Wilkinson Studio | Art-Craft-Excursions

Exhibition dates: January 27 – March 10, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, January 27, 5 to 8 p.m.

THE FINE ART RAMBLERS
Patti Brady, Jim Campbell, Bob Chance, Phil Garrett, David McCurry, Joel Wilkinson

THE INNOVATIVE CAMERA
Colby Caldwell, Diane Hopkins-Hughs, Owen Riley, Rebecca Stockham

49 South Trade Street Tryon, NC 28782
828.859.2828 upstairsartspace.org
GALLERY HOURS
Wednesday through Saturday
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment

The Upstairs Artspace begins 2012 with exhibits that underscore regional talent. One features prominent Greenville artists who are also musicians with their own band; the other presents groundbreaking photographers who transcend expectations of the medium to reveal what today’s photography can be. Opening Reception: Friday, January 27, 5 to 8 p.m. (note change of day). At 7 p.m., the Fine Art Ramblers’ post-modern string band plays a toe-tapping program of blues and jazz.

“Framing Lazarus”: Friday, February 10, 7 p.m. Photographer Colby Caldwell gives a PowerPoint talk about the complex relationship between photographer, his subject and experience, especially when family is involved. Light refreshments. Free and open to public. Literary Open Stage: Friday, February 17, 7 p.m. A new season for regional writers and musicians to share their poetry, prose and compositions with a supportive audience. Free; donations encouraged.

POSTCARD CREDITS
Front, clockwise: l to r, “Seasons of Light: Fall,” Diane Hopkins-Hughs, hand-colored gelatin silver print; “Love,” Owen Riley, black & white photograph; “Penland Trout Variation IV,” Phil Garrett, monotype chine colle; “West End Backside, Bricolage No. 2” (detail), David McCurry, oil on canvas.
Back: ”Storm,” Rebecca Stockham, cibachrome; “My Next Tattoo,” Patti Brady, acrylic on wood panel.

It’s that time of year when 2012 looms before us, but there is a perfect way for you to welcome in the new year with a this beautiful calendar from The Fine Arts Center. For just $10 you not only get this beautifully designed calendar, but you are helping the students at the Center with dollars for scholarships.

The students and faculty at the Fine Arts Center are very pleased to offer this unique calendar to our many friends throughout Greenville and the upstate! As the first school for gifted secondary students in the literary, visual and performing arts in South Carolina, we are equally pleased to partner with Genesis Press, one of the Upstate’s largest and most highly-regarded commercial printers, without whom this calendar would not have been possible. The marriage of student imagination with professional execution is evident throughout the calendar making turning to each new month a delightful discovery.

We in the arts know the important role the arts must play in the education of our young people, just as our community leaders recognize how the arts can transform a metropolitan city. We celebrate the arts each school day and, now, we invite you to celebrate with us, but throughout the entire year! Calendars available at the Metropolitan Arts Council office, cash and checks only. (Make checks out to Fine Arts Center). The Metropolitan Arts Council is located downtown at 16 Augusta Street, Greenville, SC 29601. Phone 864-467-3132.

Exhibition featuring work from the popular visual artists’ string band opens with a reception on September 10

By Allen Coleman, Executive Director at Pickens County Museum of Art & History:
— The Pickens County Museum of Art & History will be presenting three new exhibitions from September 10 through November 10, 2011. Please join us from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. on September 10 as we host a reception to meet, and hear in performance, the artists featured in “The Fine Art Ramblers: Totally Safe Art & Music”. The exhibition will continue through November 10, 2011.

The Fine Art Ramblers is a Post-Modern String Band made up entirely of visual artists. The band plays a little bit of old-time, a little bit of blues, a little swing, & some great old tunes with a few Post-Modern surprises thrown in for good measure. The members of The Fine Art Ramblers are Patti Brady, Jim Campbell, Bob Chance, Phil Garrett, David McCurry and Joel Wilkinson; all well known visual artists. Photograph: ©2011 Eli Warren
Learn more about The Fine Art Ramblers on Facebook.

Patti Brady’s paintings, prints and hand-painted books have been exhibited nationally and reviewed by the New York Times. She is currently the Working Artists Program Director for Golden Artist Colors, Inc. Patti has lectured and taught on the use of Golden acrylics at a number of universities and art schools around the globe and is also the author of “Rethinking Acrylic: Radical Solutions For Exploiting The World’s Most Versatile Medium”.

Multi-talented in the media of drawing, painting, sculptural work and printmaking, Jim Campbell is also a teacher at Greenville County’s Fine Arts Center. A Greenville native, he received his BFA in graphic design from the University of Georgia. For the past few years he has been interested in creating art related to the Piedmont area and mill villages. Intrigued by the changes within the area and culture, Jim’s work represents what is happening as the area transitions into modernity.

Bob Chance is a potter and ceramic artist teaching since 1988 in the Art Department at Furman University. He has been making and exhibiting work for longer than he cares to admit and has been included on numerous national and international exhibitions including “100 Years/100 Artists” at the South Carolina State Museum, “USA: Portrait of the South” at Palazzo Venezia in Rome, Italy, and a plethora of other group and solo exhibitions.

Phil Garrett is among his native South Carolina’s most prominent artists. In addition to his paintings, he is known as a printmaker. Garrett studied printmaking at the Honolulu Academy and received a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, where he also did post-graduate studies in print making. In 1998, Garrett founded King Snake Press in Greenville, where he has produced monotypes with dozens of artists.

David McCurry is an interdisciplinary artist who works primarily in traditional mediums and found object assemblage. His life and work experience traverses the United States and extends to the African continent where he has lived in The Gambia, Malawi and Namibia. David has studied drawing & painting with Miguel Angel Argüello (a student of Antonio Lopez Garcia) as well as with the Kay Chiromo, and stone sculpture with Berlings Kaunda in Malawi.

Joel Wilkinson is a professional painter and studio operator who also manages the gallery at Greenville’s McDunn Gallery. A Greenville native, Joel is a 1976-1977 alumni of Greenville’s Fine Arts Center and has participated as an artist as well as advisor in the continued development of Greenville as a fine arts destination. His drawings, paintings and graphic works have been commissioned as illustrations in hundreds of corporate communications and magazine articles across the country.

The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Located at the corner of Hwy. 178 at 307 Johnson Street in Pickens SC, the museum is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Admission is free but donations are welcomed.

For more information please contact the museum at (864) 898-5963.

Learn more about the Pickens County Museum of Art & History at the Museum’s Facebook page.

(Cucumis sativus) Originally from Poona, India, this very unusual cucumber matures into what looks like a large russet potato. Smooth-skinned fruits turn from white to golden-yellow to russet brown and may be eaten at any stage, skin and all. Tender, crisp, and delicious. Hardy disease resistant vines produce an early crop with good yields. (source: seedsavers.org). Didn’t see any posts about these cukes in the Carolina Gardening Forum on Garden Web, so the best place to learn about these, and other local foods and meet the growers, is at the Slow Food Earth Market on August 18 (2011).

Found this peculiar public park in an old industrial section near the North Main Street area of Rutherford Road. Will return for photos when sunlight is better.

Angie and I drove to Asheville, NC, to visit the studio of painter Mark Flowers on July 10. We turned off the long winding road that hugs the French Broad River with its campgrounds and rafting sites, and headed up the mountain lane to the residence. It’s a log cabin that was begun by an architect, then added to and finished by the painter and Kristy Higby, his wife (artist/film/documentary maker), with the aid of the same architect. The steep gravel driveway had been softened with the pouring rain of three thunderstorms in two days, so we I parked at the gate and called up to the house for Mark to drive down in the range rover and fetch us. At the top is the cabin, studio and guest quarters, and this great deck with a view that goes as far as the eye can see.

EARTH MARKET MONTHLY HOURS – 2011 dates:
The Slow Food Upstate Earth Market runs
3rd Thursdays monthly at McDunn Gallery, from 2:00-6:00 pm.

Thursday May 19 (2-6pm)
Thursday June 16 (2-6pm)
Thursday July 21 (2-6pm)
Thursday Aug 18 (2-6pm)
Thursday Sept 15 (2-6pm)

Special Holiday 2011 market dates:

Saturday Nov 19 (10am-2pm)
Saturday Dec 17 (10am-2pm)

+ Products are local, seasonal, and produced using sustainable methods.
+ Products are clean, organically produced in natural environments, fertilizers must be mainly manure or other organic types, soil conservation is practiced and must ensure a low environmental impact.
+ No hormones or other stimulants or growth accelerators permitted.
+ Products use no GMOs at any stage of growth.
+ Fresh foods will only be local and seasonal.
+ Must pass a tasting commission appointed by Slow Food evaluated on gastronomic excellence: complexity, balance, and local character.

The new Slow Food Upstate Earth Market set its sight to open on Thursday, May 19. Way back in August 2010, I began talking to Jan Wesley, a fellow painter and friend in the arts here in Greenville, about the possibility of establishing a farmers’ market at the McDunn Gallery, where I work. Jan is convivium leader with Slow Food Upstate (SC). Months of research and planning followed, Wesley went to work on the idea and has done an amazing job of getting the market off the ground. On January 21, 2011, McDunn Gallery held a reception and Slow Food Upstate presented the market plans to the surrounding neighborhoods. The evening was a great success and we were beginning to gather response and interest right away.

McDunn Gallery has been at this location for over 20 years, providing an already known establishment for fine craft in ceramics, woodworking, blacksmithing, textiles and more, go right along with the kitchen and table (you can even get your dining table designed here). We think it’s a kindred spirit fit — artisan craft and artisan foods.

The gallery is open Tu-Fr 10am-6pm, and on Saturdays 11am-4pm. Stop by for a visit and talk about the works in the gallery, for your collection and your kitchen. Come watch the market grow!