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April Issue 2005
Beaufort Art Association in Beaufort, SC, Features Works by Martha Lou Dillon Davis
by Claudia Cornett
Dancer, mathematician, computer programmer, painter. Those are just some of the ways to describe Martha Lou Dillon Davis, featured artist at the Beaufort Art Association Gallery in Beaufort, SC, through Apr. 30, 2005.
Davis's subject matter is as diverse as her background. However, I like portraits best, she declares. I love the challenge of drawing the human form-the skin, the lines, what you see in individuals. Her training in classical ballet heightened her love of beautiful bodies and explains her enjoyment of technique and precision in art.
The show's poster is a testament to Davis's skill at portraiture. A stunning Hawaiian man stares boldly at the viewer, proudly displaying tattoos that cover his upper body. I wanted to paint that combination of a big beefy body and those innocent delicate hands, Davis explains. She is intrigued by surfaces - be they the exteriors of human beings or ocean water. People and water are so interesting, Every time you look, they change. Of course, both are also reflections of what surrounds them.
Which leads to Davis's other art challenge: How to paint what is beneath the surface. In her portraits of old men and women she says she can see their lives in their faces. Capturing that depth became a passion for Davis when she painted her first portrait. That work was of her art teacher, Chevis Clark. Since then she has painted people of all ages and backgrounds, including her own children and grandchildren. Davis insists it is so much easier to paint a person than a tree!
The Winton-Salem, NC, native has been painting since age four. Davis felt she had an early educational advantage because her elementary school encouraged students to draw history and allow everyone to learn in different ways. Today we know about 'multiple intelligences' and many schools infuse the arts. But, then this was 'cutting edge.' Davis went on to Hollins College in Roanoke, VA, and then earned an undergraduate degree from Wake Forrest. After getting a master's in community and occupational education she completed her formal education journey in 1994 with a doctorate in educational psychology from University of South Carolina. Currently, Dr. Davis is Director of Research and Planning at the Technical College of the Low Country.
A move to Beaufort in the late 1990s enabled Davis to get involved with Beaufort Art Association and increase her art productivity. Her nearly life-long love of art had been interrupted during her college years. She became a math major because non representation art was the focus in the 50s and I just don't' appreciate abstraction of that kind. Davis does not hesitate to compare her beloved old masters like Michelangelo to the Cubists who she found wanting. She believes, like ballet, good art rests squarely on technique. The more you know the more you can let go.
Looking at art has been the single most influential factor in Davis' growth as an artist. I've spent my life going to galleries, she says as she begins to list recent visits to the Netherlands, Scotland, Hawaii, and Peru. She particularly loves the work of Van Gogh ("He was a maniac, I love it!", she says), and impressionist, Callibotte, who she feels uses composition and technique expertly.
Visitors to the Gallery can expect
to see oils and watercolors of the marsh, water, and, Davis's
main love, portraits. Of course, the original portrait of the
young man on a beach of a volcanic rock will be on display. In
Dr.
Davis's opinion, "Nothing beats a half naked Hawaiian man".
She offers her painting as evidence.
For further information check
our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the BAA Gallery at
843/379-2222, e-mail at (baagaller@islc.net) or at (www.allbeaufort.com/baa/).
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