barbara St Denis: Mixed Media.
St. Denis, living in Easley, SC, is a signature member of the
Georgia Watercolor Society and the Southern Watercolor Society.
She is also a member in Excellence of the South Carolina Watermedia
Society. In 1976, she established The Art Emporium, a retail art
store & gallery that she owns in Easley, SC.
Over the years St. Denis has received numerous awards and has
been included in a wide variety of invitational exhibitions. Her
work has been covered several times in publications such as Creative
Watercolor, Best of Watercolor Volume III, Best of Watercolor
Painting Color, Creative Watercolor and in Mary Todd Beam's
Celebrate Your Creative Self. In 2008, St. Denis was invited
to paint a Christmas ornament for one of the White House Christmas
trees, which remains in its permanent Washington, DC, collection.
Speaking about her work, St. Denis says, "Color, design,
the figure, buildings and inanimate objects are the primary elements
of my paintings. Symbols and shapes which represent my personal
artistic journey, i.e. my fascination with clocks and numbers,
enable me to tell my story without portraying the final chapter.
These elements are painted in watercolor, acrylic, and/or other
water based materials in an abstract format." She added,
"Watermedia has been my medium of choice since the early
1980's. Prior to that time, starting in 1963, I worked in oil,
pen and ink and pastels. Most recently I have included found collage
elements in much of my work. I am an emotional painter and it
is my desire to convey that idea to the viewer."
The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part
by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant
from the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support
from the National Endowment for the Arts.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery
listings or call the Museum at 864/898-5963.
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2011 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© 2011 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.