CFADA’s Painting in the Park, November 3

Watch the artists at work in Washington Park on November 3 from 9am till noon.  These plein air demonstrations are open to the public, free, and feature nationally and regionally known artists from CFADA galleries:

West Fraser, Lese Corrigan, Susan Romaine,  Shannon Smith, Jennifer Smith-Rogers, Karen Larson Turner, Mark Bailey, Curt Butler, Laurie Meyer, Craig Nelson, Karen Weihs, Rhett Thurman, Trey Finney, Mark Kelvin Horton, Chris Groves, Nancy Hoerter, Elizabeth Pollie, Shannon Runquist, George Pate, Marty Whaley Adams, Nancy Pellatt, John Hull, Donald Demers, Larry Wheeler, Mary Erickson, Simon Kenevan, Fred Jamar, Robert Lange, Amy Lind, Gary Grier and Charles Williams.

Paintings created that morning in Washington Park will be on display and available for sale at BUY ART silent auction and reception. The artists will be present at this reception, which will take place at the Gibbes Museum of Art on November 3 from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Funds raised by this event are used to purchase much needed art supplies for Charleston County high schools. Tickets are $55 per person. The event is catered by Cru Catering.  To reserve tickets, click here http://www.charlestonfineartdealersassociation.com/tickets/tickets.html or call (843)819-8006 or email CFADA at info@cfada.com.

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Painting in the Park: Featuring Lese Corrigan

Charleston native Lese Corrigan’s work is representational but more expressionistic than realistic. The paintings are full of color and the joyful playfulness of life; surfaces imbued with light – color and texture being the defining structure. Corrigan fully immersed herself in the visual arts in the late 1980s, working her way through the different opportunities in the art community. An oil painter, whose portraits and landscapes pull together in a vibrant expressionistic manner the play of light and the resulting changes in hue and shade that delight the eye in the course of the day, Corrigan also works in other media – linocuts, photography and clay sculpture.

Five O’Clock by Lese Corrigan

Coca Cola commissioned a painting that was presented to Barbara Bush in 1995. She was poster artist for the Charleston Cup Steeplechase 2003 and featured in the Fall 2003 issue of the international Orient Express Magazine. Corrigan and her painting debuted on Turner South Network’s 3 Day Weekend Charleston’s episode that premiered in 2005 and she was the Gibbes Museum Poets’ and Painters’ program artist in residence for 2005. She painted the image for the poster for the Queen City Classic Horse Show in Charlotte, North Carolina for 2006. Corrigan’s paintings are in collections in the United States, France, Great Britain and Japan. In 2006, Ros Smith created a five minute film documentary entitled “Curlesque” on Corrigan’s painting process. A solo show in 2006 utilized the Fibonnacci and golden rectangle relations and in 2008 explored her Charleston surroundings with Mid-River. Her 2010 show presented a different viewpoint of her home with a group of paintings that work as one.

Corrigan’s work was selected for the Medical University of South Carolina’s contemporary collection for the new 2008 Ashley River Tower. She was the president for 2009 of the CFADA – Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association and remains active in the promotion of Charleston as the fine arts’ destination it has been for centuries.

Corrigan’s work can be found at Corrigan Gallery located at 62 Queen street in downtown Charleston and her new works will be on display during the Charleston Fine Art Annual on November 2.

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Corrigan Gallery Presents “Over the Edge” Lese Corrigan’s Latest Works November 2

Corrigan Gallery LLC is pleased to present Lese Corrigan’s latest works in a show titled Over the Edge.  This show hangs November 1 through 30 and opens with a reception on November 2 as part of the Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association’s 14th Annual Fine Art Weekend.  The reception is from 5-8 pm and is open to the public.  The gallery is located in downtown Charleston at 62 Queen Street just steps away from the Four Corners of Law and the Dockstreet Theatre.

Corrigan will also be painting at Washington Park Saturday November 3 with the CFADA group including gallery artist John Hull and visiting artist Susan Romaine.  The gallery will participate in the Gibbes Museum’s first Art on Paper Fair as part of the Fine Art Weekend.  Artists from the gallery and several visitors will have fine art prints at the fair with preview opening at 8:30 Friday evening and open hours Saturday from 10-5 and Sunday from 1-5 with free admission to the show and the museum.  The print artists include Manning Williams, Mary Walker, Lynne Riding, Kristi Ryba, William Meisburger, Richard Hartnett, Sue Simons Wallace, visiting artists John McWilliams, Charles Ailstock, Nancy Marshall and of course Corrigan.

Birds posed on telephone wires are on the edge performing a balancing act of nature’s adaptation to man’s creation.  They are silhouettes in sky appearing small, being close yet far away.  The visual reverberations in line repetition and the musical note sense of birds and lines draws our eye to the sky with the abstract nature teasing our minds and creating intrigue.  There is a consciousness of birds being harbingers of events (such as the canary in the mine).  There they sit watching from a distance aware of the “earthly” actions of mankind.  What information have they for us.  In these paintings, the birds are paired with the cable that connects them to the earth albeit indirectly. From our point of view, it often appears that they are holding on to the cable for dear life yet the birds are grounded, even while in the sky. Perhaps we humans have not remained connected enough to our world in our attempts to hold on to incorrect or outdated ideas that need to be thrown over the edge. The birds are at the edge of our world – out of reach.  When placed on canvas with the cables ending at the edge there is a sense of the edge of the sky, an end.

The show is a series of new works fleshing out a piece done in 2004. It references a series called “Space Between” painted in the same year about the space between objects – what physicists had previously called empty space but now know is filled with many “things.”  This new series continues the exploration of birds on telephone wires – those “simple” shapes we see up above us on diagonals cutting the space of the sky in a multitude of ways.  Each painting is titled with lines from poems that do not reference birds or flying or sitting, but the sensations elicited or conversations imagined upon viewing those creatures on high. The “edge” in the title is the line of the cable and “over” references that these objects are above us, and that the art pushes over the line between representation and abstraction due to the ephemeral nature of sky and ethereal nature of birds.  In viewing the works together one could imagine the experience of being surrounded by Monet’s lily pond paintings and replace the lily pond with sky.

Every year on the first weekend of November, CFADA puts on this event as a fundraiser for Charleston County’s high school art programs. Saturday morning, artists represented in participating galleries will be painting in en plein air in Washington Park. Come to the park between 9am and noon on that Saturday, November 3rd, and watch us paint!  There will be coffee and snacks for those that can make it out.  Starting at 11am, CFADA will host its Annual High School Art Competition, a juried show with submissions from students of Charleston County high schools. Three students from the show will be selected and recognized for their excellent work in the visual arts.

Saturday evening, paintings done during the morning’s en plein air event will be auctioned off. Proceeds will be used to buy art supplies for the participation Charleston County high schools’ visual arts programs. Corrigan Gallery is proud to be a member of this organization promoting the arts of Charleston worldwide and supporting the artists of the future.

In its eighth year, Corrigan Gallery is the culmination of 25 years of experience in the Charleston art market.  Representing more than a dozen artists in an intimate space, the gallery presents a new show almost every month and invites visiting artists to join in.  Other gallery artists include Richard Hagerty, Gordon Nicholson, John Moore, Paul Mardikian, Judy Cox, Karin Olah, Daphne vom Baur, Joe Walters and Kevin Bruce Parent. Many of these local artists have established national careers and are included in museum collections.

A gallery of contemporary works exploring the depth and intellect behind the drive to create, Corrigan Gallery provides a depth to the historic city’s traditional bent.  Open six days a week and other times by appointment, the gallery can be viewed 24 hours a day at http://www.corrigangallery.com, contacted by phone at 843 722 9868 or by email at art@lesecorrigan.com.

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14th Charleston Fine Art Annual – PROGRAM

Program:

Friday, November 2:

5 – 8 p.m. – CFADA gallery receptions & Charleston Fine Art Annual Art Stroll – FREE and open to public

8 – 10:30 p.m. – Society 1858’s Rock, Scissors, Art on Paper preview party & reception at the Gibbes, $30 advance purchase, $40 at the door. www.gibbesmuseum.org/events

Saturday, November 3:

9 a.m. – noon – Painting in the Park in Washington Park – FREE and open to public (coffee and snacks available)

10 a.m. – 5 p.m. -  Art on Paper Fair at the Gibbes

11 a.m. and 2 p.m. – Artist Demonstrations and Curator-led Tour of Art on Paper Fair at the Gibbes

6:30 – 8:30 p.m. – CFADA’s Buy Art! silent auction & patrons’ reception benefiting the Charleston County High Schools’ art programs, $55 in advance/$65 day of event. www.cfada.com

Sunday, November 4:

1–5 p.m. – Art on Paper Fair at the Gibbes

2:30 p.m. – Curator-led Tour of Art on Paper Fair at the Gibbes

The fine art weekend is a benefit for art programs at 11 local high schools. CFADA has donated over $250,000 to public high schools since 2004. Buy tickets at www.cfada.com

The following artists are painting in the park and donating their works to BUY ART silent auction this year:

West Fraser, Lese Corrigan, Susan Romaine,  Shannon Smith, Jennifer Smith-Rogers, Karen Larson Turner, Mark Bailey, Curt Butler, Laurie Meyer, Craig Nelson, Karen Weihs, Rhett Thurman, Trey Finney, Mark Kelvin Horton, Chris Groves, Nancy Hoerter, Elizabeth Pollie, Shannon Runquist, George Pate, Marty Whaley Adams, Nancy Pellatt, John Hull, Donald Demers, Larry Wheeler, Mary Erickson, Arnold Desmarais, Simon Kenevan, Fred Jamar and Robert Lange!

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Corrigan Gallery Presents “Forrest at the Beach” by John Hull on February 5

Corrigan Gallery is pleased to present the first solo show in South Carolina for painter John Hull. Hull’s show entitled “Forrest at the Beach” will be the first of his work with a Lowcountry background. A reception is on Friday, February 5 from 5 to 8pm. The show will run through the end of the month finishing on February 28.

Having begun as a journalist who wanted to be a novelist, this storyteller creates in paint stories of life passages – “a series of psychological stories filled with boredom and wonder.” Continuing to refine his story and referencing the high horizon line used by Frederick Remington in these new works, the beach scenes have Forrest, Hull’s dog – named for Bedford Forrest, the Confederate General – as the only animation in the works. Forrest finds the beach and marsh of Folly Island all his for the taking. Do not make the mistake of thinking “oh what a lovely painting of a dog running on the beach.” To simplify the viewing of Hull’s work would be a serious error in judgment. There is a depth of thought and process put into his work. This series is possibly the most solitary of his works at first glance – as he sinks deeper into the milieu one could wonder how his Lowcountry work will evolve in the scheme of his peopled narratives. But at second look, one notices that Forrest is in charge and has complete command of his location. He is at ease, having fun, exploring and free from the limitations of others or structured surroundings. John

Hull holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and masters in fine art from the University of Illinois. Most notably, His work is included in collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Israel Museum, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, Greenville County Art Museum, the Edwin A. Ulrich Museum and Yale University Art Gallery. He has exhibited since 1981 with a long list of solo shows including at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York and More Gallery, Philadelphia as well as the J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky. With many other shows nationwide, the most recent solo shows were at the Wichita Art Museum in 2006 and the Alpha Gallery, Boston in 2007.

The impressive list of show locations in which Hull has participated includes: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Academy of Design, Borgenicht Gallery, P.S. 1, One Penn Center, Tatistcheff Gallery and A.R.T. Resources all in New York; the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, The Center for the Visual Arts, Plus Gallery and Ron Judish Fine Arts in Colorado; the Neuburger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York; The National Gallery of New Zealand; the Tampa Art Museum, Florida; The Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana; the New House Center for Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor, New York; Rutgers University Art Museum, Newark, New Jersey; the Butler Museum of Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Jan Turner Gallery, Los Angeles; Ulrich Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas; the Yale University Art Gallery; the Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; and the Greenville County Art Museum and the Halsey Institute in South Carolina. Hull received four National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists’ Fellowships, one from the Maryland Arts Council, the Thomas Benedict Clarke Prize for Painting in 2004 from the National Academy of Design and an Achievement Award in 1995 from American Artist Magazine. He has taught at Augustana College in Illinois, Yale University and the University of Colorado. He is currently Professor of Painting and Department Chair of Studio Art at the College of Charleston.

Just off the corner of Meeting and Queen streets in the historic French Quarter, the Corrigan Gallery exhibits works of art both representational and abstract possessing the charm of old Charleston with a contemporary edge, representing artists whose work is beyond the traditional approach to the southern landscape. Artistic vision partnered with an intellectual strength and astute handling of the materials describes the work on display. Photographs, fine art prints and paintings all find a place in the gallery while awaiting the trip to your home. Other artists represented are Manning Williams, Mary Walker, Lynne Riding, Duke Hagerty, Gordon Nicholson, Tim Fensch, Max Miller, John Moore, Kristi Ryba, Lolly Koon, Kevin Bruce Parent, Lese Corrigan and Sue Simons Wallace with visiting artists regularly. The Corrigan Gallery is showing works that are art for the sake of art. The art will fulfill the beholder’s need for beauty and the collector’s wish for strong investments. This is art for the soul; art that allows the eyes to breath fresh air.

Charmingly contemporary art for the discriminating and the novice collector is available 10am to 5pm Monday through Saturday and by appointment. The gallery can be reached at 843 722 9868 or art@lesecorrigan.com. The news portion of the http://www.CorriganGallery.com website remains up to date with images being updated on a varied basis.

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CFADA’s Work Recognized by the Charleston County School Board

The Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association (CFADA),  that is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year, donated over $18,000 to eleven public high schools located in Charleston County this February.  Lese Corrigan, CFADA president, and board members, Helena Fox and Joe Sylvan, participated in a Charleston Country School Board meeting on May 26, 2009, where their work was recognized by the school board. Since 1999, CFADA has donated more than $200,000 to local high schools and arts’ organizations.

Each of the following high schools participated in CFADA’s High School Art Competition in November 2008 and received a gift certificate from Artists & Craftsman Supplies. The participating schools are Academic Magnet High School, Burke High School, Charleston County School of the Arts, Clark Academy, Garrett Academy of Technology, James Island Charter High School, North Charleston High School, R.B. Stall High School, St. John High School, Wando High School and West Ashley High School.

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“Next is Always Relative” Opening at The Corrigan Gallery During Spoleto

The Corrigan Gallery in downtown Charleston, South Carolina is please to present during the Spoleto USA and Piccolo Spoleto festivals, a show entitled “Next is Always Relative.” Inspiring works by gallery artists including Duke Hagerty, Paul Mardikian, John Hull, Mary Walker, Manning Williams and Lynne Riding show the varied exploration of surface area. The gallery is located at 62 Queen Street in the heart of the old city and is a member of the Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association and the French Quarter Gallery Association. The opening is in conjunction with a French Quarter Galleries art walk.

The Corrigan Gallery presents art with a future instilled with intellect. Varied, thoughtful, provoking works are presented in an intimate space for the viewing pleasure of all. With 21 years of Charleston art experience, the gallery provides a fresh alternative to the traditional southern art scene. Located in the heart of the historic district, the gallery combines the charm of the old city of Charleston with a look forward with works that will become the Charleston antiques of the future. The gallery is open six days a week from 10am to 5pm (11am on Monday and Thursdays) and often with extended hours. Paintings, drawings, fine art prints, photography and sculpture are readily available for the discriminating collector. Artists represented include Manning Williams, Gordon Nicholson, Mary Walker, Kevin Bruce Parent, John Moore, Kristi Ryba, Sue Simons Wallace, Paul Mardikian, Daryl Knox, Richard Hartnett, Tim Fensch, Lynne Riding, Richard (Duke) Hagerty, Lese Corrigan and John Hull. The gallery can be reached at 843 722 9868, art@lesecorrigan.com or www.corrigangallery.com.

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CFADA Galleries Host Special Art Exhibitions in Conjunction with the Food and Wine Festival

In conjunction with the 2009 Charleston Food and Wine Festival, member galleries of the Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association will join the city of Charleston in celebrating various forms of art including culinary and visual fine art.

 

Ann Long Fine Art will present new work by painter Frank Strazzulla on March 6, 2009.  The reception starts at 5:00 p.m. Through April, the gallery will exhibit Strazzulla’s recent landscape paintings.  This show follows many successful shows with Ann Long Fine Art and marks more than a decade of Frank Strazzulla exhibiting with the gallery.  The gallery is located at 54 Broad Street in Charleston.

 

Carolina Galleries will feature new work by artist Gary Grier during the March French Quarter Gallery Association’s first art walk of 2009. There will be an opening reception on Friday, March 6, 2009 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., at which the artist will be present. Grier is Carolina Galleries’ primary portrait artist. The work will hang through the end of March. The gallery is located at 106-A Church Street.

 

The Corrigan Gallery is pleased to present new works by Mary Walker in a show titled “On The Stage of Life.” Walker’s new series of paintings explores the emotional life of humans by presenting vignettes with bits and pieces of life coming into and out of the paintings. The show will open on Friday, March 6 with a reception at 5:00 p.m. and will hang through March 31, 2009.  This is Walker’s first solo show since the Griffith Lowcountry Artist Award show in 2007.  The gallery is located at 62 Queen Street, Charleston.  

 

Helena Fox Fine Art’s upcoming exhibition, opening on March 6 at 5:00 p.m. is titled, “New Works by West Fraser … A compilation of new Charleston scenes.” The gallery is located at 12 Queen Street in Charleston.

 

Martin Gallery, located at 18 Broad Street in Charleston, will be featuring a new body of original paintings by William Crosby, with an opening reception for the artist on Friday evening, March 6, 2009 from 5-8 pm.

 

Robert Lange Studios presents ten new figurative oil paintings of Amy Lind in her third solo show, entitled “Gaze.”  Focusing on the tension and respite between the viewer and subject, this show continues to display the sophisticated and bold use of color as well as captivating qualities of light that are characteristic of Amy’s paintings.  A festive reception will be held on March 6, 2009 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. featuring wine, hors d’oeuvres, and music in conjunction with the French Quarter Gallery Associations Art Walk and Food and Wine Festival.  The show will be on view through March 27. RLS is located at 151 East Bay Street.

The Sylvan Gallery located at 171 King Street will feature new work by Charleston artists, Rhett Thurman in a show titled “Coloring Outside the Lines.” An opening reception will take place on Friday, March 6, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.

In conjunction with the Food and Wine Festival, the Wells Gallery will feature two emerging artists Mark Bailey and Evan Harrington during the month of March. The show opens with a reception on March 6 at 5:00 p.m.

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Corrigan Gallery Presents Mary Walker’s new exhibit titled “On the Stage of Life”

March brings fresh air and new works by Mary Walker to the Corrigan Gallery LLC in a show titled “On The Stage of Life.” Walker’s new series of paintings explores the emotional life of humans by presenting vignettes with bits and pieces of life coming into and out of the paintings. The show will open on Friday, March 6 with a reception at 5:00 p.m. and will hang through March 31, 2009.  This is Walker’s first solo show since the Griffith Lowcountry Artist Award show in 2007.  Walker is featured in the March 2009 issue of Charleston Magazine.
 

These new paintings began as a continuation of a series of works inspired by ballads. The music chosen consists of  “Strange Fruit,” “Norma” and La Voix Humain,” the last two being operas rather than ballads. The idea of a square format drew Walker’s attention as the square seemed like a stage or a circus where different players could interact.  Walker has begun pieces with a subject inspiring the work such as the ballads and operas but she does not emphasize the imposed themes instead letting the work develop on its own. The narratives presented in paint show threads of communications that might include heartbreak or joy – all emotions are fair game with indifference being anathema to the artist. The gloomy theme of “Strange Fruit” led to leaving the ballad theme behind yet a struggle began immediately and the artist felt a failing for losing the original themes. Letting the paintings evolve and to take on an energy of their own, the artist’s philosophy of life emerged.  A philosophy appears indicating that despite sorrows and hardships, life is a rich tapestry.
 
Many think that artists start with an image then draw the image on the canvas and then paint. Walker does not follow these steps.  She may start with one central figure, add two during the process and end up with four. One of the most fascinating things about the stages of her paintings is seeing how they will turnout. Walker has often started with no fixed narrative, adding figures and a story develops. She likens it to being inviting several people to a gathering – never quite sure who will show up or when or what might develop. The ballads are portraits of a character, a single figure. In 2004, she organized “The Scrolls,” an anti-war project involving both national and international artists that has been exhibited in Charleston, Cincinnati and Washington, DC. As a narrative painter and printmaker, her main interest is with the figure or that of birds, horses and cats.
 
The Corrigan Gallery presents art with a future instilled with intellect. The gallery can be reached at 843 722 9868, art@lesecorrigan.com or http://corrigangallery.com.

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