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March Issue 2004
Carolina Galleries in Charleston, SC, Features Exhibit in Black and White
L.O. Griffith
Carolina Galleries in Charleston, SC, will present the exhibition, Black and White: Graphic Work in the South, 1904-2004, opening on Mar. 12 and continuing through Apr. 11, 2004. The exhibition features drawings, etchings, lithographs, linocuts and photographs of the South. From the streets of New Orleans to the alleys and agricultural surroundings of Charleston, the viewer will see the South in the absence of color.
George Schreiber
The romanticism and strength of these works is evident in such varied etchings as Emergency by L. O. Griffith, Rural South by Alfred Hutty, and George Schreiber's lithograph Evening in South Carolina. These depictions of harsh, rural life contrast with Prentiss Taylor's almost surreal lithograph Charleston Battery. Works by Elizabeth O'Neill Verner, Charles White, Elizabeth White and a host of others will also be included in this show.
Works in black and white echo the feeling of earlier times. Modern imagery overwhelms the eye with its abundance of color and quick flashes. We often seek out something more comfortable and familiarity breeds comfort. This show will provide that sense of comfort with the addition of the comparison of the old and new. Accompanying the period works will be parallel scenes by contemporary artists. Some works will be the same views as the older pieces, some will be similar locations and others will play on contemporary equivalents.
Margaret Peery, Kevin Bruce Parent, John Andrew Burmeister, Stephen Scott Young and Lese Corrigan along with Corrie McCallum will have works in this show. William Halsey's work will also be represented. McCallum and Halsey's careers bridge the span between the Charleston Renaissance art of Hutty, Verner, Taylor and these contemporary artists. McCallum's graphic imagery is strong as would be expected from her medical illustration training. Halsey used black ink for many of his early drawings.
Like photographs of earlier days the work of Kevin Bruce Parent has a soft ethereal quality. He often uses infrared film and tones the images in a manner resembling the early photographic papers and aging of those images. Using pinhole cameras and infrared, Parent's work has a moody, dark, surreal quality.
John Andrew Burmeister and Stephen Scott Young are presenting etchings depicting today's views of the Charleston area. Both etchers use the simplicity of line while engaging the tonality of ink to express ethereally a sense of place. Burmeister is an emerging artist with a strong sense of how to push the etching plate to produce mood. Young is a master printmaker in his mid career and is also know for his strong paintings.
Margaret Peery's strong architectural pencil drawings define the buildings as they appear today. Peery is also an etcher and watercolorist whose paintings are known for their atmospheric qualities. Peery made Charleston her home many decades ago and home for her is in the city blocks as the former homes of Verner, Hutty and Alice R. H. Smith. Lese Corrigan's linocuts are strong black images on white depicting some of the same views as Verner and Hutty. Corrigan uses this print method to express graphically the Charleston energy that is as much in her blood as pluffmud is her comfort scent. Known for her high color and texturally impressionist paintings, printmaking allows Corrigan to focus on the image versus the energy.
Walking the same streets as those Charleston Renaissance artists, living within doors of their past homes and studios, watching the development of the mature work of Halsey and McCallum, contemporary Charleston artists have shared the creative spirit with which the Holy City is imbued. That this essence is present is evidenced by the numbers of artists who have visited and continue to choose to make Charleston their home.
Come see the crisp cleanness of this show and how the old and new artworks flow into each other so seamlessly as does the historic and contemporary nature of Charleston, this lovely aristocratic lady of a city we call home.
Carolina Galleries has been a specialty gallery dealing in antique paintings and prints since before 1963 when Raymond Holtsclaw purchased the Means Art Shop. In 1990 Anna Onufer, Johnson Hagood and Margaret Peery purchased the gallery and contemporary work was added to the gallery's repertoire. Onufer and Hagood had been associated with the gallery prior to purchase. As the oldest existing gallery in Charleston, it specializes in the art of the Charleston Renaissance as well as work of the artists of the New Charleston Renaissance. Paintings, prints and fine museum quality framing are all available from Carolina Galleries.
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/723-2266, e-mail at (info@carolinagalleries.com) or at (www.carolinagalleries.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2004 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© 2004 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.