Carolina Gallery Newsletter

We hope you enjoy this first issue of our Carolina Gallery newsletter. Our intention is to publish this via e-mail on a somewhat regular basis. It should be monthly, at some point in the future.

Carolina Gallery begins its seventh year on Morgan Square in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina. The upstate and western North Carolina are thriving art producing areas with a wealth of local, regional, national and internationally known artists. These artists are ambassadors for our community raising awareness all over our planet to the vibrant cultural community we call home. Since opening the gallery many exciting things have followed. The opening of the Showroom at HUB-BUB, the new Chapman Cultural Center, The Creative Energy project and The Art Park. In addition we see the continued expansion of art projects including public sculpture, internationally recognized college art programs and The Healing Arts Foundation. New galleries and exhibition spaces continue to be added. The steady migration of artists to this area from all over the world grows as they recognize the artistic importance of our community. This validates our status as a great place to produce, collaborate, learn, show and sometimes sell art.

Spartanburg has been an important art producing community for more than one hundred years. In 1907, internationally known artists Josephine Sibley Couper and Margaret Law organized the Arts and Crafts Club. Its objective was to bring exhibitions of fine paintings to Spartanburg. In 1923 the Spartanburg Art Club was formed and in 1957 The Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg was formed by 19 area artists and is among the longest established guilds or arts organizations in this state. Spartanburg currently enjoys the most impressive group of art teachers in all its public and private schools we have ever had the pleasure to know. These teachers are nurturing artistic talent that we will all benefit from for years to come.

Art reaches millions of people nationwide and profoundly impacts our local economy. Art has been proven to be an engine for economic growth and development. Cultural events and collaborative arts projects fill voids in communities. Communities benefit when people form a sense of connectedness through arts and culture. Many corporations look to the cultural soul of a community in order to determine its suitability for location of headquarters or company expansion. This will be of particular importance as we compete in a slow economy.

Artwalk Spartanburg will continue to showcase our artistic city. Your support will help obtain our vision of a downtown with great restaurants, shops and galleries. The “Artists Among Us” project that Stephen Stinson and Carolina Gallery have collaborated on is open during the Artwalk and will allow the public to become increasingly aware of the sheer volume of artists who call this area home. Our goal is to photograph and exhibit 300 area artists. Boutiques and shops have agreed to extend hours during this event and we should all show our support if we expect them to make these evening hours permanent. Crescent Gallery, MYST Gallery and Carolina Gallery all have extended hours on weekends. Senior exit shows for USC Upstate will be on exhibit April through May. Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture will be on exhibit at the Chapman Cultural Center, Wofford College and Converse College.

I am always amused when someone says, “why don’t they do this or that.” My first question is usually “who is they?” Sometimes their answer is “the city.” We are the city and “we” need to make a contribution if we expect positive results. We can all be proud of what has been accomplished thus far, but the race is not yet won. If we do not support those who have taken the initiative in an effort to create the environment we can all enjoy, “we” will have no one to blame for the consequences but ourselves. You live in a community that anyone should be proud to call home. On almost any night, a cultural event is taking place somewhere in Spartanburg. Spartanburg is where art lives. Volunteer, invest, shop, attend events, vote, make a difference.

We hope to include in this newsletter notices and examples of new work from many of our artists, informational art topics and answers to questions our clients often ask.

If you would like to receive this newsletter via e-mail please go to our website www.carolinagalleryart.com and click on the newsletter link. If you prefer to receive the newsletter by regular mail please sign up on your next gallery visit or respond via e-mail.

Hope to see you downtown soon,
-Ed Emory

Art Decoded

This section will introduce you to the common materials used by artists and how they are used to create works of art and explanations of important artistic genres and styles. Here you will also find valuable information on issues like properly preparing and caring for artwork.

In this opening article, it will be best to begin with the very basics. What are some of the different media? In the realm of painting artists typically use oil, acrylics, gouache, tempera, or watercolors. Traditionally drawing media include graphite (pencil), charcoal, ink with either a pen or brush, conté, chalk, silver point, colored pencil, pastel, oil pastel, markers, collage, and many more. Fine art printmaking has the basic categories of relief in linocut or woodcut, etching, monotype, serigraphy, and lithography. Sculptors use a wide variety of material and techniques, classic examples include carving in stones like marble and in wood, and casting molds in plaster or bronze.

Historic Regional Artist: George Henry Clements

George Henry Clements (1854-1935) grew up on a family plantation near Opelousas, Louisiana. Before becoming a painter he worked as a clerk at the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. Clements studied at the Union Arts League in New York for a year before moving to Paris and studying at both the Academy Julien and the Academy Colarossi.
Until 1890, most of Clements’ work consisted of portraiture, figure paintings, and narrative scenes. Finding inspiration in the impressionists, he turned to seascapes and nautical themes. Ships became a recurring theme in his work.
Clements’ work is known for its expressive brush strokes and the evident concern for atmospheric effects. Although he painted in other areas of the country, like Cape Cod, the reputation of his work is strongly tied to Southern subject matter.

Image: Sailboats on Lake Pontchartrain
(watercolor on paper)

Featured Artist: Isabel Forbes

Two Crosses, Oil on Canvas

Antiques, Oil on Panel

Sullivan’s Isle Transportation, Oil on Panel