October Issue 1999
Pawleys Island Tour Features Historic Homes, Lowcountry Artists, & Empty Bowls
by Lee Brockington
On Oct. 9, the Pawleys Island Tour of Homes, Pawleys Island, SC, will feature the "arrogantly shabby" homes of this narrow strip of SC coastline, located about halfway between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. The island, one of the East Coast's oldest vacation resorts, has attracted generations of vacationers and nearly 100 year-round residents to its laid-back, relaxed lifestyle.
Pawleys Island was used as a summer retreat as early as the 1780s by wealthy rice planters along the Waccamaw River. Today, several 19th-century houses remain tucked behind the dunes and sitting beside homes built in every decade since 1900. "Tamarisk," one of the homes on tour, was built about 1858 by the owner of Willbrook Plantation and sold in 1884 to the Lachicotte family. It was at this simple beach cottage that the original Pawleys Island Rope Hammock was first marketed to visitors in the 1930's. Still woven by hand and sent out all over the world, the hammock represents the comfortable lifestyle enjoyed by generations of islanders.
Also on the 1999 tour, the "Summer Rectory" dates to 1845 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was the summer home of the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, located nearby on the mainland. Now privately owned, it is decorated with family antiques and original art by South Carolinians. Judy Kennedy, former curator at the Columbia Museum of Art, created the Gray Man, a watercolor of the resident ghost of Pawleys Island. Laura Spong depicted Chicora Wood, a Pee Dee River plantation, and Wendy Allen, director of continuing education at Hobcaw Barony, created "gyotaku," (fish printing) for the current owners.
Watercolors by Guy Lipscomb, Margaret Carter, Anna Kay Singley, Betty Anglin Smith, and Dixie Dugan decorate a contemporary home on the island's southern tip built after Hurricane Hugo devastated the area in 1989. At one circa 1950 house a wood block print from Commodore Perry's expedition to open Japan features American figures with curiously Asian features. Eugene Eubanks used the art of trompe l'oieil throughout a newly renovated home which also emanates a Caribbean flavor. Crawling with crabs and unusual views, whimsy enlivens the decor of this extremely stylish home.
At the Litchfield Plantation Beach House, the Lowcountry Artists will host a sale of their members' art throughout the tour day - Oct. 9. Affordable prints and some original work, much of it featuring beach scenes and island florals, will be available for purchase. Twenty percent of the gross raised by this art sale will go to Habitat for Humanity Georgetown County, the recipient of all tour proceeds. Kit Brush, Chairman of the Art Sale, points out the diversity to be found in her group's work and gives great credit to their leader, Bruce Chandler, professional artist and instructor.
Organized in 1987 by Brush and several friends, Lowcountry Artists now includes those working in watercolor, layered acrylics, collage, mixed media, and fabrics, as well as those happy to learn any of these media. Work by award winning members has been chosen for the current year-long traveling show of the South Carolina Watercolor Society and is included at the Franklin Square Gallery at Southport, NC, and in the local galleries of Georgetown, Pawleys Island, Litchfield, and Murrells Inlet.
Brush praises Bruce Chandler's ability not only to teach and nurture fledgling artists but also to create a non-competitive atmosphere of camaraderie and concern in which their art can develop. This group paints together, prays together, and partys together!
Another artist whose work will be exhibited on the Pawleys Island Tour of Homes is Louise Parsons, seasonal resident of Litchfield Plantation. Her photos include scenes from the southwestern United States and Pawleys Island. Some of her work is currently on exhibit at Duke University Law School in Durham, NC. Her unique style and approach to her subjects were honored by the Waccamaw Art Guild when she won first place for photography in that organization's 1994 invitational exhibition.
Lori Leary, artist and instructor of pottery, is donating her time and the work of her students to raise more money for Habitat for Humanity on Tour Day. "Empty Bowls," an evening reception held at Art Works in the Litchfield Exchange, provides everyone who contributes an additional $10 to Habitat a handcrafted bowl by a local artist filled with gourmet soup prepared by chefs at the island's finest restaurants. Leary has hosted "bowl-a-thons" this fall for all those local potters who wanted lend their support to the local Habitat for Humanity program.
The 1999 Pawleys Island Tour of Homes offers visitors an opportunity to recapture a sense of the past in the island's historic homes and at the same time enjoy the best work of contemporary artists displayed in this unique setting.
For more information on the art sale, contact Kit Brush at 843/237-3167; for "Empty Bowls" information, contact Linda Ketron at 843/235-9600. For more details about the 4th Annual Pawleys Island Tour of Homes, call Lee Brockington at 843/237-9553.
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