First stop in Savannah, the Telefair Museum: 10 '18

Bruce enjoyed posing with Shakespeare 
at the entrance to The Telfair Academy 

 The Telfair Academy contains three nineteenth-century period rooms and houses nineteenth- and twentieth-century American and European art from the museum’s permanent collection including paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and decorative arts.

Henri Matisse's  'The Palace, Belle Ile'  c. 18 96

But what we had really stopped here for was to see the French impressionist Exhibition Monet to Matisse at the Jepson Gallery.  The exhibit contained thirty early works by Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Matisse.

Marc Chagall's  'The Dreamer'  c. 1945

We have seen far finer works by all of these artists, but it was instructive ( and reassuring to see that even the best-known artists in the world had to study and practice and their craft before they developed their own style and achieved mastery of their art.

Gallery Hopping in Asheville: 9'16

No trip to the Up Country would be complete without a visit to Asheville to check out some of the finest art and crafts in the nation. 

We started out visit at the Folk Art Center at Milepost on the Blue Ridge Parkway Asheville, NC. We were fortunate enough to get see the Fine Art- Craft exhibit ,"Fellowship". The exhibit showcases works of collaboration by over fifty members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Housed in the upstairs main gallery, it features over thirty multi-media pieces crafted and fused through multiple hands.

Going to the Flute Circle on exhibit in the Fellowship Exhibit

Fine Arts and Crafts are not just limited to the Upstairs Gallery, the entire Folk Art Center is dedicated to the creative spirit of the residents of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The art craft -works displayed include metal, fiber, ceramic, paint, ink, glass, stone, and more.

Folk art fence, made of wormy chestnut, carved by Helen Bullard Krechniak 

Next on our list of must see was the Surface Gallery located at 14 Lodge St, Asheville, NC 

The art at Surface is always current; and always exciting. The featured artists for this month are Melissa Engler and Graeme Priddle whose collaborative exhibit is called "Birds of a Feather". The exhibit references not only the subject, but the artists' deep love of birds. Their sculptures are made from various types of wood that have been carved, turned, burned, painted, stained, or a combination of these methods. Some pieces are made individually, while others are made collaboratively , but all reflect their deep love of birds.

Wooden Sculpture by Melissa Engler and Graeme Priddle 

Bruce and I absolutely love this gallery. It is where we always go to purchase an art souvenir for our trip. This time there were so many fine artists to choose from that we had to come back twice just to decide what we wanted the most. We eventually settled on a pair of ceramic tea cups to add to our handmade tea cup collection. 

Teacups by Akira Sataki 

The staff at Surface, including their friendly dogs, are sure to make you feel welcome, and are more than willing to help you and answer any questions you may have. This is not the gallery to miss if you are shopping around Biltmore Village.

The Surface Gallery pups are always happy to welcome visitors. 

Our next stop was at The Blue Spiral One Gallery which is focused on presenting compelling works by artists and object makers of the Southern United States.

Blue Spiral One Gallery is located at 38 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC 

The unassuming exterior hides a three story treasure trove of some of the best fine art and craft in the South.

This gallery is always at the top of our list of must see places whenever we are in Asheville. We can spend hours looking at all of art. There is so much high quality work that it is hard to know where to begin, but if we had to pick our favorites it would be.

The porcelain sculptures of Vicki Grant. Ms. Grant's highly textured, multimedia organic forms have consistently been our favorite pieces. There is something very compelling and viscerally about her work that always claims our attention.

The other artist who caught our eye in the Blue Spiral One Gallery was Plein air painter, Peggy Root.

Peggy has spent the last 35 years painting the landscape of the Eastern United States. Root paints her large scale oil paintings on location. often over period of several days, catching the natural light in 2 hour sessions — before it changes too much from her initial impression. I particularly enjoy the way she often plays with splashes of light and color that reveal planes of varying distance in her landscapes.

March Evening in Sunlight by Peggy Root 

Our final stop was at the Haen Gallery is located at 52 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC 28801

(It is right down the street from the Spiral One Gallery, making it a no-brainer to to visit when in the area.

The Haen Gallery is an open, bright, well spaced and comfortable gallery. They have offered compelling works of art since I first went when they were just opening. 

Lynn Buggess' art is absolutely fantastic and is some of the best work that they have featured. It has changed somewhat since we first saw his paintings here. Many of his early works were very large scale landscapes with a medium to wide point of view. ( see above) Most of what was on display this visit were (relatively) smaller scale (e.g. 3'x3') with a single object focus. Both views retain his signature style using heavy impasto.

We also enjoy Larry Gray's work of vast ethereal landscapes of mountains and clouds.

Prairie Shadows by Larry Gray

Staying Young Together, SAG Open House: 7 '16

Had a nice visit with our many artist friends at the Seacoast Artists Gallery Open House this evening.. Light hors d'oeuvres,, wine, and soda were being served, and Jef Sturm was demonstrating his artistic skills by creating a new work of art during the Open House.

CC's Pastel are on exhibit at SAG 5 '16

CC decided to exhibit some of her Pastel beach scenes at the Seacoast Artists Gallery this month.

Sedona Series now on Exhibit 10 ' 15

Eight of CC's Sedona Series' Oil Paintings are now on exhibit at:

the Seacoast Artists Gallery  

3032 Nevers Ave. Myrtle Beach, SC

Charleston Series on Exhibition 8 '15

Charleston Series

Got my new Charleston Series hung in the SAG gallery today. I am pleased with how it looks.

Gallery Hopping in Sedona: 6' 15

Having had our morning hike cut short by the searing heat had one big advantage... it gave us some much needed time to browse Sedona's Fine art galleries right after they opened in the morning and before they were too crowded with other tourists. 

CC Gallery Hopping at Tlacapaque

The entire city is dotted with far more Fine Arts and Crafts Galleries than we had time to see on this trip, but of those we did visit, our favorites were:

The Rowe Gallery

Located in the Tlacapaque Fine Art Craft Village has some wonderful western and plein air art on display

Rowe Gallery Interior

For more on this gallery go to: http://www.rowegallery.com/indexnew.html

Exposures International Gallery of Fine Art

Exposures International Gallery of Fine Art is one of the largest fine art galleries in the world. It has an impressive 20,000 square feet of art display that includes every style from classical to contemporary including amazing bronze and stone sculptures, original oil and acrylic paintings, fine art jewelry, and an array of glass art.

glass wind sculpture

It is hard to choose a personal favorite from the over 10,000 pieces of art in this gallery, but if we had to pick our personal favorites it would probably be one of the whimsical mobile wind sculptures which line the outside of the gallery's courtyard and entrance.

mobile / wind sculpture

For more a video view of the interior gallery go to http://www.sedona.tv/exposures/exposures-fine-art-gallery-sedona.htm

Sedona Art Center Gallery

Sedona Arts Center is a nonprofit educational institution dedicated to nurturing creative discovery, learning and sharing through arts education and artistic development. It's school hosts over 200 diverse learning opportunities each year including community classes with exceptional instructors, and unique workshops with nationally-known artist. The Center's Fine Art Gallery showcases the largest selection in Sedona of artwork by local artists. CC loved the collection of plein air oil and pastel landscapes she invited her artist sister Maria to visit the Center's gallery with her again later in the week.

Photo Courtesy of Sedona Fine art Center Gallery

Some of CC's favorite artists who are exhibiting in the Sedona Arts Center Gallery are:

M.L Coleman

Christine Debrowsky

Dave Haskell

Julie Gilbert Pollard

Pat Stacy

For more information on the Sedona Art Center and its Gallery please go to:

http://www.sedonaartscenter.org/

Spring Open House at SAG 5 '15

 It was standing room only at the Seacoast Artists Gallery's Spring Open House 

The community showed up in droves to support the event

In return the exhibiting artists brought out their finest, abstract or representational paintings, and photograghs.

Artwork by Sharon Sorrell

Big Island Art Gallery Hopping 3 '15

A visit to the Big Island would not be complete with out a tour of its Art Galleries .  Much of Friday was spent seeking out former artist friends and revisiting  those galleries that have survived the strains of years of economic downturn .  While the decline in tourism has had a huge impact on the entire economy, I am happy to report, that the art community is still very much alive.  Granted,  Big Island artists may be depending more on jewelry and (suitcase art, than museum size pieces), but most  of the artists I known for the past ten years  are still showing in galleries today, and quite a few new ones are now also on the scene.

Here's a few of the art places we have visited this week .

The Volcano Art Center Gallery

This rustic cabin was once the original Volcano House Lodge, and has been preserved as a gallery displaying the art-ware of over 250 of Hawaii's finest artists and craftsmen.

The Gallery of Great Things

The Gallery of Great things bookends  one end of  Parker Square in Waimea.  As it's name suggests, the clapboard bungalow is filled with handmade wonders from the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Rim. Part art gallery, part upscale one of a kind resale store, the quality of everything from jewelry to home decor to fine art crafts is staggering. I walked out with a pair of antique black coral earrings and the distinct feeling that I would need another full day of browsing around just to be sure I had seen all the great things they had to offer.

The Isaacs Art Center,  is a combination of art museum and retail gallery  is also in Waimea, across the street from the Gallery of Great Things.  It is housed in a building that was once waimea's first public school.   IThe Center is a part of Hawai'i Preparatory Academy and provides a venue for people to donate appreciated art and receive the benefits of a charitable donation. The mission of the Isaacs Art Center is to raise money for the benefit of HPA students while giving the community access to art and sculpture and providing students and parents living on the island a cultural learning experience. . It contains a large permanent collection of paintings, furniture, rare books, and Hawaiiana. A section of the art center operates as an art gallery, and a variety of fine Hawaiian art work is offered for sale. The funds generated by these sales are used to support the HPA Scholarship Fund.

The Dolphin Gallery  at the Kings Shops in Waikoloa  has become well known for its unique collection of marine art, unique gifts, collectible glass and fine jewelry.

Lahaina Gallery interior

The Lahaina Gallery in the Shops at Mauna Lani represent major regional and international painters.  I was happy to see they were still carrying the remaining  artwork of my late friend, Darrel Hill.

Downtown Kona

Closer to our Home base we visited the Kailua Village Artists. This is one of the oldest and longest surviving artist run galleries on the island.  It features original art created exclusively by Big Island artists.We have purchased multiple pieces of fine art craft from this group on previous trips, but they have relocated since our last visit, and we had difficulty in locating them on this trip We finally found the gallery is in a small shopping mall set back from the main drag in  downtown Kona.  It was worth the search.

This colorful shop is the gallery of my friends Mary and Mat Lovin

We saved the best for last  by setting aside all of Friday afternoon for a visit to the Holualoa Artists  enclave in the heart of the coffee growing region. This is one of my favorite places in the whole world and I was truly afraid that the death of one of its more famous artist,s and the stagnant economy, might have damaged the quaint charm of this artists colony.  

Holualoa's original post office has been turned into an art gallery

To my relief  I found art studios and local coffee  shops still occupy over two dozen historic buildings from Hawai‘i’s past.

 and tourists were still filling the streets and  the colorful shops with business.  Way go go Holualoa.!  

SAG hosts MB Chamber of Commerce 6'14

On Thursday, the Seacoast Artists Guild hosted  a reception for the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce. Nearly 150 people came to the reception  which was in our gallery at The Market Common.

Bruce and I had a great time,  There was lots of good music   food ,and friends

and ,of  course,  lots of good artwork.

My wall  displayed some of t my "Buy local " series

CC's boats are on exhibit at SAG 3 '14

 Like everyone else we know, CC is tired of winter.  When she was offered some prime window space at the SAG gallery, she decided to display some paintings of boats this month.  Hopefully  everyone who sees them will be reminded that warmer weather will soon be  here.

2nd Winter Storm : Gettin Nasty 2 '14

It's getting pretty nasty outside. There's a state of emergency declared for the whole State of South Carolina. I was supposed to be working in the gallery in Charleston, but the many of the bridges into and / or out of the city (including the Ravenell from my direction) are closed due to ice. And its only going to get worse. Needless to say, the gallery director called to say she was closing the gallery for the next two days.

Low Country Birds on Display 9 '13

CC put 10 more of her  paintings on display in the SAG Gallery at The Market Common.. all are oil paintings of low country bird scenes.