July Issue 2002
Coastal Inspirations: Silk Batiks by Mary Edna Fraser at Burroughs Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC
Coastal
Inspirations: Silk Batiks by Mary Edna Fraser will be on display Franklin G. Burroughs Simeon B.
Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC, through Aug. 4. The exhibit
includes 33 batiks and monotypes.
Coastal barrier islands and ribbon-like waterways are Fraser's subjects. Aerial photographs and satellite images provide the basis for her compositions. The colors are sometimes based on her memory of an area as seen from the air, but often she chooses colors for purely aesthetic reasons. She sometimes strives for accuracy in depicting landforms; and other times she flattens landforms into two-dimensional, linear elements. In this manner, her work bears an intentional similarity to Japanese wood block prints. The choice of silk fabric plays an important role, as the silken sheen imparts an atmospheric effect. The resulting batik is a lyrical balance between realism and abstraction.
Mary Edna Fraser gains her unique perspective from the open cockpit of her grandfather's 1946 Ercoupe plane. Piloted either by her father or brother, the plane soars above the earth at various angles and altitudes with Fraser's Nikon FM2 camera rapidly capturing the wondrous natural formations below. She flies long and low over the terrain she's trying to capture. Fraser's aerial surveys are followed by surface trips over the same terrain often on foot or by boat. Only after she feels that she knows a place does she begin the arduous process of creating images on silk often more than a yard wide and several feet long. Once a design has been finalized, the next step for Fraser is to create monotypes or watercolors. Colors, which are often selected emotionally rather than realistically, begin to meld.
"My work tracks the snaking of tidal creeks through marsh grass, rivers cutting paths between islands, and the ocean sculpting sandbars on the coast," says Fraser. "Each variation in altitude, season, tide, location or light holds a new surprise."
A native of Fayetteville, NC, who graduated
from East Carolina University with a double major in Clothing
and Textiles and Interior Design, Fraser now resides with her
family in Charleston. She has exhibited in major museums and her
works are included in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution,
NASA, the American Embassy in Thailand, and the New England Aquarium
among others. She has over 28 years of commission experience working
with architects and designers to create site-specific installations.
These include the silk batik sculpture Charleston Waterways
(74 yards x 36") for the Charleston International Airport.
Consistently expressed in each of her works is Fraser's concern
for the environment and her desire to inspire others to share
that concern. She says "If, in my life, I can help people
take care of our planet while we live here and not hurt it, respect
it more and to look at it as a fragile, integral part of living,
then I will have done a job good artistically."
For more information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings or call the museum at 843/238-2510.
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
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