OPEN STUDIOS BACK IN COLUMBIA

SATURDAY + SUNDAY, MAY 21-22, 2011

701 Center for Contemporary Art (701 CCA) is excited to announce the return of Columbia Open Studios! During the weekend of May 21-22, 2011, we are reviving Open Studios in the City of Columbia and Richland and Lexington Counties, showcasing many of the talented visual artists in the South Carolina Midlands.

What is Columbia Open Studios, and what is its mission?

This weekend-long, self-guided tour of artists’ studios allows the public to meet the artists and see their working process. By letting people into artists’ studios, get a sense of how they work and interact directly with artists, 701 CCA Columbia Open Studios hopes to:

• Provide easy access for the community to the visual arts;
• Expose the public to the wealth of fine artists in Columbia and Richland and Lexington Counties;
• Create new marketing opportunities for artists;
• Generate excitement about area artists among seasoned collectors and first-time buyers 
• Further establish Columbia, SC, as a top destination for cultural tourism.

What’s the story?

In 2007 and 2008, 70 to 80 local artists opened their studios for Columbia Open Studios. The event then was held under the auspices of the now-defunct Columbia Festival of the Arts. After a two-year hiatus, 701 CCA is resurrecting the event. Columbia Open Studios fits 701 CCA’s mission of enhancing the enjoyment and understanding of contemporary art. 701 CCA is adding Columbia Open Studios to its broad range of activities, which include contemporary art exhibitions, an artist-in-residence program, concerts, dance performances and literary events. 

About 701 Center for Contemporary Art

701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia is South Carolina’s newest art destination for artists and art lovers alike.

701 Center for Contemporary Art (701 CCA) is a nonprofit, visual art center that promotes understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of contemporary art, the creative process and the role of art and artists in the community. 

The center also encourages interaction between visual arts and other art forms.

701 CCA offers:

• Exhibitions with a regional, national or international scope in the center’s 2,500 square-foot gallery

• An artist-in-residence program in a 1,200-square-foot live/work unit, where artists can concentrate fully on creating art during six, ten or twelve-week residencies

• The 701 CCA Plus program at the gallery, in between exhibitions, for performing, literary and media arts

• Educational programs for adults and children, including workshops, lectures, open studios, panel discussions, group tours, school presentations, etc.

Located in the former community center in Olympia, an historic mill village, all exhibitions and residencies during 701 CCA’s inaugural year, 2008-2009, engaged the legacy and materials of the textile industry, mill villages and mill workers.

Moving forward, 701 CCA maintains this focus while reaching out to bring contemporary artists and works of regional, national and international acclaim to Columbia, South Carolina. Join us!

LAURIE McINTOSH AND LYNN PARROTT

LINK TO MORE INFO HERE

Laurie McIntosh and Lynn Parrott

An Exhibition of New Work

Gallery 80808

March 24-29

Opening Reception

Thursday, March 24 • 6-9 pm

808 Lady Street • Columbia, SC

803.252.6134

Camellia Art

April 1-22

Opening Reception

Thursday, April 1• 5-9 pm

1 Office Way • Hilton Head Island, SC

843.785.3535

Release Written by Irene Dumas Tyson

Writer and Urban Planner

Laurie McIntosh and Lynn Parrott are sisters. Raised in Greenville, South Carolina, they are separated by a handful of years and the several dozen miles between Columbia and Hilton Head; yet, there is one thing, beyond sisterly love, that keeps them tethered to each other: art. 

And these sisters came by art honestly. Their mother, Agnes Brownell, is a highly educated and trained chemist; but at age 95, she still paints, as she has for all of her life. As Laurie and Lynn will both say, being raised in a family that supported and encouraged the creative process opened the doors for them to enjoy a life-long journey in art.

Looking at their collective work, one cannot imagine that the work is born of the same gene pool. These sisters are two very different artists who approach place and the everyday things of life with very different eyes, interpreted through diverse strokes, medium and palettes. But, this is not an exhibition of sisters in art. It is one of new work by two accomplished and authentic artists. According to Laurie, “This is the first exhibit we have done with just the two of us, but this is more like two solo shows - together but separate. Each of us is showing a new body of work that deals with a particular series we have been working on.”

Lynn’s work is born of place and speaks of a true understanding of what makes a place special, unique and beautiful. She works in oil, watercolor, oil pastel, and printmaking. Her interpretations of the landscape and the sky challenge us to see mountains, marshes and trees with new eyes. As Lynn shares, “The landscapes of the South Carolina Low Country and the North Carolina mountains provide the inspiration for my work. The magic of the tides, moon, marshes and mountains reflect my feeling of my place in the landscape.”

Pinkney Herbert, a renowned painter, praises Lynn’s work. “Lynn’s paintings are influenced by a sense of place. She has staked out her territory by responding visually to the world, transporting paint into a new realm of mark making, glazes, and color, arriving at the essence of the particular land, sea, or mountainscape.”

Laurie’s work, Unspoken Communication Series, will intrigue others to consider what their body’s movements say. These oil pastels on paper are about body language and the idea of expressing and capturing an idea of a particular communication in a single image. “Albert H. Mehrabian experimented in the late 60’s and early 70’s and came up with this calculation in terms of how important the non-verbal movements, signals and gestures are when it comes to the overall effectiveness of our communication in relaying our message to others.

Words account for only 7%.

Tone of voice accounts for 38%.

Body language accounts for 55%.

In her images, gender is not relevant, but it was very difficult for her to avoid. “As the series progressed, an occasional anomaly would appear in some of the pieces - a mask, a box, a clock - usually in front of the face. Is this artistic license or just a progression? I did not question. Are any of these self-portraits? I recently heard Alex Powers say that most of the art we create is a self-portrait or a piece of the artist in some way. Perhaps.”

But they are sisters, and this is an influence that cannot be denied. They share the interest of creating art, talking about art history, current art, supplies, mediums, events, and tools, and are passionate advocates and fellow board members for the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts Foundation.

“I have so much fun sharing life with my sister, Laurie… our love of making art, talking about art, playing with art, and showing our work to anyone who will come to see it. It is a treasure to have Laurie in my now life as a fellow artist,” claims Lynn.

Laurie agrees. “Having shows is part of the experience of being an artist. Having someone to share your passion and interest in creating art is critical in the development of your craft. Having someone with whom you can have an open and honest dialog… if this someone is also a friend, then you are very lucky. If this someone is your friend and also your sister, whom you love and have experienced and shared much of the same life... it’s a winner. You can’t beat that. What we gain is an honest and open dialog about our work. This is very hard to come by.”

“What can’t be overlooked is that Lynn has been creating fine art longer than me. Watching and learning how much painting meant to Lynn was a huge influence in bringing me around to fine art after working in design for so long. I can’t remember Lynn ever living anywhere where she did not have an easel set up... even if it was in the middle of the kitchen.”

One always hopes that, one day, relationships with siblings will move beyond the brother and/or sister thing into rich relationships of common interests and mutual delight in the other’s company. Most of us are blessed with this maturity. Few of us, however, enjoy the generosity and richness of sharing more than genes and parents… sharing a passion for a vocation that celebrates each sister’s unique talents and interpretations of the world around them while finding common ground in the absolute necessity of creativity and hard work.  

Through An Exhibition of New Work, Lynn Parrott and Laurie McIntosh share their most recent, individual journeys in art while enticing us to journey to a new place and consider our own unspoken languages. 

Laurie Brownell McIntosh

Studio • Vista Studios • 808 Lady Street •

Columbia, SC 29201

www.LaurieMcIntoshArt.com

laurie.mc@bellsouth.net

Represented by Camellia Art Gallery,

Hilton Head Island

Lynn Parrott

Lynn is a member of the Hilton Head Art

League, “Member in Excellence” of the South

Carolina Watercolor Society, Beaufort Art

Association and the Low Country Artists.

www.lynnparrottstudio.com

lynnparrott9@yahoo.com

Locations to see other work:

Hilton Head Art League Gallery,

Hilton Head Island, SC

Hilton Head Island Library permanent

collection, Hilton Head Island, SC

The Palmetto Bluff Collection, Bluffton, SC

Esperanza Resort, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Camellia Art Gallery, Hilton Head Island

Johns Island Beach Club, Vero Beach, Florida

Chandler Gallery, Jupiter Island, Florida

A Good Example

Check out this article in the State Paper regarding the new Arts Initiative at the Tapp's Building in Downtown Columbia.  We are cited as an example of how an art community can work!  Yes - who didn't know that?!

News - Local / Metro

Saturday, Mar. 12, 2011

Plan to put tenants in Tapp's bldg runs into critics

Mayor backs woman’s proposal to convert space into work areas for artists, but plan has its critics

By ADAM BEAM -  abeam@thestate.com

Reach the article here:

  http://www.thestate.com/2011/03/12/1733318/city-could-give-200000-to-artist.html#ixzz1GfWKIz82

Colin Dodd's Artwork to be Displayed at Gallery 80808

Artwork by Colin Dodd  March 3-8, 2011

Reception: Friday March 4th.  5.30pm - 8.30pm

Colin will be manning the show everyday from 11.00am to 6.00pm

Contact information is tel. 781-1429 (home),

 tel. 822 3412 (work)  email  dodd224@att.net  

Artist’s  Statement:  

  The exhibit consists primarily of  portraits  such as  James  Joyce,  Ludwig  Wittgenstein  and  Philip Glass  which are  examples  from  a  series  of   works  I  have  been  engaged  in  creating  for  twenty  years.  This  group  of  multiphasic,  biographical  paintings  are  an  homage  to  these  highly  creative,  challenging  and  complex  individuals  and  to  the  humanistic  spirit  of  the  twentieth  century.  These  are  portraits  but  many  of   them  are  concerned  with  more  than  just  the  physical  appearance  of  the  subject.  They  express  the  life  and  work  of  each  person  through  a  multi-layered  technique,  juxtaposing  images  and  ideas  from  various  sources.  A  significant  part  of  the  effort  required  to  execute  these  portraits  was  to  exhaustively  research  the  individuals’  lives  and  works.  Thus,  they are  didactic  paintings,  bringing  these  figures  to  a  wider  audience  and  greater  recognition  for  their  contributions  to  the  fabric  of  contemporary  artistic  and  intellectual  life.  It  is  intended  that  this  quality  will  generate  a  similar  experience  for  the  viewer,  providing  a  stimulus  for  further  investigation.

  In addition the exhibit includes landscapes in oil, acrylic and watercolor and represent my ongoing engagement with place and environment through painting.

Ethel Brody: Encore