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March Issue 2009
Sunset River
Marketplace in Calabash, NC, Offers Works by Kim Dawn Clayton
Sunset River Marketplace, the innovative art gallery in Calabash, NC, is presenting the exhibit, Sweet Dreams, featuring a collection of new, re-newed and inspired art pieces by Conway, SC, folk artist Kim Clayton, also known as Kimberly Dawn. The show is on view through Mar. 15, 2009.
Originally from the mountains of Tennessee, Clayton is a self-taught visionary who believes that one man's trash is her own artistic treasure. She works in acrylic, oil, airbrush and rattle cans. In addition to painting on canvas, she often tells her visual stories on windows, doors, hubcaps, skateboards and furniture. Other "canvases" have included a VW Beetle, a Jeep, a motorcycle, several boats and a boat dock.
According to Clayton, her greatest influence has been her grandfather furniture designer Stapleton Long. Her work has been called "a painted diary of emotions, feelings and dreams."
In addition to painting, Clayton has illustrated six children's books and a cookbook. During the recent holiday season, she was one of the artists invited to paint the life-size sleighs which were placed throughout The Market Common in Myrtle Beach, SC, for visitors to enjoy. When ABC's Extreme Home Makeover came to Myrtle Beach last year, she was part of that, too.
Several of the pieces in this exhibit feature Clayton's signature surfer girls and use of bottle caps, broken CDs, candy wrappers, recycled windows, plantation wood and angel motifs.
Gallery owner Ginny Lassiter said, "I have been looking forward to Kim's show for months. Her work is so uplifting and inspirational. Her mermaid paintings on skim boards and skateboards are just so inventive, and I especially love her still lifes of wine bottles and glasses. Kim's paintings strike a wonderful balance between sophisticated and primitive."
When asked for a description of the exhibition, Clayton offered the following, as only she can: "Bikini clad surfer girls glide smooth amongst schools of rainbow fish. Fish eyes are doors to the heavens while mysterious angels soar up above. Jade green, sky blue and chestnut brown eyes peer into your ear from the shadows offering reassurance on some nights ... others conviction. Scenic landscapes splashed with brilliant sunsets present a sanctuary for the soul, a safe haven wrapped in color. Tootsie rolled, Pop Rockin' girls do a sugary dance among bottle capped flowers. A paintbrush moves across the sky with words to inspire, leaving a permanent mark in the walls of your heart."
For further information
check our NC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at
910/575-5999 or visit (www.MySpace.com/sunsetrivermarketplace).
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