Tag: opening reception

It’s that time of year again, Charleston. It’s time for SEWE! Or, for you non-locals, the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition that runs this weekend from February 17-19^th. This year SEWE will be celebrating its 30^th year and will attract around 500 artists and exhibitors who will demonstrate their work to over 40,000 attendees. Though the emphasized focus of SEWE is the experts in wildlife and nature art, the event also specializes in conservation through environmental education.

As SEWE has grown since February of 1983, so have the programs goals. The many missions of SEWE are: to increase tourism traffic to the Charleston area during its normally slow season, showcase fine wildlife art and artists, invest positively in wildlife and nature education, and to aid in Charleston’s nature and wildlife preservation by spreading awareness and collecting the financial benefits SEWE brings in.

“SEWE provides the public with affordable access to cultural and educational opportunities…Its programs underscore the need for educating ourselves and our children about the conservation and preservation of our wild and natural resources” says the function’s website. Those who choose to participate in the event experience art of all kinds, meet artists, attend exhibits, lectures, and children’s educational programs.

We are thrilled to be a part of the weekend festivities.  Local painter Honor Marks, whose work focuses on indigenous wildlife and botanicals, will show new paintings at The Real Estate Studio beginning Feb 16.  The show, Wild at Heart, Paintings of SC Wildlife, begins SEWE weekend and will continue until March 26.  Marks grew up in Charleston and developed a love for art by photographing unique wildlife and pieces of the marsh with her family when she was young. Honing her skills further as she grew, Marks double majored in English and Fine Arts receiving her B.A. with honors from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.

Over the next several years Marks painted for renowned furniture company Habersham, worked in design and as a commercial artist, dedicating herself to oil painting full time in 1999. “My work is intended to reveal what is right in front of us but goes unseen,” Marks said about her painting. “We truly take for granted the enormity of the miracles that surround us. My work celebrates those miracles.”

Marks has been given several awards and honors for her art including: Best in Show at the 2003 Piccolo Spoleto Juried Outdoor Art Exhibit, 2005 Griffith Lowcountry Artist Award, and a narration of her species paintings by Rudy Mancke, host of television’s Nature Scene in 2006. Most recently, in 2009, Marks was commissioned by Medical College of Georgia to create five paintings of medicinal plants to hang permanently in the MCG Cancer Center.

Honor’s work appears in private and corporate collections across the country and is available through Trowbridge Gallery in Ojai, CA; Mary Pauline Projects in Augusta, GA; and online at www.HonorMarks.com.

Mark’s Wild at Heart, Paintings of SC Wildlife series will be on exhibit at The Real Estate Studio February 16 – March 26 with an Opening Reception held Friday, February 17, 2012 from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.  For more information about the exhibit, contact The Real Estate Studio 722-5618. For a list of SEWE events, please click this link.

– Amanda Graham

Our good friend Dustin Ryan is having an Opening Reception at The Real Estate Studio on October 21, 2011 to celebrate his photography exhibit that will run through November 29, 2011.  Dustin is a very talented photographer who captures amazing images of the scenic Lowcountry, as well as other landscapes all over the country.  Dustin supplied all the photos for our 2011 Vacation Brochure, which was by far one of the most beautiful magazines we have ever produced.  We’re so happy to offer the Studio for his show and we invite you to join us in celebrating his amazing talent on October 21, 2011 6-9pm. The event is free, but a portion of sale proceeds will benefit the Charleston chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.

Check out the Facebook Invite HERE

To kick off the new year, Beyond The Gallery has united three of Charleston’s premier and award – winning artists, Chris Dotson, Joyce Hall and Martin Ahrens for the upcoming exhibition, “Collective | Eclectic,” an exhibition celebrating diversity in the creative process. The exhibit will feature small and large works in a range of mediums from watercolors, pen & ink to oils, acrylics and pastels. Hosted by The Real Estate Studio, 214 King Street, in historic downtown Charleston, the exhibition will remain on view January 5 – February 15, 2011, with an opening- artist reception, free & open to the public, set for January 14, from 6-9 PM.
“Collective | Eclectic” has been developed to unite fellow artists and shed light into their imagination and distinctive personal approach. The exhibition unfolds with a general theme of diversity in the arts. Viewers can expect to encounter an eclectic selection of some of the artists finest works, inspired by life, their creative drive and everyday experiences. Works exhibited will further showcase the artists diversity of personality, style, subject matter, influences and artistic range.
Chris Dotson, originally from Newport News, VA, and now residing in Charleston, SC, received his B.F.A. from Appalachian State University in 1996 and has been involved in the visual arts for over fifteen years. His latest work is composed of a wide variety of mediums and ranges from visual realism to imagined realism and abstract. “I look for something beyond the representation of a subject, attention is given only to each shape’s interaction with surrounding shapes, and it’s color in relation to the other colors within the image.”
Joyce Hall, grew up in the heart of Maryland horse country where at an early age she began observing and drawing horses. After teaching the equestrian program for Tulane University and establishing programs for the College of Charleston and the Citadel she retired, devoting all of her time to painting and teaching art. Her works, composed primarily of oils, have been featured in major art publications and have earned her an extensive list of national awards, museum tours and international exhibitions, too numerous to mention, as well as memberships in many prestigious organizations. More recently Joyce was selected as a finalist for the Blossom II, Art of Flowers, international Juried art competition and national museum tour exhibition, premiering at the Naples Museum of Art, February 4th, 2011.
Born in 1933 in Louisiana, noted portrait artist, Martin Ahrens began painting in the 1950s while attending Tulane University. He attended the Chicago Institute of Art and for over forty years has been painting, sculpting and teaching, winning awards in national shows. In the early 1980s Ahrens completed a painting of the America Silver Medal Winner in the International Ballet Competition and was later selected to paint the 25th Anniversary painting for the Meridian House International in Washington DC. In 1986 Ahrens moved to Northern Maryland and founded Everedy School of Art & the Everedy Gallery. In 1990 Ahrens sold the Gallery and School and returned to New Orleans to marry Joyce Hall, a noted artist and horsewoman. He currently makes his home in the South Carolina Lowcountry, and with his wife, owns The Studio, a multi-media school of fine art in the West Ashley area of Charleston.
COLLECTIVE | ECLECTIC : ARTIST RECEPTION & OPENING FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2011 6 – 9 PM