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April Issue 2004

Artista Vista 2004 in Congaree Vista Area of Columbia, SC, Apr. 30 & May 1, 2004

Come join the galleries of the Congaree Vista for Artista Vista, a two-day celebration of the visual arts (ART NIGHT, Apr. 30, 5-9pm and ART DAY, May 1, 11am-4pm). Nearly two decades ago, art gallery owners pioneered the historic Congaree Vista warehouse district in Columbia, SC, thus setting the stage for the areaπs phenomenal growth. In 2004 as more galleries have moved into the Vista, the area has become an important cultural center. Every day these galleries work to support the regionπs most established artists, identify and sustain new emerging talent, and bring in new artists from around the nation.

Artista Vista, an annual project of the combined forces of ten Vista galleries and the South Carolina State Museum, celebrates the arts with special exhibits, demonstrations, invited special installation projects, and performances. More details will be available as the date draws near.

Cameo Fine Art Gallery (1213 Lincoln St., 803/799-8869) is pleased to be presenting the exhibit, Saturday Creations, by regional artist Robert Campbell through May 26, 2004. The exhibit will open Apr. 30 and May 1st to kick off the annual spring Artista Vista event for the gallery. This exhibition will also feature new works by Cameoπs strong stable of artists.

Saturday Creations is an exhibit of free, loose and sometimes romanticized paint sketches by Campbell that invite the viewer to share in the experience of a Saturday morning exercise routine; ≥Evidence of the preliminary composition derisions, struggles with drawing, colors and edges, seemingly reckless brush strokes are all essential criteria for a successful åwork outπ≤, says the artist, continuing,≥What Iπm painting is secondary to HOW I am painting.≤ Alla Prima - which basically means one sitting, is the approach used for Campbellπs paint sketches. This approach is also an hourπs focus on freshness using the wet on wet oil technique where Campbell is equally conscious and most comfortable.

Campbell is a native Floridian who now resides in Aiken, SC. He has worked as a professional illustrator and has enjoyed success in an international arena largely devoted to wildlife conservation organizations including, World Wildlife Fund, National Wildlife Federation and the Smithsonian Institution. Small town charm and a sense of a friendship with his University of South Carolina-Aiken college professor and comrade Al Beyer, made Aiken the perfect choice to call home. Both Beyer and Campbell have impeccable talent to resort to realism to convey the obvious (i.e., landscapes, animal portraits), but find more feeling and passion in the usage of wild brush strokes that are emotionally charged, expressive and properly executed to have deeper meaning.

Other artistπs work that will be on display during Artista Vista include: Sharon Licata, Helen Fried, Scott French, Howard Hunt, Barbara Yon, Mary Alice Lockhart, Sherie Koenig, Jean McWhorter, Leanne Kelley-Badeaux, Bob Connely, Amanda Thorne-Suber, Charles Harpt, Lee Monts, Ingrid Hofer and Raku pottery by Peter Alsen.

Carol Saunders Gallery (922 Gervais St., 803/256-3046) will show glass art by Will Dexter and mixed media paintings by Scott Upton.

City Art Gallery (1224 Lincoln St., 803/252-3613) presents exceptionally talented emerging artists for, Schoolπs Out II: Emerging Artists of the Southeast. In the wake of our critically acclaimed inaugural exhibit identifying recent MFAs, BAs and BFAs of the region, City Art looks forward to presenting its second graduating class. The exhibit features the work of ten artists who work in a variety of media and whose work exemplifies exciting new directions in contemporary art. Schoolπs Out II is the result of a nominating process in which City Art asked studio art faculty members throughout Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina to identify their most talented recent graduates, artists who promise to be of high enough caliber to ≥make it≤ in the competitive art culture. Winnowing through the portfolios in a kind of ≥American Idol≤ type search, the Gallery Director then selected the artists who also displayed high levels of professionalism and whose work together would exemplify new trends in the contemporary visual culture. Echoing tendencies among talented emerging artists exhibiting now in national shows, the resulting exhibit at City Art will be strong on mixed media, drawing and figuration.

The exhibit also highlights two important art climates for emerging artists in the state of South Carolina - the ceramic program at USCπs Department of Art in Columbia, under the direction of Professor Virginia Scotchie, and the Studio Art program at the College of Charleston. Three of Scotchieπs current graduate students are in this exhibit, and four artists are graduates of the College of Charleston. In addition, the Charleston artists have further invigorated their own art scene by developing the Redux Contemporary Art Center into an important culture of creativity.

This yearπs class includes Jen Bandini (Athens, GA) works on paper, mixed media; Hwa-Won Lee (Columbia, SC) ceramic sculpture; Jill Allen (Columbia, SC) ceramic sculpture; Ken Baskin (Columbia, SC) ceramic sculpture; Charlie Shipman (Columbia, SC) photography; Wil Medearis (Asheville, NC) painting; Seth Gadsden (Clover, SC) figurative, oil on paper; Bill Bolton (Charleston, SC) oil on canvas; Zane Wilson (Goose Creek, SC) sculpture; and Bob Snead (Charleston, SC) oil on copper.

The exhibit continues through June 5, 2004.

Lewis & Clark (1231 Lincoln St., 803/765-2405) presents works by Roland Albert, Jason Amick, Tonya Gregg, and David Johnson for Artista Vista.

Painter and sculptor Roland Albert is a fixture on the art scene of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The graduate of Munichπs Academy of Fine Arts has shown all over Europe. He is part of the ongoing artistsπ exchange between Columbia and the German city of Kaiserslautern. As such he was part of Columbiaπs 2001 Garage Art Project. The gallery will present small works on paper by Albert, some painted with shellac and others with a mixture of soil and glue. It will be Albertπs first American solo show.

After four years of trying the real world, 1999 University of South Carolina graduate Jason Amick picked up last year where he left off five years ago. Then, in his graduation year, he won the USC art departmentπs Ed Yaghjian Undergraduate Studio Art Award. Now, Amick is painting daily again and doing so at the level that had both his USC professors and fellow students in awe. Lewis & Clark is happy to present a small show of Amickπs recent acrylic-on-canvas paintings.

The gallery will also present Tonya Greggπs first exhibition of acrylic-on-canvas paintings. Having painted for years in oils, Gregg has recently begun to use acrylics for a new body of work. Since she took a teaching job at Benedict College in 1999, the Darlington County native has become a quiet but impressive fixture on the local art scene. Gregg has art degrees from the University of Maryland and the University of Chicago. Her work has been exhibited widely in the Southeast, as well as in New York City, Washington, DC, Baltimore, and Chicago. Her most recent solo show, last fall, was at the Lawndale Art Center in Houston.

Greggπs colorful, figurative paintings deal in sometimes funny, sometimes grim, always insightful ways with issues of race, gender, and sexuality in popular culture.

David Johnson will show a series of black and white hand painted photographs at the Lewis & Clark Gallery. The photography exhibition will be Johnsonπs first whose current work is centered around exploring suggestive and sensual themes of the figure. A graduate of the Media Arts Department at the University of South Carolina, Johnson worked with professor Jennifer Laffoon to develop a deeper understanding and interest of film that eventually expanded into photography. Johnsonπs work entitled Nurturer was recently accepted in the June issue of Photographerπs Forum magazine.

Gallery 80808 at Vista Studios, (808 Lady St., 803/252-6134) among the first art galleries in the Vista, was established 14 years ago. The 13 artists who maintain working studios at Vista Studios mount two exhibitions each year, with Artista Vista being one of those occasions. This group show titled, pARTicularities, highlights the artistsπ most recent creations as well as providing an opportunity for visitors to meet the artists and talk to them in their studios.

Reflecting the diversity of the artists themselves, the show comprises a rich and lively mix of styles and media, both two and three-dimensional. Fiber artist, Susan Lentz, creates intricate, multilayered, richly-colored patterns using fabric, paper, stitching, and found objects - many containing subtle sparks of gold and silver among their jewel tones. To Lentz, STITCH is a noun: it is a verb. It is what she does and how she does it. It is her pARTicular way of creating.

Pat Gilmartin will be showing a new series of bronze-patinated, terra cotta sculptures. Her Reubenesque women are expressionistic, ambiguous, and evocative, allowing viewers to provide their own interpretations of the piecesπ meanings. More sculpture, non objective works in marble, alabaster, and soapstone, are presented by Carol Barks and Sharon Licata. Barksπ creations represent her personal journey. She works intuitively allowing the stoneπs story to be told through its textures, colors, and shapes. Licataπs sculptures represent elegant examples of how beauty in line and proportion can emerge from rough, formless stone.

Laura Spongπs non-objective paintings combine an expert sense of scale with a lush palette of hues. The artistπs combinations of shape, color, and proportion result in images which are at once simple and stimulating. Explorations in texture highlight Ethel Brodyπs latest pieces. Welcome to Spring is a collage incorporating paint, tissue paper, Japanese paper, pearls, and gold thread. The dark and mysterious, Les Fleurs de Mal invites close study to appreciate its detailed surfaces.

Mike Williams delivers a batch of highly-original, expressive, new fish - small scale, mixed media works on canvas and wood - and an assortment of related objects forged from steel. Williams continues the mission of perusing the boundaries of what one is willing to accept in landscape and representational art.

Other Vista Studio artists will also be showing their newest work. Look for creations in book art and photo-collage by Susan Hogue, lovely figurative pastels by Pat Callahan and additional art by Robert Kennedy and Charles Dillingham.

The exhibition will continue through May 13, 2004.

On May 1, the South Carolina State Museum (301 Gervais St., 803/898-4921) hosts the Congaree Art Festival. Many artists will be on hand in booths to show their work and demonstrate their artistic skills.

Also participating in Artista Vista will be I. Pinkney Simons (1012 Gervais St., 803/771-8815), The Gallery at Nonnahπs (928 Gervais St., 803/779-9599) Gallery 2 (929 Gervais St. 803/771-6123), M. Craig & Co. (807 Gervais St., 803/254-5994) and One Eared Cow Glass (1102 Huger St., 803/254-2444).

For more information check our SC Commercial and Institutional Gallery listings, call the respective galleries, or contact Teri Tynes, Coordinator Artista Vista and Gallery Director, City Art, at 803/252-3613.

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.