April 2014

The Art League of Hilton Head on Hilton Head Island, SC, Features Works by Margaret Crawford

The Art League of Hilton Head on Hilton Head Island, SC, will present Florals and Facades, Light and Shadow, featuring works by Margaret Crawford, on view in the Walter Greer Gallery, located at the Art Center of Coastal Carolina, from Apr. 8 through May 3, 2014. A reception will be held on Apr. 10, from 5-7pm.

A unique style of watercolor painting has been a long time focus for Margaret Crawford. Her exhibition demonstrates her talent in handling this often difficult medium.

Crawford’s dramatic floral portraits combine abstraction and realism to reflect the artist’s fascination with the play of light and shadow on her subjects. Exuberant, larger-than-life blossoms burst forth in intricate detail from dark, transparent backgrounds created through the artist’s refined glazing technique. She employs strong value contrasts and subtle colors, leaving the white surface paper exposed in parts to create interesting patterns that guide the viewer’s eye.

Crawford’s paintings of architectural details of buildings mainly in Savannah, GA, Charleston, SC, and Bluffton, SC, employ this same glazing technique and often use the shadows and light to emphasize the focal point of her architectural portraits.

Crawford, who has an appreciation for all artistic styles, has juried both state and national exhibitions in New Jersey and New York. She has taught many workshops and classes and has become a popular demonstrator. Crawford is a signature member of the New Jersey Water Color Society (President 1998-2000); The Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, NYC, where she served as Painting Chair, Slide Chair and Dinner Chair; the National Association of Women Artists, and The American Artist’s Professional League.

Locally, Crawford is a member of The Art League of Hilton Head where she is presently a member of the Board of Directors, the Society of Bluffton Artists, Plein Air Painters of the Low Country, and The South Carolina Watermedia Society. She has had 15 one-person exhibits and been involved in 7 multi-person shows throughout her artistic career.

Crawford fell in love with the friendly southern hospitality and the wonderful architecture and flowers in the Hilton Head area. She and her husband, Dennis, have been coming to the island since the mid seventies; first owning a villa in Palmetto Dunes, and two years ago finally moving full time to a home in Long Cove.

Crawford is also proficient in a variety of media including acrylic and oil; the oils are painted in Plein Air and the acrylics mainly large abstracts. There are so many opportunities to exhibit and study in this area and she plans to try to take advantage of all of them.

Crawford received her training at the Pittsburgh Art Institute, Carnegie Mellon University and The Art Students League in New York City. She has also taken classes and workshops with many noted artists such as Wolf Kahn, Mary Todd Beam, Judy Betts and Jean Spicer. She is currently represented by the Oceanside Gallery in Belmar, NJ, and The Artist’s Café in Spring Lake, NJ.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call Rebecca Brown, Gallery Administrator at 843/681-2399 or visit (www.artleaguehhi.org).

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