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December Issue 2007
Lowcountry Artists Gallery in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Lynne Hardwick and Bonnie Stabler
Visitors to Lowcountry Artists Gallery in Charleston, SC, will be "on time" from Dec. 6 - 31, 2007. Award-winning artists Lynne Hardwick and Bonnie Stabler join forces to present a variety of new works that deal with time, past and present, in very different styles for their upcoming art exhibit, On Time.
Lynne Hardwick
Art lovers will see that Hardwick's art is an intuitive, personal journey based on her life experiences and world travel. Her inspiration comes from the world's people and their cultures, art, antiquities, spirituality, and beliefs. The new series of work displayed in On Time is based on her reverence for past civilizations, starting with cave dwellers who first painted or carved their art into rock surfaces worldwide. In her travels, Hardwick continuously viewed symbols such as the circle, spiral, triangle, rectangle, and cross (or cruciform) that tell the stories of these early people. As many as forty layers of transparent acrylic paints are used to create her colorful patinas. Collage and sculptural medium is added to create a rich, textural bas-relief on many of the paintings. Colors often reflect verdigris and aged copper or bronze.
"Amazingly, with no mass communication, these ancient symbols and their meanings cross continental divides," Hardwick explains. Of particular interest to her are the Anastazi, Celtic, Mayan, and Chinese cultures and symbols. "These sites of antiquity still survive through the passage of time, natural elements, conflicts, and human handling. I call my series of paintings 'Time Travelers' and although my pieces reflect the mysteries of ancient symbols, artifacts and lost civilizations, they are presented in a contemporary art form."
Bonnie Stabler
In an interesting contrast to Hardwick's work, Bonnie Stabler's interpretation on time is as different as "Night and Day,' which is the theme of her new urban paintings showcased in On Time. Continuing with her urban theme that proved popular last December, Stabler revisits storefronts and city streets with a twist: she offers a "Day" and "Night" version of each subject for comparison.
"Requests for more of my 'shabby chic' urban scenes of Charleston are being answered with this new nocturne series," Stabler explains. "I love Charleston at night with the street lights, stop lights, car lights, and people walking about. There is energy and a sense of mystery that prevails. The night both reveals and hides; some details are concealed while other details often unnoticed are illuminated."
Stabler, an Associate Member of Oil Painters of America, paints in a realistic, narrative style, for the most part. Painting on location (plein air) keeps her "loose and painterly" but she admits she's not quite brave enough to set up her easel and paint the nocturnes on the street. "I record many scenes with my digital camera and love the way taillights trail through the dark."
Both artists have received recent recognition for their paintings with Hardwick winning First Place in "Watermedia" at the SC State Fair with The Ancestors and Stabler's Jumbo Shrimp to Peel accepted into the Oil Painters of America, Eastern Regional Show.
For further info check our SC Commercial
Gallery listings, call 843/577-9295, or visit (www.LowcountryArtists.com).
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