The Long Bay Symphony continues its Offstage: Dinner and Music series with Brentwood Wine Bistro in Little River, SC. Seating begins at 6:00pm and music will be performed from 6:30pm-7:30pm.
There will be a special three-course prix-fixe menu and one hour of music provided by the Long Bay Symphony. The price is $50 per person and includes tax and tips. For more information, please visit the Long Bay Symphony website or on Facebook. To reserve your seating, call the Long Bay Symphony office: 843-448-8379.
In a show that opened July 1 and runs through July 31, Sunset River Marketplace in Calabash, NC, is featuring Works By Ophelia Staton, a Cary, NC artist known for her colorful abstract mixed media pieces.
Ophelia Staton Making friends along the way 30×30 acrylic-graphite
“This is the first time I’ve met Ophelia,” gallery owner Ginny Lassiter said, “But I’ve been aware of her popular art journaling and mixed media classes at Jerry’s Artarama, so I’m especially looking forward to her gallery talk and demo!”
In a statement about her work, Staton said, “I paint to express myself. Each mark, scribble or stroke of my brush is a conversation between me, my materials and the substrate. I show up and begin working with no preconceived notions or ideas of the end result. I see the process of painting as a journey and I am intrigued by the unknown of where each mark or brush stroke will take me. For this reason, I am in love with abstracts. Painting is a passion for me.
I absolutely love working in layers. I invite the viewer to come closer and notice that there is more beneath the surface. My goal is to create a work of art that will engage the viewer and foster a dialogue.”
The show includes 23 different works, including nine eight-inch square pieces, which are hung in a grid to mimic a single large painting. According to Lassiter, a unique feature of Staton’s work is that it complements any décor – contemporary or traditional, abstract or realistic.
About Sunset River Marketplace
Located in coastal Brunswick County, Sunset River Marketplace caters to both tourists and a growing local community of full time residents seeking fine art for their homes and businesses. Featuring work by approximately 150 North and South Carolina artists, the gallery is well known in the area for its collection of oil paintings, watermedia, pastels, photography, hand-blown glass, fused glass, pottery and clay sculptures, turned and carved wood, unique home décor items and artisan jewelry.
There are two onsite kilns and five wheels used by the gallery’s pottery students. Art classes and workshops are currently being offered on a limited basis. Call the gallery for details.
Special Covid 19 Notice: To meet North Carolina State guidelines, Sunset River Marketplace requests that patrons who are not fully vaccinated wear face coverings and requires the use of hand sanitizer plus six-foot social distancing between gallery visitors and at the cash register. The gallery staff conducts thorough cleaning of surfaces upon opening and closing and during the day and has placed complimentary hand sanitizer throughout the gallery for visitor use.
The gallery address is: 10283 Beach Drive SW, Calabash, NC 28467. Hours are Monday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more information, call 910.575.5999 or visit the website at www.sunsetrivermarketplace.com. Daily updates are available on the gallery’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
The FrameCenter, located within the gallery, is open Wednesday through Friday, 12 noon – 5 p.m. and by appointment. Call framer Louis Aliotta directly at 910.368.7351.
Summer 2021 at the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum
Joe Karlovec | Private Property: June 8-Sept. 4, 2021
Edward Rice | Beyond Depiction: June 15-Sept. 4, 2021
Lynne Clibanoff | Inside Out: June 22-Sept. 4, 2021
Edward Rice, Dormer, New Orleans, 2018 – 2019, oil on canvas, 37.5″H x 37.5″W
We don’t often think about the nature of space. Often, our spaces – whether they’re domestic, professional, or public – become so familiar that we cease to notice them after a period. However, when we are confined to one space, such as during the extended period of the Covid pandemic, that same area can feel limiting or oppressive. As a consequence, many individuals in the past year spent time rethinking and redefining their use of space. Three nationally renowned artists bring their work that centers on space and our perspectives on it to the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simon B. Chapin Art Museum over a period spanning June 8-Sept. 4, 2021. The overlapping exhibitions, which involve textile installations, oil paintings and 3-dimensional cast paper, allow viewers to consider spaces from a multitude of viewpoints. Joe Karlovec, Edward Rice and Lynne Clibanoff each focus on a theme of architecture in their work, making this series of exhibitions a cohesive visual and sensory experience.
“Our exhibition-schedule theme for the year is ‘new perspectives,” said Liz Miller, curator of the Art Museum. “This is what ties together all of the exhibitions. Immediately, one recognizes architecture as the subject of all three, but it is the underlying tones found in each of the artists’ work that really make a connection. Each artist beckons the viewer with their work to examine a particular space/spaces and/or architectural element(s). Joe Karlovec does so with his dynamic, large-scale fiber collages; Edward Rice with his stunningly precise and alluring Southern architectural oil paintings; and Lynne Clibanoff with her miniature, three-dimensional dioramas of various interiors.”
Karlovec’s exhibition, titled Private Property, opens June 8 and consists of 12 large-scale photographic images woven into textiles using a jacquard loom. Karlovec uses the textiles to create multi-dimensional fiber collages that surprise the viewer with their texture and intensity. The artist’s works center on landscape urbanism and environmental justice, often reflecting the areas of the Midwest’s rust belt, where Karlovec was raised, and coastal Florida, including West Palm Beach, where he works and resides.
Southern architecture is the backdrop for Edward Rice’s work, and his retrospective exhibition Beyond Depiction, opening June 15, is a collection of 36 architectural images spanning the last 26 years of his award-winning career. Rice’s paintings capture the impression of their subjects while simultaneously bringing attention to individual details such as a door, a window, or a cornice. A native of North Augusta, Ga., Rice has exhibited his paintings at museums throughout the South and is a recipient of the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award from the South Carolina Arts Commission.
Lynne Clibanoff creates small-scale box constructions with architectural detail that leaves viewers moving around — looking around corners, up stairways, or through windows. Her exhibit Inside Out, which opens June 22, features a series of her miniature, 3-dimensional paper sculptures that blend familiarity and imagination. Empty rooms beckon the reader to explore and consider the possibilities of perspective and space in Clibanoff’s works, which highlight the tension between visual illusion and reality.
The subject matter of these exhibitions is particularly timely in Summer 2021, noted Miller, when the public is emerging from a year of physical and spatial isolation that often yielded innovation.
“The viewer might find themselves thinking about their own relationships to the physical spaces in which they live and work as they move through these exhibitions,” said Miller. “We’ve all been thinking more and more about our environments and how we might adapt them to better suit our needs, both physically and mentally, after having been cooped up in our homes – for many of us, working remotely – since the onset of the pandemic. We’ve changed spare bedrooms and basements into office spaces and gyms. Dining and coffee tables may have found new uses as school and office desks.”
Private Property, Beyond Depiction and Inside Out each invite the reader to reflect on their relationships to space and the people with which they share those spaces.
“Though the changes to our home environments posed all kinds of challenges,” said Miller, “we were given a rare opportunity – and lesson, even – to remember to slow down and appreciate the unexpected gift of time spent with our loved ones from the comforts of home. These three exhibitions come at a time when these thoughts are all still fresh in our consciousness, and it may be through this lens that we experience them.”
Admission to the Art Museum is free; donations are welcomed.
CLASS Publishing is pleased to announce the release of Overcoming, the inspiring and informative memoir by Robert N. Jenkins, Sr., one of 13 children born to a rural McClellanville couple. Jenkins overcame poverty and prejudice to become a member of the Air Force rifle corps, the fourth African American graduate of The Citadel, a graduate of the University of South Carolina’s law school, a distinguished attorney providing legal defense for those without means, and ultimately a family court judge meting out justice with fairness and compassion.
Through the Jim Crow South of the 50s and 60s and an inequitable education system, despite The Great Society’s efforts to balance the scales, Jenkins persevered through hard work, determination, a commitment to learning, and an abiding faith, all of which disallowed “excuses” – for himself, his children, his co-workers, and his clients.
His decades-long friendship with Congressman James E. Clyburn, Majority Whip of the U.S. Congress, is honored in the Foreword when Clyburn pens, “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once intoned that, ‘Anyone can be great because anyone can serve … You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.’ The great Civil Rights leader could have been talking about Robert Jenkins.”
Filled with photos and personal remembrances, Overcoming is an inspirational reflection on a life well lived. The book will be launched at a Moveable Feast on Friday, July 2, 11 AM-1 PM at the McClellanville Town Hall, 405 Pinckney Street. Space is limited, reservations are required. Tickets are $30 per person and include a presentation by the author followed by lunch catered by Joe’s Catering Service/Buckshot’s Restaurant.
Leo Twiggs, Blues at the Beach (detail), 1999, batik, 33.5″Hx30″W
In a time when our world is delivering unpredictable, difficult, and seemingly endless challenges, a reflection on resilience may be the very best use of our time. Leo Twiggs’ exhibit at the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum is a collection of batik works conveying images of endurance in the face of both natural and human-created adversities. The pieces, which span more than 50 years of this revolutionary, prolific artist’s career, derive from a range of series including “Mother Emanuel,” “Hurricane,” “Targeted Man,” “Commemoration – Revisited” and “We Have Known Rivers.”
Leo Twiggs’ Resilience opens Tuesday, June 1, and runs through Saturday, August 28. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
“Leo’s work is timeless and timely,” said Liz Miller, curator of the Art Museum. “Almost every series represents some sort of obstacle, whether that be segregation, a natural disaster, racism, or a mass shooting. And yet, the artist finds a way to present hope, beauty, and, sometimes, an alternative perspective that speaks to this idea of resilience for which the exhibition is named.” An iconic figure in South Carolina visual arts history, Twiggs’ award-winning career has been comprised of a series of “firsts.” After attending Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina and earning a MA at New York University, Twiggs became the first African American student to receive a doctorate of arts in art education from the University of Georgia, in 1970. Two years later, he became the first African American artist invited to exhibit in the Hampton III Gallery in Taylors, South Carolia., the oldest gallery in the state. His work remains on permanent exhibition in the gallery, reflecting a 50-year relationship with owner Sandy Rupp. Twiggs was also the first African American member of the Board of the South Carolina State Museum Commission; and developer of the first art program at the I.P Stanback Museum and Planetarium at South Carolina State University. In 1981, Twiggs received the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award (the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Fine Arts), and in 2020, he was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame, in Myrtle Beach.
Twiggs has also been dubbed a pioneer of painting with dyes. His batik work takes the craft of dye work and transforms it into fine art, as he uses dye and wax as materials to create paintings. Twiggs discovered batik as a craft during his study at the Art Institute of Chicago, and brought the concept back to the high school where he taught in the 1960s. He experimented with the materials and the technique until he was creating pieces unlike anything the art world had seen.
“Batik, when I selected it, became my voice,” said Twiggs. “I found I could say things with batik that I couldn’t say with paint.” Twiggs’ technique gives his works a weathered, layered look that can’t be replicated in other media, and that impression reinforces the message of the piece. “When you look at a painting, you stand back to see it all,” said Twiggs. “With batik, the closer you get to the piece, the more you see.”
Twiggs has witnessed personally the effect this quality has on viewers of his work. “At first, the viewer will see a child on a beach, or an old woman sitting in a chair,” said Twiggs. “But when they look closer, they’ll see the isolation, or the defiance in the person’s demeanor. They’ll see things they didn’t see before. That’s because I don’t just paint people or scenes. My paintings are about ideas, and the role of an artist is to help you see things you don’t see.”
Miller said the exhibit is particularly fitting for local audiences. “I think everyone can relate to overcoming obstacles, and the fact that many of these trials – segregated beaches, Hurricane Hugo, Confederate flags on display and the Mother Emmanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston – are specific to our home state will resonate even more with our fellow South Carolina visitors.”
Miller concurs with Twigg’s sentiment that having an impact on a viewer’s vision is a primary goal of art work, and she believes Twigg will succeed with Art Museum visitors. “I hope viewers’ eyes are opened or widened to a new sense of awareness about the experiences of others, our neighbors, and fellow community members. Or, perhaps visitors will identify with the experiences presented in Leo’s work. Either way, I hope people are able to walk away with a fresh perspective and the inspiration to spread hope and kindness in lieu of hate and divisiveness.”
Leo Twiggs | Resilience is sponsored by Bank of America.
Admission to the Art Museum is free; donations are welcomed.
Sunset River Marketplace celebrates art and artists with ‘My Studio: Enter At Your Own Risk’ group show
Sunset River Marketplace art gallery in Calabash, NC will present a group exhibition, My Studio: Enter At Your Own Risk, from May 5 through June 5. According to gallery owner Ginny Lassiter, “Art studios can be chaotic, energetic, emotional places! We’ve invited several of our own artists to share their working studios with us in oil, acrylic, collage and other media. This is going to be a fun and insightful look into the life of an artist! We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we are!”
Ginny Lassiter “Enter at your own risk”
Participating artists include Ortrud Tyler, acrylics; Sherry Godfrey, pottery and acrylics; Vicki Neilon, acrylics; Ruth Cox, oils; Roseann Bellinger, acrylics; Ginny Lassiter, acrylics; Adrienne Watts, watercolor monoprint and acrylics; Diane Larson, oils; Carol Iglesias, oils; Jenny McKinnon Wright, oils; Rachel Sunnell, acrylics; and Linda Young, mixed media.
Lassiter says, “I’ve always been curious about how other artists work, whether it’s in a dedicated studio or in a corner of the kitchen. Some, like our oil instructor, Ruth Cox, work in a studio overflowing with memories, materials, and inspiration. Others like Roseann Bellinger prefer a simpler atmosphere, with everything in its place. I’m somewhere in the middle!”
Throughout the month-long show, Lassiter says, there will be pop up painting demos and short gallery talks by some of the artists. They will be announced on the gallery’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
About Sunset River Marketplace
Located in coastal Brunswick County, Sunset River Marketplace caters to both tourists and a growing local community of full time residents seeking fine art for their homes and businesses. Featuring work by approximately 150 North and South Carolina artists, the eclectic gallery is well known in the area for its collection of oil paintings, watermedia, pastels, photography, hand-blown glass, fused glass, pottery and clay sculptures, turned and carved wood, unique home décor items and artisan jewelry.
There are two onsite kilns and five wheels used by the gallery’s pottery students. Art classes and workshops are currently being offered on a limited basis. Call the gallery for details.
Special Covid 19 Notice: To meet North Carolina State mandates, Sunset River Marketplace requires that patrons wear face coverings and requires the use of hand sanitizer plus six-foot social distancing between gallery visitors and at the cash register. The gallery staff conducts thorough cleaning of surfaces upon opening and closing and during the day and has placed complimentary hand sanitizer throughout the gallery for visitor use.
The gallery address is: 10283 Beach Drive SW, Calabash, NC 28467. Hours are Monday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more information, call 910.575.5999 or visit the website at www.sunsetrivermarketplace.com. Daily updates are available on the gallery’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
The FrameCenter, located within the gallery, is open Wednesday through Friday, 12 noon – 5 p.m. and by appointment. Call framer Louis Aliotta directly at 910.368.7351.
The Long Bay Symphony announced a Pops concert for Spring. Classical Mystery Tour: A Tribute to the Beatles will take place Friday May 7th, 2021 at the Myrtle Beach Pelicans Stadium.
The four musicians in Classical Mystery Tour look and sound just like The Beatles, but Classical Mystery Tour is more than just a rock concert. The full show presents some two dozen Beatles tunes sung, played, and performed exactly as they were written. Hear “Penny Lane” with a live trumpet section; experience the beauty of “Yesterday” with an acoustic guitar and string quartet; enjoy the rock/classical blend on the hard edged “I Am the Walrus.”
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From early Beatles music on through the solo years, Classical Mystery Tour is the best of The Beatles like you’ve never heard them: totally live.
Join the Long Bay Symphony for an unforgettable Pops concert at Pelicans Stadium on Saturday May 7th, 2021 at 7:00 PM, with a rain date of May 8th. Parties with be seated socially distanced, and masks will be required. Tickets are $45-$55. More information on tickets can be found on the Long Bay Symphony website or calling the Myrtle Beach Pelicans office: (843) 918-6000.
The Long Bay Symphony Orchestra Presents: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous, the final Classical Series concert for 2021! In addition to being available to a limited live audience, this concert will also be streamed live from First Presbyterian Church on April 18th at 4:00PM. In person tickets are $30, and virtual tickets are only $15 per household
The Long Bay Symphony concludes its 2021 Classical Series with From the Sublime to the Ridiculous, a program serving up pieces in a fascinating variety of styles featuring narrators/singers Shannon Kessler Dooley and Jeffrey Jones. From Romantic opera composer Richard Wagner’s unique miniature work, Siegfried Idyll (a musical tribute to the birth of his son), to Façade, an edgy yet charming setting by Sir William Walton of Dame Edith Sitwell’s humorously outrageous poetry. Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas weaves a wild pastiche of motives from native folk tunes in Ocho por Radio, while Gustav Mahler wonderfully conveys the essence of the German folk spirit in his song settings from Des Knaben Wunderhorn.
Join the Long Bay Symphony for the final Classical Series concert of the season on April 18th at 4:00PM.
For more information and to purchase in person or virtual tickets, links can be found on the Long Bay Symphony website, Long Bay Symphony Facebook Events page, and through virtual ticket provider, TicketSpice.
Gallery to present Eric McRay: Contemporary Modernist March 24 – May 1; reception April 9
Raleigh, NC artist Eric McRay
Sunset River Marketplace art gallery will host Eric McRay: Contemporary Modernist from March 24 through May 1, gallery owner Ginny Lassiter has announced. A reception to meet the artist is scheduled for Friday, April 9 from 4 – 7 p.m. and a gallery talk by the artist is set for the following day, Saturday, April 10 at 12 noon.
Artist Eric McRay, Four Months: Scorpio In Love, acrylic, 40 x 30 inches
Eric McRay’s artwork overflows with bright colors, expressive styles and energized designs. In this body of work, he has used non-objective abstraction in the tradition of the New York School of the 1940s and 1950s. His focus is on subjective emotional expression with a particular emphasis on spontaneous creative actions. The exhibition will include over 20 abstract works in acrylic.
“Eric’s work is so vibrant, so moving. I can’t wait to have it in the gallery,” Lassiter says. “I first met Eric years ago at an Artspace fundraiser in Raleigh. My husband and I bought his painting! I’ve been wanting to bring him to Calabash ever since, so I’m thrilled that our schedules finally jelled.
A native of Washington, DC, McRay received a BFA degree at the Maryland Institute where he earned a four-year scholarship for his artistic talent. Now living in Raleigh, NC, the high energy painter has been featured on television and radio as well as numerous newspapers, magazines and online media outlets. The Raleigh News & Observer named him on of the “Artists to Watch.” He has been featured in Our State Magazine and Southern Living. Collectors of his work include the SAS Institute, Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina Central University Art Museum, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and Western Wake Hospital. McRay was also a participant in the U.S. State Department’s Art In Embassies program, which displayed his work at the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Asked recently by a collector why people buy his art, McRay answered this way:
“Some collect abstract art because it does not have a specific subject matter. There can be a broad range of reasons why someone would buy a piece of abstract art. For example, someone may like Krispy Kreme, someone else may like Dunkin Donuts. It’s subjective and a matter of taste. With abstract art, it’s how someone may feel emotionally when they see the piece of artwork (similar to when they listen to classical music or jazz music). Neither has lyrics, but they have emotional content. Abstract art has emotional, psychological and spiritual content.
When someone collects abstract art it can be for investment. It could be decorative reasons because they want something that looks visually engaging, but no pictures of people or things. Someone may buy abstract art because of how it affects them emotionally, as I stated before based off the colors, shapes, textures and so forth.
Now concerning someone buying art only because that work is produced by me. That is also a possible factor, because I’ve spent a lifetime building my brand and reputation so someone will invest in my work versus someone else. For example, someone goes into a restaurant and asks for Coca Cola. They don’t ask for RC Cola.
Once again abstract art isn’t necessarily about the specific thing you see, but how does that image make you feel. Instrumental music whether techno, jazz, classical, or Muzak; all have an impact on others yet have no lyrics. That is Abstract Art!”
The Long Bay Symphony Orchestra Presents: The History of a Soldier, the first LIVE concert in the Classical Series for 2021! This concert will also be streamed live at First Presbyterian Church on March 28th at 4:00PM. Virtual tickets are only $15 per household.
Myrtle Beach, SC – The Long Bay Symphony continues its 2021 Classical Series with Igor travinsky’s The History of a Soldier. This evening will be especially notable as it will feature actors from Atlantic Stage and be presented in front of a limited live audience! The iconic 20th-century composer’s dramatic setting of a classic Russian folk tale about a young soldier who sells his soul (represented by his violin) to the devil. Stravinsky, who ascended to fame through brilliantly colorful ballet scores for large orchestra, demonstrates in this work an astounding economy of means made necessary by the social and economic challenges surrounding the First World War.
Join the Long Bay Symphony for the next Classical Series concert of the season on March 28th at 4:00PM. The virtual option is also available for this concert, and tickets are $15 per household for live stream access. For more information and to purchase tickets, links can be found on the Long Bay Symphony website, Long Bay Symphony Facebook Events page, and through virtual ticket provider, TicketSpice.
