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May Issue 2005
Works by Bea Aaronson, Hamed Mahmoodi, and John Douglas Donehue, Jr. were Selected as 2005 Piccolo Spoleto Poster Images
Selected from a statewide competition as the official 2005 Piccolo Spoleto Poster image, La Fete de la Nuit by Charleston, SC, artist Bea Aaronson will grace this year's official Piccolo Spoleto poster. The competition is open to all South Carolina artists and the winning Piccolo poster image is selected for its design qualities and its representation of the festival.
Bea Aaronson
"Bea's wonderful image La Fete de la Nuit is perfect for this year's festival. It evokes the lightheartedness, the elegance and whimsy of Piccolo's 700+ performances, exhibits and literary events, all at the same time. The beautiful colors selected by Bea make your heart dance. Her original painting will become part of the city's collection of Piccolo Spoleto poster images, which have been created by some of South Carolina's finest visual artists. Each artist has interpreted the spirit of Piccolo Spoleto Festival and its programs in his or her own unique and special way," said Ellen Dressler Moryl, Director of the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs.
Aaronson is a self-taught multimedia
artist, art critic, performer, award-winning poet and published
author, independent scholar and lecturer. She was born in Paris
in 1956. After studying Art History at La Sorbonne and L'Ecole
du Louvre, she went to Cape Town, South Africa, where she earned
a BA Honors in French Literature and Art History. She moved to
Charleston in 1987 and since then earned an MA in French Literature
from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. She has exhibited
her work in the United States, Europe, South Africa, Lebanon,
and Israel, curated shows in Colorado Springs, Columbia, and Charleston
for Piccolo Spoleto.
Three times the official poster artist for Piccolo Spoleto, with
Erzulie in 1989, The Eye Listens in 2001, and La
Fete de la Nuit in 2005, Aaronson has exhibited her work at
the International Fair of Contemporary Art in Strasbourg, France,
and in Paris as part of the return of the "New New Paintings"
from America. She has participated in the Beyrouth Art Fair in
Lebanon, and inaugurated the Miami Art Fair with a multimedia
presentation of her poems and synaesthetic laminated collages.
She also exhibited at the Paris Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain
at La Bastille. In April 2003 her work was chosen to be part of
the International Juried exhibition at the coveted Salon d'Art
Contemporain de Montrouge. Her sculptwork, including sculptures,
photographs, watercolors, oils, acrylics, collages and monotypes,
can be seen in her studio at 356 King Street. The 2005 Piccolo
Spoleto poster is sponsored by Budweiser.
Hamed Mahmoodi
The Spotlight Concert Series Poster Image, Enlightenment, is by artist Hamed Mahmoodi, an international artist living in Greenville, SC, whose talent has earned him numerous juried awards, including Best-in-Show honors. In addition to being chosen for one of the 2005 Charleston Piccolo Spoleto poster awards, his paintings also won poster awards for five different years of the Greenville, SC, Coca-Cola RiverPlace Festival.
Oil, watercolor, markers, metals, wax, paper, furniture and camera work are some of the mediums that Mahmoodi has used to create his diverse works of art. His paintings vary from realism to abstract expressionism. His philosophy for creating art is that each idea and work deserves its own individual style and medium and therefore aligns himself with Robert Rauschenberg and Christo. Mahmoodi creates varied styles of paintings, portraits and sculptures, turns pieces of furniture into painted art, and recently won first place and honorable mention awards for his photography. Virtually everything in his surroundings has the potential to become a canvas for his craft.
Artistic ability was evident in Mahmoodi at an early age and recognizing this, his parents enrolled him in private schools in Iran and Sweden before he emigrated to the United States to study architecture at Clemson University. The study of architecture was chosen by Mahmoodi for the means it could provide for his becoming a stronger artist through developing a better understanding of 3-dimensionality and the essence of urban duality and environmental art. After receiving his architectural degree, he worked for Fluor International where he created design renderings, architectural layouts and presentation boards for multinational projects. Then, with the idea of having more time for artistic endeavors, Mahmoodi became a freelance design architect. A reputation for high quality and beautiful renderings enables him to choose the kind and amount of work he wishes to do in this field.
In describing what inspires and motivates him, Mahmoodi reveals that, "Through my art, I attempt to relay mood by using color, theme, texture and perspective. I strive to create something that causes the viewer to pause for a moment of reflection as the piece reveals itself. Art, for me, is about that eternal quest to produce a work that effects someone at a personal and emotional level."
John Douglas Donehue, Jr.
The Petite Performance Pavilion Poster Image, Creative Energy, is by John Douglas Donehue, Jr. Born and raised in Charleston, he attended The Savannah College of Art and Design from 1990 to 1994. Completing courses in drawing, illustration, fiber arts, painting, two-dimensional design, three-dimensional design, color theory, graphic design and several courses focused on specific topics of art history. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design in June of 1994.
Following school in Savannah, Donehue went to Baltimore, MD, and began to work in the production-based environment of a busy sign shop. Projects included hand-made, lighted sign boxes, unique, illustrated A-frame sandwich boards, producing patterns for neon and the layout and lettering of everything from store front windows to tractor trailers. All this production during his workday had a productive and even more creative affect on him in his shop at night.
Materials such as foam, plastic and wood all had an appeal. One job involved laminating/covering some letters with brass; Donehue was able to keep all of the brass that was left over and an intense study of metals followed. Brass salvaged from bar railings, galvanized sheet steel from air conditioning ducts, stainless steel scraps from a local welding shop. Metal was workable! Not only that, but metal was also very forgiving and seemed perfect for a "heavy hand." The intrigue of working with metal had begun!
Sign production is still a large influence on Donehue. He has been working for Brooks Sign Center in Charleston for the last seven years and is part of a team that produces work for a wide variety of clients including, The Gibbes Art Gallery, Ad Service, several local independent galleries and artists, many real estate companies and The Preservation Society.
Donehue's work is influenced by the ideas of Orphist and the Non-Objective painter, Robert Delauney, the "Boogie Woogie" of Piet Mondrian, the Abstracts and "Jazzy" paper cuts of Henri Matisse, the bold lines of David Smith's steel, the whimsical nature of North Carolina artist Fred Kessler and his "Porch Pelicans" and especially Alexander Calder, the creator of the mobile form of sculpture. Working in three dimensions, Donehue finds constant creative energy in his process: "Hands on materials, cutting, grinding, welding, bending, balancing and painting or polishing of three dimensional shapes and vessels, along with the linear aspect of wire and the planer idea of sheet metals and other materials.that's what I enjoy."
Donehue was awarded third place in the 1998 and 1999 Spoleto Crafts Fair for his display of mobile art. Working with Art for Business in Charleston and Enwright & Associates Architects of Greenville, SC, in 1998, he was commissioned to create a large mobile for the 30-foot atrium entrance to Rutledge Tower at the Medical University of South Carolina. Later that year, a smaller version of the mobile was created and donated to benefit the Children's Hospital at MUSC.
Donehue annually donates work to the Spoleto Auction, to benefit the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and The Chocolate Affair, produced by Communities in Schools. In 2001, work was donated to the Charleston Stage Company's annual wine auction to help their young theatre programs. Donehue also takes part in Creative Spark's annual, "Art on the Beach" on Sullivan's Island that helps fund their yearly scholarship programs.
In early 2002, Donehue was invited to a monthly meeting of the AIA, (American Institute of Architects). He and other local artists represented themselves as being capable of producing public art. As a result, Donehue was presented with a commission from The Beach Company and LS3P Architects to produce an entrance sculpture for a new upscale housing development in Mt. Pleasant, SC, called Marais, the French word for "marsh." In 2003, the work evolved into a stand of over 150 steel and copper cattails that gradually rise from small to large plants, about 12" up to about 12'. The logo for Marais is situated within the plants, as they appear to naturally "grow" to the right while a hand crafted marsh bird, named "Horatio" awaits and greets, everyone who arrives and he seemingly glances back!
"I thrive on the process, the thinking and the randomness within the process that goes into making things. My work involves ideas that we are all familiar with but also sparks our imaginations into other directions. Although one idea may influence the other, nothing is ever the same. It is important to me to have a cohesive body of work, while keeping each piece as unique as possible," Donehue said.
Posters and other official Piccolo Spoleto merchandise will be on sale during the festival at Marion Square, the Gaillard Auditorium, the Office of Cultural Affairs, Charleston area Belk stores and outdoor festival event sites.
Produced and directed by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, Piccolo Spoleto is the official outreach program of Spoleto Festival USA. Piccolo's mission is to provide access to the Spoleto Festival experience for everyone, regardless of their economic, social or physical circumstances and to provide the opportunity for excellent local and regional artists, writers and performers to be presented in Piccolo's local venue.
The 2005 Piccolo Spoleto Festival Title Sponsors are Publix and Publix Super Markets Charities.
For information on Piccolo Spoleto, call the Office of Cultural Affairs at 843/724-7305 or visit (www.piccolospoleto.com).
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