Earline Allen

Earline comes to the Lowcountry after a distinguished career as an art professor at Marshall University. While there she headed the ceramics component in the College of Fine Art. During that time, she was devoted to expanding the horizons of her students, and the development of the ceramics program. She has been academically trained and received a BFA in Art Education, an MA in Art, and an MFA in Ceramics with a minor in Painting. Professor Allen's porcelain works have been displayed nationally as well as internationally and can be viewed in The Best of Pottery, The Contemporary Potter, and 500 Teapots, Vol. II. Her work is in the collection of the American Ceramic Society's Ross C. Purdy Museum of Ceramics, the Zanesville Museum of Art, and the Huntington Museum of Art.

In recent years Earline has been expanding her involvement in painting. She believes that "art" isn't confined to any one medium, and neither is the artist. Her canvases become "life" by impulse and intuition. She allows energetic marks to guide her to a unity of mind, space, and time. Her preferred painting medium is acrylic which can mimic the thick, lushness of oil paint, as well as the fluid transparency of watercolor. Utilizing both characteristics is visible in her work. Allen doesn't feel constricted using any technique if it allows her to express the meaning that she wishes to convey. Her paintings speak of energy, the life force, and a search for understanding the ultimate mystery of life and death. Energetic, spontaneous marks eventually construct images reflecting significant personal meaning through abstract patterns. These patterns, suggested by the ritual of creation, are expressed through the placement of color, shape, and texture. The blank canvas becomes "life" by impulse and intuition, leading to a unity of mind, space, and time.

Allen has shown her paintings at the University of South Carolina, Beaufort, the Coastal Discovery Museum Hilton Head, and The Vendue in Charleston, SC. She recently exhibited her paintings online in "Some Like It Hot" I and II, as well as the 130th Annual National Association of Women Artists INC, Exhibition. Currently, Allen is preparing for her second solo exhibition in November at _Atelier Off Bay _in addition to an upcoming ABT Group Exhibition at the Coastal Discovery Museum in Hilton Head, SC.

She is a member of the Art Beyond Tradition Group, the National Association of Women Artists, and an exhibiting member of the Hilton Head Art League. Allen's work can be viewed at Maye River Gallery in Old Town Bluffton and the Atelier Off Bay, in Beaufort SC. You are invited to visit her website at Earline Allen Originals LLC.

Verneda Lights

Verneda Lights is a visual artist, photographer, historian, performance poet, author, retired physician, entrepreneur, and griot of South Carolina's Gullahgeechee Nation. Her body of work spans from techspressionist (digital fine art) and Afrosurreal works on paper and canvas, to traditional fine art and surface pattern design. Her most recent art works focus on traditional and abstract portraiture as a tool for storytelling to gain insight into the human psyche while delivering stress management in caregiving settings. Her work is post Gullahart, in that it fully embraces the use of facial anatomy in the visual storytelling process.

Verneda is a polymath who holds multiple advanced degrees. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College (AB History, 1974), University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (MD, 1978), and Strayer University (MBA, 2010). Retired after 20 years of medical practice and clinical instruction at major US medical institutions, she also holds a certificate in International Arts Management from the International Leadership Program in Visual Arts Management from Deusto University School of Business, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, and Guggenheim Museum (2017, Bilbao, Spain, and NYC, NY).

Verneda is an accomplished performance poet whose first book of (Gullah) poetry, "Dog Moon," (1976, Sunbury Press. Brooklyn, NY), was published with the aid of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her poetry, short stories, and art work have been published in many established journals of poetry and art, such as "HooDoo," "Essence," "Working Women Stories and Poems," "Beyond the Frontier: African American Poetry of the 21st Century," "Whitefish Journal," "Consumnes River Journal," and "Maintenant 13."

In addition to her career as an artist, Verneda is founder and CEO of E-graphX Omnimedia, a design firm and business consultancy located in Port Royal, SC. The current COVID pandemic impacted Verneda's art and business model. To compensate for lost art sales and exhibition opportunities, Verneda turned to e commerce. She turned to her technology roots and developed a clothing line called, Jennylights Designz, named after her mother, Jenniese Lights. Jennylights uses graphic design and original art to create bespoke garments for fashion-forward trendsetters in the global market place. The fabrics are printed and garments are hand made by workers at the Bags of Love design platform in London, England. Verneda also started a fund-raising collection in honor of her alma mater, Bryn Mawr College. The "Bryn Mawr Collection" is also hosted on the Bags of Love Platform.

As an emerging artist, Verneda's art works have been widely exhibited in numerous internationally prestigious venues, as well as here in the Low Country. In 2017, several of Verneda's art works were shown at the Whitney Biennial (Occupy Museums' group exhibit. NYC, NY ), and Woman Made Gallery (Chicago, IL). In 2018-19, her work was exhibited at City Gallery on the Waterfront (2018, Charleston, SC), Hilton Head Town Hall (2018-19, Hilton Head, SC), and Albrecht-Kemper Museum (2018-19, St Joseph, MO). Her most recent art commission is currently on exhibit at the Edward M Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate (Boston, Massachusetts), (June 2019 to present). From March to April 2020, her work was shown at Woman Made Gallery's "Suffra-Jetting" exhibit. Attendance at the exhibit was restricted due to COVID precautions. Her Jentel arts residency was scheduled for June through July 2020, but the residency program was cancelled due to the current pandemic.

This year, Verneda was a juried participant in the "Represent: Portraiture" exhibit at the Barrett Art Center, (Poughkeepsie, NY). Her work is currently on display in the "Up Close and Personal" internationally juried exhibition at the Trolley Barn Gallery (May 28th - July 1st, Poughkeepsie, NY)."Gullah Me," Verneda's first solo exhibit in her native Beaufort County, will take place July 1st to September 30, 2021.

Websites

Portfolio Website: http://gullahme.com

General business website: http://e-graphx.com

Fashion (Jennylights Designz!) : http://jennylights.com

Fashion (Bryn Mawr Collection) : http://bit.ly/brynmawrcollection

Social Media

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vernedalights Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/vlights Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/egx.omedia

Beth Duke

Beth Duke has a unique style of art which is a complex many-layered accretion of oil paint culminating in a deeply luminescent plane of color and form. Her studio is in Beaufort County situated on the tidal marsh under moss covered live oaks. The ever changing dappled hues are a constant and profound inspiration. "Art informs us. I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to creatively explore our world's challenges and profoundly changing landscape through my art." Beth Duke

Clay Goodwin

Clay Goodwin has been a hobbyist for over thirty years and has just begun to document portfolios of some of his favorite Lowcountry subject matter. Whether that be contemporary, fine art, or abstract, Clay's photos give the viewer the grounded perspective of walking paths less traveled- historic signs and abandoned buildings out in the fields or by roadside stands. Though he has shown his work at local festivals, he also is a photographer for hire and does his own editing, printing, original B&W film developing, and print making.

Phil Heim

Phil Heim was always interested in the art, starting with his first camera- a Bazooka Joe palm sized mini camera that took B&W photos. Just before retiring from the Marines, he decided to take a deeper dive into photography using a digital camera. He then practiced digital photography for a year before he jumped to professional level equipment. Developing his own unique style with both vibrant color and B&W Lowcountry seascapes, landscapes, and shrimp boat scenes, he started his own gallery, moving to a prime location on Bay Street by 2017.

Emily Scott Pack

Emily Scott Pack's dual exhibit will include her encaustic works of art and paintings comprised of coastal-inspired abstracts, landscapes, and low country life. The other side of that will be The RAW Project, a series of black and white photos of Real Authentic Women- encouraging and empowering women "to see themselves as the vulnerable, beautiful, and authentic humans they are."

Beaufort Arts Council

Celebrating Gullah Art, the Beaufort Arts Council will showcase artists Diane Dunham Griffin, Claudette Humphrey, Renee Smith, Andy Tate, and Bernice Mitchell Tate at the Digital Corridor's BASEcamp Gallery April - June, 2019.

_Join us for the Artists Reception _Friday, April 5th as part of historic downtown Beaufort's Spring Art Walk 5-8pm. BASEcamp Gallery - 500 Carteret Street is midway between USCB Center for the Arts/Sea Islands Center Gallery and the downtown galleries.

Photography Club of Beaufort

The Photography Club of Beaufort (PCoB) was formed in 2005 by a group of local residents with a passion for photography. What began as a vision formed around a kitchen table has now expanded to over 100 members of all skill levels from novices to professionals.

Omar Patterson

Omar "Omally" Patterson is from Yemassee, SC, and has been painting in oil and acrylic for ten years. He won the University of South Carolina Beaufort 16th Annual Student Art Exhibition, receiving the prestigious Chancellor's Award for his recreation of Asher Durand's Black Mountain from the Harbor Islands. His signature piece- a painting of the famous Emancipation Tree on St. Helena Island titled "The Freedom Tree"- is part of a permanent collection known as the Gullah Archive at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Omally uses a uses a combination of sharp and gradual gradients and a range of different values to create his image. He strongly believes in the power of observation; that "portraying what 'you' see and learning to appreciate one's own work first and foremost, not just in painting but in life, will make you a better artist as well as a greater individual."

Angela O'Neał

Angela O'Neal works with water soluble oils. In the little town of Fairfax, SC, Angela played under posters of Jasper Johns' Flags casually hung on the walls of her Great Aunt and Uncle's Lands End beach house. Although abstract expressionism was not a subject to come up often, she knew through Jasper Johns' establishment as an artist that art was a deep, profound language of expression. After finishing Clemson University in Graphic Communications, she worked and lived throughout the country before returning to her family's farm where she reconnected with the land. "This is my language... Many of my paintings pour out reckonings to my love for nature, the soils and the sea. From colors of the air in their seasons, to wetlands and grassy understories–to the majesty of the water itself. A languid stream revealing hints of orange fallen leaves. The dark turbulence of the sea, against such we acquiesce futility."

Fiber Artists of Beaufort

FAB's members are accomplished Lowcountry artisans whose work represents a broad range of contemporary textile art. One-of-a-kind wall art, as well as wearable and three dimensional pieces for the home will be displayed. Our artist work in a broad range of techniques and textiles - Knitting, Weaving, Nuno & Needle Felting, Smocking Natural Dye Techniques, Paper Making and Paper Art, Silk Painting of Wall Hangings as well as Wearable Pieces, Jewelry and Contemporary Hand Stitched Embroidered Pieces. Most of the artists have affiliations with galleries in Bluffton and Beaufort as well as exhibiting work and teaching their craft across the US and Internationally.

Christopher Knox

Husband, Father, Son, Brother, Friend, Entrepreneur, Consultant, Coach, Speaker, Musician, Artist, Hotelier, Media Producer, Developer, Gardener, Problem Solver, and Digital Corridor member.

Artist: Christopher Knox loves to create. The exhibit is a mixture of several pieces from a decade ago that were a study in color and fit well with the new pieces centered around impressions of the beach- with color as the subject as opposed to activities. "I contend that color in its most basic form must be strived towards as the eye is trained over time to identify common subjects of conformity in any given landscape. By eliminating the familiar payoff of these subjects, one can become more present with how colors evoke emotions. Moreover, the restraint involved in creating these compositions is surprisingly more difficult than one would imagine."

USCB Fine Arts Students

Our first installation includes works by students of USCB led by Chair of Fine Arts Dept. Chris Robinson, M.F.A.

Artists featured here: Itzel Guedea, Amanda Mitchell, Yuki Carrera, Alexa Altick, Natalie Howden, Sophie Carrera, Joey Roberts, Taylor Brewer

Chris Robinson, M.F.A.

We are delighted to have as our inaugural opening artist Chris Robinson, M.F.A., along with some of his USCB Fine Arts students.

Chris Robinson is a visual artist, professor of art, and chair of the University of South Carolina Beaufort Department of Fine Arts, as well as a past professor and member of the nanoCenter at the University of South Carolina Columbia. His interests and artwork focus on the development, role, and mediation of complex science and technology in contemporary culture and how it assists in and influences decision-making.

Eric Longo

Eric Longo is a local artist creating 2D and 3D art and sculpture. You can view more at the Longo Art Gallery, 103 Charles St in Beaufort, SC.