SAVE THE DATE for the Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association’s Fourth Annual Palette and Palate Stroll taking place on Friday, July 17, 2009.
Each week, we are going to feature one gallery/restaurant pairing. 13 CFADA’s member galleries are paired with 13 of Charleston’s finest restaurants. This week’s pairing is:
Carolina’s Restaurant & Helena Fox Fine Art
To celebrate the Palette and Palate Stroll, Helena Fox Fine Art will be paired with Carolina’s. Founded by distinguished American Impressionist Painter, West Fraser and his wife Helena Fox, the gallery has assembled a compilation of national and international artists. Each artist presents their fortes to a par, including Sarah Amos, Kenn Backhaus, Christina Bates, John Budicin, Don Demers, Marie Fox, West Fraser, Billyo O’Donnell, Becky Parrish, Edward Rice, William Woodward and Kent Ullberg. The gallery’s collection of work mingles impressionistic landscapes and streetscapes, plein air travel paintings, realistic still-lifes, trompe l’oeil, with wildlife sculpture and exquisite hand crafted 22K gold jewelry.
Featured artist, West Fraser, is one of the leading American artists in the representational/plein air tradition. Fraser has built his career on richly painted, atmospheric vistas of cities, coasts, and the landscape throughout the United States and internationally—from the pristine Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia, to the hill towns of Tuscany. An inveterate traveler, he has painted throughout the Caribbean, Central America, Europe and Scandinavia. Yet his passion always draws him back to the marshes and landscape of the Georgia and South Carolina Coast.
Chef Jeremiah Bacon returned to Charleston after honing his skills in some of the finest kitchens in the Northeast. A chef with a degree in Philosophy from the College of Charleston, Bacon also studied at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York. While at Carolina’s, Chef Bacon makes sure that several historic specialties remain on the menu, yet he is constantly creating “new classics” from the produce grown for the restaurant at nearby Kensington Plantation and Boone Hall Plantation. Chef Bacon insists on utilizing Lowcountry ingredients and preparations, but offers a contemporary approach that often incorporates flavors from around the world. His menu includes such classics as Carolina’s shrimp served with Anson Mills stone ground grits in onion Andouille gravy.
“Using local grouper is a great way to celebrate and reflect on all the resources the Lowcountry has to offer. The sweetness of the celeriac and the Port broth help compliment this full-bodied fish,” enters Chef Bacon in his blog where he features unique preparations and his recipes. Chef Bacon’s culinary delights make a perfect synergy with the gallery’s atmosphere and ideology.
