| For more information about this article or gallery, please call the gallery phone number listed in the last line of the article, "For more info..." |
March Issue 2003
Beaufort Art Galleries in Beaufort, SC, Features Spring Art Walk
Artists have long been attracted to beautiful Beaufort, SC. Over the years the number of full time artists has grown in tandem with the number of galleries offering fine art to the coastal residents and visitors. Gallery offerings include artists of local, regional and national stature. Beaufort, ranked as one of America's 100 Best Small Towns for the Arts, has become an art colony as well as a destination for recreation and retirement.
In order to better serve the community and their artists, gallery owners have formed an organization to be known as the Guild of Beaufort Galleries to promote their mutual interests and events. Their logo GBG will soon be visible in the windows of participating galleries.
In recent years the galleries have presented Art Walks on the Sat. evening of the Fall and Spring Historical Tours weekend. The first Gallery Walk under the auspices of GBG will take place on Sat. evening Mar. 22, 2003, from 5pm until 7:30pm. Visitors are invited to tour the galleries located on Bay, Port Republic, West, Scott and Charles Streets in historic downtown Beaufort. Many artists will be available in the galleries to discuss their works. Each gallery will have maps showing the location of all participants. You can start at any gallery. Our order for visiting the galleries in this article will follow the map order.
I. Pinckney Simons Gallery, located at 711 Bay Street, the first block from the bridge, is mounting a show titled ACE Basin Recollections, A Collection of drawings and Paintings. This collection will feature six of South Carolina's foremost artists, each focusing on their personal experiences in the ACE Basin. This wetland area comprised of estuaries formed by the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto Rivers has demanded the attention of artists who feel the need to protect and commemorate this state and national treasure. Works will range from quick graphite sketches and plein aire paintings to complex studio paintings. Each artist has a distinctive approach which include somber tonalist works, high contrast luminescent paintings, and pointillist and broad stroke impressionism. The uniting thread is the subject. Artists included in this exhibition are Stephen Chesley, Craig Crawford, Mary Gilkerson, Michael Gray, Mike Williams and Mickey Williams.
Sandra Baggette -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lana Hefner
A few steps away is Bay Street Gallery, located at 719 Bay Street, which features works by Lana Hefner, Sandra Baggette, Jim Draper and Tim Carr. Hefner landscapes in oil and pastel celebrate the vistas of the Lowcountry. She focuses on simplified shapes and eliminates superfluous detail to capture the essence of the place. Baggette selects flowers in season from her garden and greenhouse to create still life in oil and watercolor. Combined with personal treasures or experiences they offer the perfect opportunity for an expressive interpretation of color. Draper has introduced an exciting new series of Birds in Southern Estuaries that compliment his popular Healing Palm series. Carr has continued his series of Awakening Waters.
Gloria Dalvini Watercolors is just off Bay Street toward the river at 101 Scotts Street. Dalvini will be featuring an exhibit entitled Behind the Oaks. Images of the many treasures found in Beaufort behind these stately trees. Included with this exhibit will be original watercolors, oils and prints of the Lowcountry.
Trish Weeks
Returning to Bay Street we visit The Gallery at 802 Bay Street. The Gallery will be featuring the works of Trish Weeks. Weeks, from Cincinnati, OH, spends much of her time in the Lowcountry. She enjoys the views of nature presented in the area. The canvas allows her to bring a different sense of energy to forms within another space. Her current work is about impressionistic; tactile reflections of the energy around her. She now works primarily with the palette knife which she feels intensifies the energy and clarity of colors.
The Craftseller is a few doors down at 818 Bay Street. The Craftseller, a gallery of Fine American Crafts, will be featuring the works of Linda Cole, a Beaufort artist, formerly of New York. Cole brings the Lowcountry's bright light and vivid outdoor colors to her canvases. Often, her scenes feature familiar buildings and vibrant gardens as they are today or might have been in years gone by. The Craftseller is also proud to announce Flambeaux, from the Bill Campbell Studios in collaboration with Ken Follerre. The two potters have combined their considerable talents to bring an amazing explosion of color and crystalline on their unique forms. It's like nothing you have ever seen!
Polly Swenson
Indigo Gallery, across the street, at 813 Bay Street, will again unveil the most recent works by Beaufort artist Polly Swenson. Her detailed miniature and larger Lowcountry scenes are sure to please the most discriminating collector. Paintings by the nationally acclaimed Peter Pettegrew of Orlando, FL, offer another interpretation of our majestic coastal vistas will also be displayed.
Barbara Shipman
Shipman Gallery, which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary in historic downtown Beaufort is across the street and one block down at 904 Bay Street. Barbara Shipman's art expresses the "Essence of Lowcountry Living." The high standards of her work have been recognized by Southern Living magazine, Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles magazine, and most importantly, by the American Watercolor Society of New York. Her work is shown in many public and private collections.
Now we head down West Street one block inland to the corner of Port Republic Street where the newest addition to Beaufort's gallery mix, Studio 900 is located. The unmistakable style of landscape painting by Julie George is both sensual and mysterious. Each piece is a gem, and continues to draw your eye to the fresh interpretation of the Lowcountry. Portrait and figurative artist J. Jennings is a top portrait painter whose work is sought out not just in our area, but nationally. Very dramatic, and even more sophisticated, J. Jennings' figurative work is not to be missed. These pieces are centerpieces in many stately homes. The outstanding watercolor work of Robert Highsmith has achieved national recognition including the very prestigious American Artists Competition. His quiet, subtle landscapes are mesmerizing.
The Beaufort Art Association Gallery is a few steps away at 905 Port Republic Street. The BAA represents more than 75 member artists. Blanche Douglas, expert on the psychology at work between art and artist as well as between art and the viewer, is the current featured artist. Her works range from representational to abstract. The spacious BAA Gallery offers framed and unframed original paintings, pottery, ceramics, jewelry, photography, woodwork and prints and cards, and has recently initiated the first in a series of art classes. All hanging art is changed every six weeks.
Michael
Vaughan
The last gallery on the easy walking part of the tour is Art and Soul which is located in the Old Bay Marketplace which can be entered from either Port Republic or Bay Streets. Art & Soul represents eighty local and regional artists whose works come together to provide an eclectic and colorful collection highlighting the uniqueness of the Lowcountry, its light, color, landscapes and people. In addition to original paintings, the gallery also displays photography, one-of-a-kind hand-made jewelry including lampwork beads, functional and decorative pottery including raku, wood and metal. During the Art Walk, local artist Michael Vaughan will meet guests and share his thoughts about his current watercolor series depicting homes, gardens and other structures in Beaufort's historic district. Vaughan stated, "...the Northwest Quadrant interested me the most. Many homes in this significant and sensitive historic area, although bathed in sunlight and surrounded by majestic live oaks, have not been renovated, and some have actually been abandoned, a situation ideal for watercolors and, of course, history in the making."
At this point you will need to jump in your car to continue your tour of Beaufort galleries. LyBensons Gallery and Studio is at 711 Charles Street. The gallery features the exhibits, The Gullah/African Link and Out of Africa. The highlights are rare Shona Verdite sculptures by various artists from Zimbabwe, Africa, and original photographs by Gullah photographer and gallery owner Rev. Kenneth Hodges.
A couple of blocks down Charles Street is the Charles Street Gallery, at 914 Charles Street, set in a beautiful old house lovingly restored by hand by the owners. Featured local artists for the Art Walk are Lynn Brown, Joan Templar, Sharon DeAlexandris, Wayne Edwards, Cabell Heyward, Dawn Peterson, Dan Davis and Peggy Duncan. Handmade furniture is by Lyalls Phillips; sculpture is by Heath Edwards and etchings by internationally known printmaker Jorg Schmeisser.
All the ingredients for a wonderful weekend in Beaufort are in place. The 47th annual Spring Tours sponsored by St. Helena's Episcopal Church, Beaufort, SC, 843/524-0363, is a two day event. Fri. evening features Candlelight Walking Tour from 5:30 - 9pm of historic homes in downtown Beaufort. On Sat., from 9:30am to 4:30pm, is the Lowcountry Driving Tour of historic properties and a plantation lunch and entertainment. Follow this up with the Guild of Beaufort Galleries Art Walk and then a wonderful meal at one of the areas great restaurants. It doesn't get any better than this.
For further information about the Art Walk call 843/575-4774. For info about participating galleries check our SC Commercial & Institutional Gallery listings.
Carolina Arts
is published monthly by Shoestring
Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2003 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© 2003 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.