A Trip to Folly Beach, SC, the Edge of America, as locals like to call their haven on the ocean – that’s the Atlantic Ocean for those who don’t know. It was Saturday, April 27, 2019, the day Tanya Craig’s Gallery Azul was hosting the Backyard Art Sale, where 13 artists had tables set up showing their work and hoping someone would come and take some home with them (of course after paying for what they were taking home). I’ve been looking for an excuse to get me to see her gallery and the Backyard Art Sale was just the ticket. But as it turns out that morning I attended a delayed Berkeley County Democratic Meeting in Moncks Corner first. The meeting ran from 10-11:30am giving me a late start heading to Folly Beach. This time of year there are always many things you’d like to do on the same day, but you can only do some.
I haven’ been getting to do too many art adventures in the last couple of years due to multiple health problems – first colon cancer and then a triple hernia surgery in early March. I’m still in recovery from that, but I can get around OK. My Doctors say I’ll be in recovery for years to come, but I’m feeling pretty good – much better than five years ago. My last art trip was to One Eared Cow Glass in Columbia, SC, on Nov. 15, 2018. There was a time when during this same time of the year I would have attended Artista Vista in Columbia, then drive five hours to Seagrove, NC, for their Spring Pottery Tour, and get back in time for the start of the North Charleston Arts Fest and get our May issue of “Carolina Arts” done in time – all in one week. For a few years you could toss in a visit or two to ArtFields in Lake City, SC, but that’s another story. Today’s trip to Folly Beach was a big deal – it was a 54 mile trip there – a few miles driving around looking for a parking space where all four tires were off the pavement, and then 54 miles back home. At least the parking was free. For those who are keeping track, that’s two miles short of a trip to Lake City if I went North of Bonneau Beach instead of going South.
Of course the 54 miles to Folly Beach was ten times longer than the trip home. Like I’ve said before, after my two years being mostly home bound I’m a little rusty when it comes to traveling. It was Saturday in late April and I had forgotten that everyone else in the world would be heading to the beach. So a good hour and a half of that 54 miles was spent in bumper to bumper traffic.
But when I finally got to Gallery Azul – all those two years and the day’s earlier hassles went away. I was looking at art and when you’re looking at art – your troubles just fade away. Of course I had less time left for my visit because of the delays in getting there, so I did a quick round of all the tables in the Backyard Art Sale and then headed into the gallery to do a quick once over. But Gallery Azul is not a place where you can do a quick once over look. Much like the old Nina Liu and Friends gallery in downtown Charleston, Gallery Azul is packed with items that catch your eye and draw you to them – missing other items you might not see until your second or third go around. So you have to just keep looking to see it all.
I first met Tanya Craig’s work at one of the “South Carolina Palmetto Hand Exhibits” during the North Charleston Arts Fest. I remember trying to get the people baby-sitting the exhibit to tell me where this artist was from and when they eventually said she was from Charleston, I was flabbergasted. I didn’t know we had such a talented fused glass artist in our area. I understand she has work in this year’s “Palmetto Hands” exhibit, showing at Exhibit Hall A, at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center & Convention Center Complex, from May 1-5. And, if you’re a regular follower of “Carolina Arts” and our blog “Carolina Arts Unleashed” you know I love glass art – blown and fused. Craig is a fused glass artist. She calls herself a glass designer. I think of her as a glass colorist. She has a unique eye for mixing colors and patterns. I’ve never seen anything of her’s that I didn’t wish I could own. When I win the Lottery – look out. I first met Craig when she was showing her work at Surface Craft gallery in downtown Charleston on John Street, but the gallery didn’t last in that area where people are mostly shuttled to other parts of the city. That was maybe four or five years ago.
Now, she has her own craft gallery at Folly Beach – a rare item in Charleston. Charleston is a painter’s town when it comes to the visual arts – the opposite of a place like Asheville, NC, which is a craft town. But we do have a few craft galleries showing off the talents of local and regional artists.
For an artist in Charleston, or anywhere else for that matter, you have several options when it comes to exposing your art to the public: you can open your own gallery and just show your work (some call these vanity galleries), you can open a gallery which shows your work and that of other artists, you can join a co-op where you can show your work and work in the gallery for a number of days each month depending on how many artists are in the co-op, you can pay for space in a gallery which rents out wall and table space per month, you can wait to enter juried shows or participate in an art festival or fair, you can travel the country participating in outdoor art shows, you can give a local restaurant free art that will eventually smell like garlic, or wait until after you die and while your relatives clean out your house of all the art you produced by putting it out on the curb, someone comes by and says – “hey this stuff is good”. Next, you’re an over-night success. So, Gallery Azul was offering some artists who maybe haven’t found other forms of representation an opportunity to show their work. Unfortunately most people on Folly Beach this Saturday were still looking for a parking space or were only interested in being on the beach. Not so good, but for an artist – you have to keep trying or find something else to do. The name of the game is getting your work seen by the public. And I apologize to these artists as I didn’t have time to get to know them and their work on Saturday, but I took cards from folks who had them and did meet a few. The participating artists were: Dave Ovenshire, Saila Milja-Smyly, Ilene Olanoff, Danielle Parker, Kelly Kane Wood, Anne Castelli, Osee Kroger, Jenny Brown, Ellie-is-Lovely Alasantra, Dayna Lopez, Kristine Peterson, Sherry Browne and Meredith Wheeler.
Craig has chosen the open a gallery to show her own work and those of other craft artists, which can be a trap for an artist. I’ve known some who have done that route and eventually they turn into a gallery manager and the artist part fades away. I hope this doesn’t happen to Craig. Wally Smith who owns and operates Smith Galleries on Hilton Head Island, SC, was a gifted pottery when I first purchased one of his pots in Gatlinburg, TN, many, many, years ago. Today he no longer does pottery. His wife still makes fiber art, but he’s now working for other artists totally. In talking with Craig, she mentioned that she now has a new appreciation for gallery owners. Sometimes you have to walk a mile or two in other people’s shoes to see their side of things. I myself have had two failed art galleries, so I know what they are going through and it’s the main reason Linda and I stared an arts publication. Someone needs to tell the public what these galleries and art spaces are offering them to go see and hopefully – hopefully buy and take home.
Works by Tanya Craig
Works by Tanya Craig
Work by Tanya Craig – full view
Work by Tanya Craig – close up 1
Work by Tanya Craig – close up 2
The photos I’m offering don’t begin to tell the whole story of my visit, but they give you a taste of what Gallery Azul offers and what went on Saturday. Of course, most of the images are of works by Tanya Craig and a few others in the gallery and of the Backyard Art Show, the food and the entertainment provide by two gals who go by the name “Sunflowers & Sin”, who were very good. On one of their cards it says, “Distilled in Tennessee, Distributed in Charleston”. Check them out at (www.sunflowersandsin.com).
The food for the Backyard Art Show was provided by Courtney Catering, which was Courtney Ott and Tyler Thomas. It all looked good, but being far from home and still recovering from surgery on my tummy – I played it safe and didn’t eat any. I wanted to, but I know my stomach. We have a photo of the food thanks to , a potter who’s work I took a photo of in the gallery.
Photo by Margaret Weinberg
Margaret Weinberg’s display of pottery inside Gallery Azul
I did meet Dayna Lopez, who heads up the North Charleston Artist Guild. Several of the folks showing in the backyard were members of the Guild. You can contact the Guild by e-mail at (northcharlestonartistguild@gmail.com).
Several of these artists always seem to have more talent than one person should have. They just can’t leave any for the rest of us. And speaking of multi talented artists, I met Kelly Kane Wood, who works under the title of UTH (under the house). She does sublimation printing (wholesale or retail) sells shark teeth & pluff mud soap, makes unique upcycled art ( the fish creations shown in my photos) at Gallery Azul, photography and board repair (as in surf board repair). Contact her by e-mail at (kellykanewood@gmail.com).
Work by Kelly Kane Wood
Work by Kelly Kane Wood
I had to look up sublimation printing. Wikipedia says, “A dye-sublimation printer is a computer printer which uses heat to transfer dye onto materials such as plastic, card, paper, metal or fabric. The sublimation name was first applied because the dye was considered to make the transition between the solid and gas states without going through a liquid stage. My background used to be in photography but it’s been so long ago and photography just doesn’t stand still – there’s always some new development. But I saw some interesting photos of Tanya Craig’s fused glass objects transferred into metal prints.
Works by Jacqul Anderson
Work by Jacqul Anderson – closer up
Works by Marion Scott Readett
Jewelry by Dolly Paul – just one of many jewlery artists with works at Gallery Azul
Gallery Azul is located at 113 W. Erie, a half block off Center Street and 3 blocks from the beach on Folly Beach. Summer hours are subject to change as Craig tries to tweak them but will open Wednesday thru Saturday. To be sure, call the gallery at 843/714-0715 or check the gallery’s FB page at (Gallery Azul. Folly Beach Sc). You can also contact Craig by e-mail at (tanyacraig6@gmail.com).
Here’s a suggestion if you want to check this small gallery out and see the wonders carried inside. Go check out the beach at sunrise, find a nice parking space, stick your toes in the Atlantic Ocean, watch the pelicans float by, and get yourself some breakfast or have a breakfast picnic – then go check out the gallery. That way you won’t waste hours in traffic and looking for that elusive parking space – the trip is well worth it – just do it the smart way.
I’m going to go buy myself a Lottery ticket and hope I get lucky. Maybe the next time I’m going to Gallery Azul I’ll have my helicopter drop me off on the beach and pick me back up in a few hours while I do some shopping. Wait a minute – that might imply that the prices are sky high in this gallery, but they are not. It’s more a reflection of how much income “Carolina Arts” brings in and my tiny Social Security check.