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July Issue 2003
Art Central in Summerville, SC, Presents Several New Exhibitions
Summerville, SC's distinguished fine art gallery, Art Central Ltd., is continuing to promote outstanding artwork by their excellent group of artists. To offer a variation, the gallery is proud to announce a new Guest Artist program. The first Guest, for the entire month of July, is an award winning artist from the North Country. William Bentley comes to Summerville to exhibit next to his daughter, Art Central artist Bette Lu Bentley Layne. Bentley-Layne's talent for painting local points of interest and father Bentley's diverse paintings of musicians and golf scenes should guarantee a show for everyone to enjoy.
William
Bentley
Bentley has won many awards in his home state of Michigan. He started making art as a hobby while serving as a fighter pilot in World War II. After his family had grown, he returned to his love of art and was encouraged by winning two art show awards sponsored by the Roseville Public Library in Michigan. Bentley became a member of the Warren Tri-County Fine Arts Association and entered many local art shows. He served in the Association's Board of Directors and was their "Artist of the Year" in 1998. Another highlight of his career was a one-man show at the Episcopal Diocesan Cathedral Center of Michigan, in Detroit. Bentley's most recent award was "Best of Show' at the St. Clair Shores Art on the Lake Venetian Festival, also in Michigan.
Bentley-Layne shares this memory from her childhood, "Hanging in my grandmother's kitchen was a small ink drawing, a little faded but framed and looking very professional. When I inquired about it, she took it down and handed it to me, telling me that 'my dad' had done it when he was young. It was a perfect likeness of my Aunt Nancy, my father's younger sister. I was amazed at the line and detail, all done with an ordinary fountain pen. That day, as a child of about twelve, I remembered all those Sunday mornings at church when he would draw on the bulletin with his ballpoint. I loved to watch the images emerge: birds, rabbits and such. Sure, it was intended to keep me quiet and to stop the fidgeting during the sermon but I was mesmerized. And hooked, I guess. On that day in my grandmother's kitchen, I realized that simple drawings could lead to something important." That early exposure to art may just have been the inspiration needed to continue this tradition into the next generation of the Bentley family.
Bette
Lu Bentley-Layne & father, William Bentley
The father-daughter duo will exhibit together in the same gallery for the first time this summer as William Bentley is Art Central's first Guest Artist. His paintings, in a variety of media will hang at the gallery through July 31, 2003.
Renee Bruce is the featured artist of the month for July at Art Central Ltd. Gallery. Her theme is, Babies on the Beach. The artist's statement follows: "I'm excited about my new series of paintings, Babies on the Beach. Children see every experience as a discovery. Their wonder at the world has inspired me to paint them, and I've found my own excitement reflected in their curiosity and sense of adventure."
Current members of the gallery are: Bette Lu Bentley Layne, Mary Ann Bridgman, Renee Bruce, Lila Gray Cauthen, Joann Davis, Victoria Platt Ellis, Debra Henson, Julie Henson, Sarah Allums Kuhnell, Yvonne Rousseau, June Sullivan and Detta Zimmerman.
For more information check our SC Commercial
Gallery listings or call the gallery at 843/871-0297.
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