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May Issue 2003

Visual Art Offerings During the Spoleto/Piccolo Season in the Greater Charleston Area - The Shows You Shouldn't Miss!

by Tom Starland, some stuff I know and more

Here we go again - it's Festival time in Charleston, SC, and the visual art exhibitions are coming out of the woodwork. Well, they actually don't come out of the woodwork until after our deadlines for printing. Those are the exhibits best forgotten as they weren't important to publicize ahead of time. On the spot exhibitions usually make for art that is here today gone tomorrow. After all, Spoleto only takes place once a year - same time every year. How hard can it be to plan for?

The season starts May 2 with the French Quarter ART WALK, which in itself offers participants a look at over 30 galleries and the Gibbes Museum of Art in about a four-block area of historic downtown Charleston. But, galleries throughout Charleston will also be open that evening to take advantage of the crowds. The official hours of the WALK are 5 to 8pm, but some galleries don't close their doors until much later. Folks my age start heading home around 7pm and the younger and young at heart don't usually start showing their face until after 9pm. I remember those days.

But I'm going home early so I can get up at a decent hour to go to the North Charleston Arts Festival's Main Event, at the North Charleston Performing Arts & Convention Center Complex, May 3 & 4. The Festival's activities take place throughout North Charleston from May 2 - 10. We had a full schedule of events on the back of last month's Carolina Arts. A host of exhibitions will be presented there including: South Carolina Palmetto Hands, a state-wide juried craft show; Adult, Youth, and Photography juried exhibitions; and a special photographic display by the 1st Combat Camera Squadron from the Charleston Air Force Base. You don't see that everyday. Plus there will be four separate stages of continuous performing arts presentations. And, it's all free - even the parking.

Now, the Spoleto Festival USA and its companion festival, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, don't start until May 23 and continue through June 8, but there will be plenty of exhibitions to see before then. Especially if you want to avoid the crowds of the festivals and the Memorial Day weekend.

Editor's Note: To save space I'm not going to give complete addresses and details - you can find that info in our gallery listings in the back of the paper or in articles found inside.

Emily Jenkins

Let's start with a carry-over show from last month. Tiemaker's Gallery on Spring Street is offering Big Bold Abstracts, featuring paintings by Emily K. Jenkins. The artist is one of the top abstract artists in the city's growing number of abstract artists calling Charleston home and our cover artist this month.

Charleston's not just about pretty pictures anymore, although it offers some of the best that can be found anywhere.

Exhibitions starting early in May with the ART WALK include: Charleston Under Glass, featuring works by Greg Rawls at Courtyard Art Gallery on East Bay Street; Glimpses of Summer, featuring works by Sabine Guiot Avcalade at Lowcountry Artists LTD, also on East Bay Street; and further down the street on East Bay is Lowcountry Memories, featuring works by Joann Davis at Waterfront Gallery. Waterfront Gallery will also present "Artists in Action Day" on May 3, from 11am-4pm where most of its 18 artists will be painting during the day in the gallery.

The Wells Gallery at King and Broad Streets will present the exhibit Water and Oil, featuring paintings by Gary Gowans; Nina Liu and Friends on State Street will be offering drawing and sculpture by Aggie Zed (get here early or all the work will be sold); Blink! on Queen Street will present an exhibition by Atlanta, GA, artist Georgia Nagle entitled, Animal Magnetism; and Eva Carter Gallery on East Bay Street will offer the exhibition Eva Carter: Extremes, featuring eXtra large paintings and smaller works, including a 7 x 12 foot painting which fills the entire back wall of the gallery. This is one big, beautiful abstract painting!

I want all out there who care to know that May 27 is my birthday. And, before my dream goes on too far - remember, Eva Carter Gallery is the home of works by the late, great, William Halsey - Charleston's original abstract painter.

On May 4, Charleston Crafts on Hasell Street will offer an Open House to kick off their Piccolo Spoleto Preview exhibition featuring samples of works by their artists who will be showing later at the Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Craft Show at Wragg Square.

Jumping over to the institutional presentations which are currently on view we have: Forgotten Corners, featuring works by Fletcher Crossman at the City Gallery at the Dock Street Theatre on Church Street, up through May 14; Portraits at the Footlight, featuring paintings by Jim Ward at The Footlight Players Gallery on Queen Street, up through May 10; The Sins of My Old Age, featuring printworks by Jim Innes at the Saul Alexander Foundation Gallery at the Charleston County Public Library on Calhoun Street, up through May 31; and a special exhibition of photographic works by Sherman J. Ford at the Karples Manuscript Museum on Spring Street, up through May 31.

Spring Street might be a little off the beaten path, but here you have two exhibitions within a block of each other, plus the regular offerings of the Manuscript Museum. Free parking too.

The Gibbes Museum of Art on Meeting Street is offering a multitude of exhibitions - too numerous to mention here (see our gallery listings), but I want to note two exhibits, The Sight of Music: From the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams, which encompasses a century of artists' interpretations on the theme of music, including works by Andy Warhol, Thomas Hart Benton and John Cage to name a few. The exhibit is on view through Aug. 24. And, the exhibition The Charleston Renaissance Tradition: Early Works by Corrie McCallum, up through June 15.

McCallum is one of my favorite Charleston artists, who at age 89 is still an active part of the Charleston art community, and recent recipient of the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Award for Lifetime Achievement, SC's top award in the arts. Also, one of the few things the SC Arts Commission and I agree on.

McCallum will have an Open Studio on May 16, from 4-8pm at the McCallum - Halsey Studios on Fulton Street, between King and Archdale Streets. This is a must for collectors. The studio offers a large number of fine art prints from series executed throughout the artist's 60 plus years of creating art - many are at very reasonable prices. That's why I'll be there. For those with deeper pockets - there are plenty of original paintings.

Corrie McCallum was married to William Halsey. At the gallery named in his honor, the William Halsey Gallery at the College of Charleston, at George and St. Philips Streets, the exhibition Yu Hong: Woman's Life, will feature oil paintings by Yu Hong, one of the most distinguished contemporary artists in China. The exhibit starts May 9.

Heading towards the middle of May we see a host of exhibit openings including: on May 10, Images of Charleston, featuring works by Mat Barber Kennedy, opens at E.S. Lawrence Gallery on Meeting Street; on May 16, Cornices of Charleston, featuring works by Susan Romaine opens at Addison Hatfield Gallery on Queen Street; on May 16, an exhibition of paintings by Kim English will open at Smith-Killiam Fine Art at State and Queen Streets; on May 16, New Horizons, featuring works by Kenneth Hanger will open at Spencer Art Gallery on Broad Street; on May 16, an exhibit of works by Ann Lee Merrill will open at The Wolf Contemporary Art Gallery on Church Street; on May 17, an exhibition of works by Alex Zapata of Bolivia will open at The Wells Gallery on Broad Street; and on May 18, The Lure of the Lowcountry Landscape, featuring works by Betty Robinson will open at Carolina Galleries at King and Horlbeck Alley. I think this will be Robinson's first solo exhibition in Charleston - a long overdue event.

Let's leave Charleston for a while and head up I-26 to Summerville, SC, where on May 17 & 18, the 5th Annual Sculpture in the South Fine Art Exhibit & Sale will take place in Summerville's Azalea Park. This exhibition of sculpture features works by 20 nationally known artists. The annual exhibit and sale benefits the park's permanent collection of sculpture, which now includes 14 works.

A Dutch Treat, Christian Thee

May 17 is also the opening day for several Piccolo Spoleto exhibitions - mainly three invitational exhibits including: the Sandy Phillips Invitational Exhibition in the lobby of the Dock Street Theatre on Church Street; the Christian Thee Invitational Exhibition in the 2nd floor Drawing Room at the Dock Street Theatre; and the Richard C. Hagerty Invitational Exhibition in the City Gallery at the Dock Street Theatre.

Guess what? We've finally reached the Spoleto Festival and their sole offering, Borough Fabrications, the final installment of a three-year exhibition entitled, Evoking History, which will be in The Borough Cultural Gallery Museum at Calhoun and East Bay Streets. The exhibit will feature presentations by students of the Clemson Architecture Center in Charleston showing their visions of the future of this new Museum. If this isn't a good example of the "Trickle Down" theory - I don't know what is. I expect more from this "world class" festival when it comes to visual arts and I'm sure the public does too. But, we're not getting it - haven't been for years.

Piccolo Spoleto, fortunately, is offering much more for your palate. Starting May 23, at the Charleston Visitor Center, at Meeting between John and Ann Streets, will be the Piccolo Spoleto 19th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, co-sponsored by the Charleston Artist Guild. This exhibition features works by artists from throughout SC. The Artist Guild also co-sponsors the Patricia O. Carter Memorial Exhibition, featuring works by Jim Bridges at Charleston City Hall, at Broad and Meeting Streets. This show opens May 23.

May 23 is also the opening day for Piccolo Spoleto's two outdoor exhibitions: the Annual Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Juried Art Show, which features works by 80 SC artists, throughout the 17 days of the festival, in the beautiful outdoor setting of Marion Square Park at the intersections of King, Meeting, Calhoun, and Hutson Streets. This show will be juried by Kevin Grogan and Charleston's Mayor, Joseph P. Riley, Jr. will present the awards to winning artists at 4pm on May 23.

The schedule of FREE art demonstrations offered during the Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Juried Art Show are as follows: May 25, at 1pm, Sandy Phillips, (Watercolor); May 26, at 11am, John Michiels, (Photography) and at 2:30pm, Detta Cutting Zimmerman, (Oil); May 27, at 11am, Tami Cardnella, (Oil) and at 2:30pm, Taw Raisanen, (Watercolor); May 28, at 11am, Bette Bentley-Layne, (Acrylic) and at 2:30pm, Lese Corrigan, (Oil); May 29, at 11am, Ron Rocz, (Photography) and at 2:30pm, Jane Jackson, (Watercolor); May 30, at 11am, Michael Kennedy, (Pastel) and at 2:30pm, Robin Brizard, (Oil); May 31, at 11am, Karen Hagan, (Oil) and at 2:30pm, Sherry Browne, (Papercuts); June 1, at 11am, Linda Scavio, (Marbled Paper) and at 2:30pm, Richard Johnson, (Acrylic); June 2, at 11am, Amelia Rose Smith, (Pastel) and at 2:30pm, Chris Ritsch, (Oil); June 3, at 11am, Bob Graham, (Drawing) and at 2:30pm, Martha Sharp, (Oil); June 4, at 11am, Stephanie Hamlet, (Mixed Media) and at 2:30pm, Scott Henderson, (Select Hand/Color Photo); June 5, at 11am, Alice Grimsley, (Watercolor) and at 2:30pm, Joann Davis, (Ink Pouring); June 6, at 11am, John Jones, (Acrylic) and at 2:30pm, Christopher Hill, (Oil); and June 7, at 11am, Kelli Griffin, (Photography).

The other outdoor show is the Annual Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Crafts Show, which takes place at Wragg Square at Meeting and Charlotte Streets, for the first two weekends of Spoleto starting May 23. These two weekend shows feature works by over 70 artisans from across the nation. Each weekend may feature different artists.

The schedule of FREE demonstrations, after you pay the $3 admission (unless you've gotten a free pass from one of the commercial galleries listed in our gallery listings), to the Piccolo Spoleto Crafts Shows are on page 36. The schedule of FREE demonstrations taking place at Charleston Crafts on Hasell Street can also be found on page 36.

Between these two outdoor venues, you can take advantage of a lot of arts education or just some interesting viewing - all for the right price. These same shows also represent the largest exchange of money for art taking place during the Spoleto season. Go early to get the best picks.

Another Piccolo Spoleto "sponsored" exhibit is Water & Stones & Stars: How Water Connects Us to the Divine, featuring works by a group of local artists called, "In the Spirit", starting on May 23, at the Circular Congregational Church on Meeting Street.

Going back to May 22, we have the inaugural exhibition at the City of Charleston's new gallery space, Gallery at One Vendue Range, between Prioleau Street and the City's Waterfront Park on the Cooper River. Two exhibitions will be presented here (if the paint drys) including: The Tesoriere Collection: A Treasure for Mepkin, featuring 60 paintings and works on paper by Italian-American artist Ugo Tesoriere, who left his collection to Mepkin Abbey, located outside Moncks Corner, SC; and Contemporary Charleston 2003, featuring the works of 17 of Charleston's finest cutting-edge contemporary artists who are not always in public view, curated by University of South Carolina Art Professor Brad Collins. (Their words not mine.) The show includes works by: Bruno Civitico, Barbara Duval, Linda Fantuzzo, West Fraser, Paul Hitopoulos, Corrie McCallum, William McCullough, John Michel, Steven Nicol, Cliff Peacock, Michael Phillips, Lynne Riding, Jason Rucker, Loren Schwerd, Michael Tyzack, Michelle Van Parys, and Manning Williams.

I must have turned my eye to the sun for several decades to miss seeing works by this group of artists - "who are not always in public view." But then again, a lot of people don't read what they release for public distribution.

Our final institutional entry is the exhibition Iron and Zinc, featuring sculpture by Erik Johnson and prints by Steven LeWinter, starting on May 24, at the new Redux Contemporary Art Center on St. Philip Street. This is the new home of Print Studio South and Redux Studios. Starting at 4pm on May 24, a "Pedestal Plop," iron pour will take place where one of Johnson's works will be cast and poured hours before the exhibit opens. That will teach people not to touch the art!

Jumping back to the commercial sector we have; on May 22, the Tidwell Art Gallery on King Street will present its 2003 Festival Poster by Miles Batt, as well as an exhibition of original works by Batt and his wife Irene Charles Batt. The gallery is in a new location this year - just about a half-block north from their old location on King Street; on May 23, Spencer Art Gallery on Broad Street will present the exhibition Parallelism - New Works, featuring sculpture by Sean Ahern; on May 30, The Wolf Contemporary Art Gallery will offer Fine Art In Bronze - An Exhibition of Contemporary European Sculpture, featuring works from Italica, one of Europe's largest foundries; and on May 30, Coleman Fine Art at Church and Tradd Streets will present the exhibition The Gardens of Charleston, featuring works by Jan Pawlowski.

You might catch Pawlowski painting on a street corner early some morning during the festival. Keep an eye out for him.

There you go, the short and sweet of it. Exhibitions of all kinds of art - traditional and contemporary by artists from all over the region, nation and as far away as Bolivia and China. There's something for everyone of any taste, and that's the way it should be.

I'm sure we left something important out, but you can scan the gallery listings for more if it's not enough. Enjoy!

Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2003 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© 2003 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.