Tag: Real Estate Studio

Every 6 weeks local artists showcase their work in our office The Real Estate Studio.  It is always a busy day when artists are hanging.  Much was going on today as 4 local artists and friends; Marty Biernbaum, Patricia Huff, Brenda Orcutt, and Mary Sayas hung art for their show entitled “Dawn and Dusk, a Group Interpretation”.  Their art will be featured at The Real Estate Studio from May 22, 2013 through July 2, 2013.  Their art opening will be Friday May 24th from 5-8pm.

Mary, Brenda, Patricia and Marty have developed an “artist circle” similar to historical artist groups that traveled together to paint and support each other.  Artistic and creative strength created by the generation of ideas and positive critiquing, encouragement and, of course, just plain fun in the painting together, have forged the basis of this show’s work.

Join us on Friday May 24th for a festive art party.

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

Many of you who live and visit Charleston are aware of Mary Edna Fraser but you might not know it- you’ve probably seen her batiks  draped from the ceilings at the Charleston airport.  Even before I put a face and name to the art I was taken in by their beauty.  The Real Estate Stdudio is proud to have her return after her last exhibit over a year ago.  At our downtown space- it’s so much more than an office, it’s a showcase of the Charleston lifestyle- Mary Edna will be sharing her new series on narrow vintage kimono silk.  The artist says it’s intimate in scale and draws from the visual memory of her aerial perspective.  The art depicts a floating world.

Venus

There will be a Meet the Artist reception Thursday, May 12 from 6-10 at the Real Estate Studio located at 214 King Street.  Please stop by and enjoy the unique ambiance.  If you cannot make the reception, her work will be on display there seven days a week from May 12- June 21.  You can call for hours before stopping in (843)722-5618.  You’ll be glad you met this Renaissance woman extraordinaire.

Mary Edna is one of the most fascinating people I’ve ever met. She  is a devoted artist who spends hours creating works in the ancient medium of batik– a wax resist method of dyeing cloth, she’s also a musician who sings and  dabbles in an assorted collection of instruments (banjo, bass, xylophone, guitar…)  and is the stationary  member (the “Lime” if you will) to a local group of revolving musicans Lime & The Coconuts who can be found playing around town.  She’s also involved in conservation of land in the state of South Carolina.   And she was a Jeopardy question – “1994-95 she was the first woman to be honored with a one-person exhibition at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC”-“Who was Mary Edna Fraser.”

Lime at the Coconuts play a local tea room

She and her art have traveled the world but next Thursday she’s sharing it with the place she calls home.  We hope to see you there!

Ok so normally it is against the rules to do too much horn-tooting on a blog but today, I just can’t help myself.  I am so proud of our company!!  Here’s an example of the beauty of social networking, the power of an innovative imagination and a “can-do” attitude.  The Dunes Properties Real Estate Studio at 214 King St, Charleston, SC was just featured in a very popular blog 1000WattConsulting.   And here’s how it happened….

1. A fellow real estate agent and Folly Beach expert, Vince Perna and I were talking about the virtues of ActiveRain and whether or not to join.
2. Vince sent me an example email in which the first link was to a post by Matthew Dollinger, a Real Estate Technology guru, entitled “The Future of the Real Estate Office…And Company“
3. I decided to comment on the post and let Matthew know what we have been doing at The Real Estate Studio since July 2007, since much of what he described, we’ve got!
4. He sent me and my husband Randy an email and let us know he had passed it on to famed Real Estate Blogger, Marc Davison at 1000WattConsulting
5. And the rest is history!

So check out Marc’s post via the link below and read what he has to say about our Dunes Properties Real Estate Studio and our microsite DunesDowntown.  We thank both Marc and Matthew profusely for the coverage and the great constructive feedback.

This “office of the future” thing is starting to catch fire…

I admit it. I have succumbed to a common Mt. Pleasant mindset. Many of us feel going over the Ravenel Bridge to downtown Charleston is just too darn far. Sure it’s just a 15 minute drive but you have to go “over the bridge.” Because of this silly mindset, I was not aware of what was going on outside Dunes Properties’ own patch of the 200 block of King St. until I started working out of our Real Estate Studio. Our front walkway is a mess of crumbled cement and we have a wooden walkway with handrails from the sidewalk to our door.

The yellow tape looks daunting but it’s really not that difficult to get to us. We’re here and working and ready to help you find anything your heart desires in Charleston so come in! Check out area real estate, get some dining recommendations and admire the Brownie Harris photography on display.

Back to the relevance of this post, what is going on with King St? This transformation on the Market to Broad portion of King St. began in June and completion is anticipated for the spring of 2009. The city is relining the sewer main (this has been completed), putting in a new SCE&G electrical duct bank, a new CWS water main, new street lights, removal of trolley tracks, and putting in blue slate sidewalks, granite curbs and new asphalt for the roadway.

This city just keeps improving.

– Rebecca N.