portfolios: fine art icons

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JURIED EXHIBITIONS: FINE ART

  • 2006 139th International Exhibition, American Watercolor Society,Louis Kaep Award (Sweet Bouquet)
  • 2005 Hub City Juried Show (Happy at Hambidge)
  • 2005 Annual Juried Exhibition, Artists Guild of Spartanburg, Merit Award (Spong !!)
  • 2005 Georgia Watercolor Society 26th National Exhibiton, Honorable Mention (Sweet Bouquet)
  • 2005 Anderson Cy Arts Center Annual Juried Show (Bed in the Woods)
  • 2005 Artist-in-Residence grant awarded by Hambidge Center
  • 2004 South Caroloina State Fair (War Room); Merit Award (Safe and Sound)
  • 2004 Grant from Spartanburg Arts Partnership for "The Bed: Archetypal and Ordinary"
  • 2004 Artist-in-Residency program awarded, Hambidge Center (GA)
  • 2003 South Carolina State Fair (Morris Cottage Screen Door, Iconic Bed)
  • 2003 12th Annual Art in the Park, Greenville (Two Red Chairs)
  • 2003 Signature Member Status awarded by the National Watercolor Society (Retreat, my-Mac, Colonial Church)
  • 2003 National Watercolor Society Juried Show (Primo Vere)
  • 2003 Member with Excellence Award (S. C. Watercolor Society)
  • 2003 "On the Edge" Exhibition, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA (Retreatant's Room at Mepkin Abbey)
  • 2003 South Carolina Watercolor Society Annual Exhibition (Vespers)
  • 2002 Art in the Air, Gateway Advertising, Greer, SC (Chairs)
  • 2002 South Carolina Watercolor Society Annual Exhibition (Primo Vera)
  • 2002 11th Annual Art in the Park, Greenville, Merit Award (My-Mac)
  • 2002 Anderson Country Arts Center Annual Juried Show (Dessert (of) Course)
  • 2001 Sidewalk Art Show, Spartanburg, 3rd Place in Painting and Drawing (Vernal Equinox)
  • 2001 South Carolina Watercolor Society Annual Exhibition (Dessert (of) Course)
  • 2001 10th Annual Art in the Park, Greenville (Vernal Equinox)
  • 2001 Annual Juried Exhibition of the Artists' Guild of Spartanburg, Merit Award (Archtypal Bed)
  • 2001 Anderson Country Arts Center Annual Juried Show, Purchase Award (Zebra Pillow)
  • 2000 The Artists' Guild of Spartanburg
  • 2000 Union County Arts Council
  • 1999 Blue Ridge Arts Council (Seneca)
  • 1999 Western North Carolina (Tryon); Honorable Mention
  • 1999 The Artists' Guild of Spartanburg; Merit Award
  • 1999 Sidewalk Art Show; 1st place in Amateur category
  • 1999 SC State Fair; Merit Award in Amateur category
  • 1999 Union County Arts Council
  • 1998 The Artists' Guild of Spartanburg (juried into membership)
  • 1998 Union County Arts Council

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITS: FINE ART

  • Nov Dec 2005 Aiken Center for the Arts “Beds and Other Recent Paintings”
  • Nov 2004 "The Bed: Architypal and Ordinary"; Sandor Teszler Library Gallery, Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC
  • Feb 2005 "The Bed:Archtypal and Ordinary" Tryon (NC) Fine Arts Center
  • March 2004 Art League of Hendersonville County (NC) Civic Center, two-person show and Guest Artist for March 2004
  • Nov-Dec 2003 Mildred Harrison Dent Fine Arts Center, Spartanburg Day School, two -person show
  • Sept 2000 Artists' Guild Gallery, Spartanburg County Museum of Art
PUBLICATIONS: FINE ART
  • Cover of Crosswalk, Episcopal Diocese of Upper SC, December 2004
  • Cover, Furniture Review, Spring 2003

ARTWORK AVAILABLE AT:


SOLO SHOWS: ICONS

  • Meditation Room, Episcopal Church of the Advent (SC) 2/2001
  • Artists' Guild Gallery, Spartanburg Cy (SC) Museum of Art 9/2000
  • Gallery, Summit Hills, Spartanburg (SC) 10/2000
  • Gallery, Cannons Elementary (Cowpens, SC) 11-12/2000
ON-LINE JURIED SHOW: ICONS
  • "Icons and Prayer" Pentacost 2001 Episcopal Church in the Visual Arts (ecva.org)
PUBLICATIONS: ICONS
  • "Painting included in Confident Color: An Artist's Guide to Harmony, Contrast and Unity by Nita Leland (North Light Books)"
  • "Windows to Heaven" Agnes Scott: The Magazine, Fall 2003
  • Icon artist paints "windows into heaven" Spartanburg Herald Journal, March 16, 2002
  • "An echo of God's mystery" episcopallife, October 2001
  • "Icons: Windows into Heaven" Crosswalk, Episcopal Diocese of Upper SC, December 2000
  • "Artist develops inner world" Spartanburg Herald Journal, Sept 17, 2000

     

 

 


photo: Scott Cunnigham

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

What I Paint

Sense of place and love of place characterize my interiors (and my recent landscapes). Although a variety of subject matter finds its way into my paintings, the familiar scenes of my home have been my primary focus. Chairs and sofas which are central to so many of my paintings imply to me social interchange. I hope they project a warmth, comfort and hospitality. In the past few years beds have become a subject matter that has fascinated me. The bed has a lot of symbolic meaning in that it is a place where a variety of emotions are experienced. These pieces of furniture and the compositions that they create, present me with an intriguing jumping off place for novel colors, new designs and some fantasy. My hope is that my work conveys some of the joy that I experience when I paint.

How I Paint

Initially my eye catches a composed scene and I made a rather quick sketch or photo. I then transfer the image to paper or canvas (that has been prepared with an underpainting) and then outline the shapes with black. I then add color within the shapes. I enjoy establishing a good composition within my sketch and then refining it with color and line. Embellishing or decorating many surfaces is something I often do. It's like icing on the cake for me.

Materials and Method

Although I paint in watercolor and enjoy mixed miedia, I favor acrylic paints. Acrylics give me a maximum flexibility and control in my painting and also create a permanent and durable surface. I love the ease of application and the ability to spontaneously paint a shape and then redo it, if it is not right. The pragmatic aspects of convenience and quick drying time help me keep a rhythm and pace to my painting that sustains a certain energy and level of creativity.


My Work with Icons

Several years ago, after becoming fascinated with icons seen in the churches and museums of Russia, I happened into a bookstore on an excursion into New York City. My eye caught a book on the shelf entitled "The Technique of Icon Painting": I knew then that I wanted to learn how. I eagerly purchased the book and returning home, I sought out instruction with an iconographer in Pennsylvania. Over the years I have learned to paint or "write" icons from other iconographers in the U.S. and from my own self-study. This non-rational, meditative, non-driven, non-competitive approach to applying paint onto a wooden panel has been personally very restorative to me.