"Portrait of the Lowcountry"

pastel paintings by Laura Cody

“Portrait of the Lowcountry”, an exhibit of pastel paintings by Laura Cody is featured for the month of February 2015 at Art Central Gallery.  These paintings depict people who could be your neighbors.

In fact, one portrait, “Kelsey”, shown below, is of a visitor to Art Central.  Cody was on duty that day and was completely taken with her blue hair scarf.  The young lady graciously agreed to a few photos, which Cody used to create the painting.

Cody finds much of her inspiration this way—by just keeping her eyes open to the everyday beauty around her.  Although she has been in South Carolina since 2001, the landscape, people and culture of the Lowcountry still seem new to her, and she finds them inspiring.

Cody’s move to the area coincided with retirement as well as a return to her early love, art.  She says her creativity “started pouring out of me at once!”  The artist’s zest for life and for painting elevates these portrayals of regular people engaged in ordinary activities to new heights.

“Portrait of the Lowcountry” will hang at Art Central Gallery through the month of February.  Meet the artist at the Third Thursday reception, February 19, 2015 5-8pm. See more of Laura's work at: http://www.artcgalleryltd.com/LauraCody.html

 

 

An Artist’s Life

A Retrospective of the Work of Detta Cutting Zimmerman, 1945-2014

Art Central Gallery is celebrating the talents of a colleague, Detta Cutting Zimmerman, with an exhibit of her art during the month of January 2015.  

The earliest work is a drawing from her art school portfolio, a fashionable young lady in a pink suit.  The latest work is much the same subject matter but with a thoroughly modern twist; it is a painting of bikini-clad girls sunbathing on Folly Beach.  Detta loved to paint the beach and people having fun in the sun.

In her early career, Detta devoted many years to detailed ink drawings of people and historical buildings.  She continued to draw many local scenes upon moving with her family to the Low Country from her native Nebraska.

Then, she turned her attention to painting.  First in oils and then in acrylics, she painted her surroundings with a keen eye for color and composition and a real love for her subject matter.

In particular, Detta enjoyed arranging and painting flowers and vegetables grown in her own backyard.  A classic ‘Detta’ still life includes a vase of flowers, her linen cloths and her stool set up on the porch with the yard stretching out to the fence.  She loved a challenge and sometimes would include many patterns and objects just to see that she could capture it all in one unique composition.

Art Central Gallery is pleased that Detta’s work will still be available, both original works and reproductions, thanks to her husband, Delbert Zimmerman.  “An Artist’s Life” will hang until the end of January 2015.  Meet the artist’s husband and friends at Third Thursday, January 15, 2015 5-8pm, and see more of her work at www.artcgalleryltd.com.

September 2014 Featured Show

"All God's Creatures"

Batik paintings by artist Jan Dalton 

 

Artist Jan Dalton loves animals.  They have played a big role in her life since childhood and appear often in her artwork.  

About her new Art Central exhibit, All God’s Creatures, the artist says, “My inspiration for the batiks came from a recent visit to the zoo.  The sun was shining and I was off to explore one of my favorite subjects- all of God’s creatures big and small.   My creative juices were flowing:  the lions, the tigers,
the flamingos, Oh my!  The glorious colors, rich yet delicate- the graceful long necks and the wonderful feather clusters- there’s only one way to express it and that’s through a Batik watercolor on rice paper.  Then I needed to do another batik, a sea turtle, and another, a group of silly horses.”  

See more of Dalton’s collection, “All God’s Creatures”, at Art Central Gallery during the month of September 2014.  Meet the artist at Third Thursday, September 18th 5-8pm!

www.artcgalleryltd.com

Art Central Gallery July 2014 featured show

Mary Ann Bridgman
"FROM the EDGE"

"Above Short Central" watercolor $725

Views of the world around us become special not in what we see but in how we see them.  In Mary Ann Bridgman’s new exhibit at Art Central Gallery, “From the Edge,” the artist captures the beauty and nostalgia of local landscapes and street scenes from a different perspective. Several of Bridgman’s paintings are images seen from above, from the edge of tall buildings.

“From the Edge” will hang at Art Central Gallery through the month of July 2014.  Meet the artist at the Third Thursday reception, July 17th 5-8pm and see more of her art at www.artcgalleryltd.com. 

"The Glimpse, The Gesture, The Gadabouts"

by artist Sarah Allums Kuhnell

 

 

featured show at Art Central Gallery June 2014

 

visit the gallery website for more images from the show:

www.artcgalleryltd.com





"A New Dance" mixed media $500

Renee Bruce - "The Artist's Year"

The Artist’s Year

Moving through the year
Paying attention,
Not longing for
What’s to come
Or what is past
but savoring each season -
This grounds me
(pun intended)
--Renee Bruce

April's featured exhibit is "The Artist’s Year", by Renee Bruce.  This collection of paintings uses various mediums to explore  each season of the year.  The exhibit will hang April 1-30, 2014. 

Meet the artist on Third Thursday, April 17, 2014, 5-8pm!

"Lavender Rhythms" by Alexandra Kassing featured March show

It’s Spring flowers for March as Art Central Gallery features “Lavender Rhythms” - works in oil by Alexandra Kassing.

The artist says “I am inspired by the amazing color and the rhythm of a lavender field – golden red and green earth contrasting with the shocks of purple flowers. Lavender is a very joyful and energetic flower whether growing wild or cultivated in a garden or on a farm.  My favorite view is lavender fields with dots of purple as far as the eye can see. For ‘Lavender Field with Poppy Notes’ I couldn’t resist having a few stray poppies with their burst of red among the sea of purple.”

Kassing’s work is a loose, Impressionist style with thick brushwork and visible daubs of paint. “For me a landscape is not only about color and light, but also about the unique rhythm of a place or scene. I view painting almost like a musical composition – with strong, bright notes in some passages and contrasting areas of more quiet repose. It is up to me as the artist to interpret this ‘song’,” Kassing says. “An inspiring scene enters through my eyes, touches my heart, is filtered through my soul and comes out through the fingertips with a paintbrush.”

“Lavender Rhythms” will be featured through March 31, 2014 at Art Central Gallery at 130 Central Avenue, Summerville, SC. Meet the artist at the Third Thursday reception, March 20, 2014, 5-8pm!