Plein Air Painters of the Southeast Come to Charleston. Opening Reception June 1!

Southern Oaks, Chris Groves, 11×14, Oil on Linen

The southeastern United States, with its wealth of natural beauty and the architectural elegance of its historic towns and cities, provides ample inspiration for artists.  Founded in 2001, the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast (PAP-SE) is an organization of professional painters bound by a common passion to promote the traditional methods of painting en plein air while capturing the varied scenery of this region.

In 2001,the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast held its first exhibition at the Wells Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina.  This year, the group returns to Charleston to exhibit work in four downtown galleries:  Horton Hayes Fine Art, Hagan Fine Art Gallery and Studio, Galerie on Broad and Smith Killian Fine Art.  Each gallery is sponsoring eight individual artists.  For a roster of participating artists and their sponsor galleries, please click here.

The exhibition will be shown through June 22nd with opening receptions in each gallery on Friday June 1st from 5 to 8pm.  Prior to the opening, from May 30th to June 1st, PAP-SE artists can be seen painting in the vicinity of their sponsor galleries.  Please come by and meet the artists as they paint!

Jeff Jamison’s Upcoming Exhibit at Ella W. Richardson Fine Art. “City Life” Opens June 1!

“The Night is Ours” by Jeff Jamison , 40×30 oil on canvas

Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art welcomes all-star artist Jeff Jamison in June as he returns to Charleston with a new body of metropolitan-inspired works for his show, “City Life.” Please join the artist for the opening reception on Friday, June 1st from 5-8pm.”

“News Stand Light” by Jeff Jamison, o/c 24×30

Jamison’s romantic urban landscapes and bustling restaurant scenes have captured collectors across the country. A Tennessee native, Jamison has consistently been a top-selling artist for the past few years and has continued to provide new and interesting subject matter that continues to make clients swoon. He has a knack for capturing the feeling of a lively city square, or charming cafe during the bustle of the lunch rush.

Through his canvases, Jamison is able to reach out to viewers and create a sense of familiarity and fond recollection. His work has enough detail to feel like “you’ve been there,” but is also wonderfully vague enough so the viewer’s imagination or memories can fill in the blanks.

“My goal is to find common ground with the viewer through each piece. I truly believe that the observer can feel the energy put into a painting,” says Jamison.

While the subjects of his paintings are often influenced by major hubs like New York and Paris, they are almost always created from memory rather than a photograph. Jamison’s work has garnered immeasurable recognition and has been highlighted in numerous publications, including an impressive feature in the February 2011 Nashville Arts Magazine.

The gallery is located at 58 Broad Street in downtown Charleston.

We are so excited about the upcoming Palette & Palate Stroll on July 13

We are so excited about the upcoming Palette & Palate Stroll on Friday, July 13th. Check out some photos from the last year’s event. Let us know if you are in them and we can tag you on Facebook!

Wells Gallery featuring George Pate for Art Walk, May 4

Stardust by George Pate

Don’t forget to stop by the Wells Gallery located at 125 Meeting Street tomorrow night, May 4, from 5-8pm. The gallery will be featuring new works by George Pate.

A resident of the Southeast since 1957, and Santa Fe, New Mexico since 1977, Pate finds ample subject matter in his imminently paintable landscape, filled with historical architecture and manifestations of distinctly different cultures. He works en plein air to render light, shade, and shadow with a strong design, vital color and thoughtful brush strokes. Pate evokes both realism and impressionism in his canvases and consistently displays his understanding of the invention and the presence of emotion.

Check out George painting live at The Sanctuary on Kiawah:

Mickey Williams at Ella W. Richardson Fine Art on May 4

Night Surf by Mickey Williams

Meet the very talented Charleston artist, Mickey Williams, at Ella W. Richardson Fine Art on Friday, May 4th from 5-8pm. The gallery is located at 58 Broad St.

Williams is a self-taught artist who learned his craft from studying art in books and in museums. His work is inspired by the spiritual and romantic beauty of the lowcountry that he fell in love with as a child. Today Mickey lives with his wife and three children in Mt. Pleasant.

 ”I paint the air, the land and the water that surround me. I have always felt a deep emotional and spiritual bond with nature and feel blessed to live and work in an area that is so inspiring to the mind and soul. My landscape paintings are visual interpretations of what I see with my eyes and my heart. I attempt with every painting to draw a parallel connection between nature and personal experience.”

Linda Fantuzzo at Corrigan Gallery Opening on May 4, 2012 – Landscape Reconfigured

Corrigan Gallery LLC presents Linda Fantuzzo’s new work in a show titled “Landscape Reconfigured” opening May 4 and showing through May 30.  The opening reception will be held May 4 from 5-8pm as part of the French Quarter Gallery Association Artwalk.  The reception is open to the public and will be at the gallery in downtown Charleston at 62 Queen Street.  Ms Fantuzzo will be present.

Linda Fantuzzo©2012 Foggy pond 48” x 72” acrylic on canvas

Linda Fantuzzo’s soft, mysterious, elegant paintings are reminiscent of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s waterscapes.  Large, atmospheric passages describing the Lowcountry landscape but with a universality that opens them up to worldwide collector, is the artist’s forte.  Settling in Charleston in 1973 after a visit encouraged by Charleston’s own Manning Williams, Fantuzzo made the city her home and the surrounds her inspiration.  The artist began her journey early in high school in Endicott, New York when she illustrated book reports and discovered her love for drawing. Encouraged by a teacher, she began fine art classes. Fantuzzo pursued a degree at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In addition to the formal training at the Academy, she has developed her skills by painting en plein aire throughout Europe and the United States.

The artist has explored both abstraction and representation, in still lifes and landscapes.  Known for both her small and large scale, especially her decades long study of Kiawah Island, she has built quite a reputation for herself. Fantuzzo captures a moment in time, exploring the fleeting influence of light. She has stated, “Any object or place can be beautiful in the right light.”  She creates a tension between the light and the lack of light resulting in “luminous color and atmospheric effects.”  Dennis Stiles, poet and former feature writer for The Gallery Guide several years ago described the artist’s work:  “The objects and scenes in Fantuzzo’s paintings are often commonplace – a roadway curving through vegetation, a hunk of burnished metal, walls, clouds, a prism – but her treatment of them is anything but ordinary. Unexpected juxtapositions give many of her paintings a quietly surreal quality. She emphasizes texture tone, atmosphere and above all an inner light created by very careful purposeful handling of cool and warm colors, applied with thick and thin paints and glazes. The typical result is haunting.”  Art critic Kristina M. Kutkus wrote of Fantuzzo’s work in the catalogue,  “In the Dinghy, Lure of the Lowcountry” describing that  “The atmosphere is diffuse and evokes a poetic decay that is eloquent and personal. The beauty of this moment in time is a metaphor for change.”

Photos from the CFADA’s Charleston Fine Art Annual

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