2011 Piccolo Spoleto presents Eight Emerging Visual Artists’ Works in Contemporary Charleston: Under the Radar at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park

CHARLESTON, SC – May 26 – July 31, 2011 –  The City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, Charleston magazine and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston School of the Arts present Contemporary Charleston 2011: Under the Radar, a Piccolo Spoleto Festival exhibition at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park from May 26 through July 31, 2011. The exhibit showcases drawing, collage, painting, photography and installation works by local artists who deserve a closer look. Curated by Erin Glaze, Coordinator, City Gallery at Waterfront Park and Rebecca Silberman, Program Coordinator, the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, the exhibit opens on Thursday, May 26 at 6 p.m., and the public is invited to attend a reception in honor of the artists from 6 to 8 p.m.

Images at right: By Greg Hart, Crow Creek, Mixed media on paper, 22X15, 2011 and by Conrad Guevara, Laces Out, Cut paper & fringe on latex painted panel, 16X16X2, 2010

Originating in 2006, Under the Radar highlighted emerging artists creating in the Lowcountry, and now through the same partnerships, the project now serves as the theme for this year’s annual Piccolo Spoleto exhibition, Contemporary Charleston.  From the 170 submissions, a unanimous decision was made to feature the following eight emerging artists: DH Cooper, Rebecca West Fraser, Nina Garner, Conrad Guevara, Greg Hart, Alan W. Jackson, Melinda Mead and Lauren Frances Moore.

Artist lectures are schedules for the following dates:

• Saturday, July 2, 2011 at 5 p.m.: Rebecca West Fraser and Lauren Frances Moore
• Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 5 p.m.: Conrad Guevara and Melinda Mead
• Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 5 p.m.: Greg Hart and Alan W. Jackson
• Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 5 p.m.: Nina Garner and DH Cooper

About the Artists:

DH Cooper – DH Cooper received a MFA from The School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Upon graduating in 2005 she received an MFA fellowship award for her video thesis project. During and after her graduate studies, her exclusive use of still images expanded to incorporate performance, video, and fiber arts. This shift opened a new venue for her explorations into the domestic arena. Her works have been featured in numerous exhibitions, some of which have been at the Chicago Cultural Center, The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago, The New Orleans Museum of Art, Time and Space Limited, Hudson NY, and The FAC Modern in Colorado.  Cooper moved to Charleston in 2006 to serve has Creative Strategist and In House Coordinator for Evoking History/ Places with a Future, a project through Spoleto Festival USA. Currently she pursues her art career and teaches photography full time at the Art Institute of Charleston. 

Rebecca West Fraser – Born and raised in Charleston, S.C., Fraser attended Buist Academy and the Academic Magnet High School. Upon graduating high school, she attended Alfred University in western New York and graduated Cum Lade with a BFA in 2010. While attending Alfred University, Fraser created a small gallery space called Random Room Gallery which is open to students, faculty and visiting artists. In 2009, Fraser interned as a printing assistant for Hand Graphics Studio in Santa Fe, N.M. Her work has been featured in the Turner Student Gallery, the Random Room Gallery, in BLUME 2010 at Club Pantheon, Artist’s Lock-in at Eye Level Art, Kulture Klash 2011 and in the one night Postcard Show: Wish you were here! at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art.

Nina Garner was born September 6, 1986 and grew up in various parts of the United States and Okinawa, Japan. In May of 2009 she graduated with a B.A from the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C., where she currently resides.

Conrad Guevara is a visual artist working in Charleston, S.C.  He received a B.A. from the College of Charleston in Studio Art in 2008. This fall Guevara will attend the San Francisco Art Institute for an MFA in painting. His recent exhibitions include Flavor Cutz at 10 Store House Row, a solo show presented by the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department and ReOrientation IV at Redux Contemporary Art Center.  He is currently the Artist in Residence at the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry.

Greg Hart lives in Charleston with his wife Janet and two Boston Terriers, Millie and Edgar.  From 2003 to 2008, Hart worked as a freelance illustrator with images appearing in The Washington Post, Utne Reader, USA Weekend, and Atlanta Magazine. After visiting Paris in 2009, most notably Musée D’Orsay and Musée Picasso, he shifted focus to painting and zeroed in on portrait abstractions.  Hart has always been interested in the visual arts with the Greenville County Fine Arts Center being one of his key, early influences.  His paintings are informed by the Abstract Expressionist Action Painters, The Fauves, Pop and Street Art.  Hart participated in his first group exhibition (Plastic at Eyedrum, Atlanta) in November 2010.

Alan W. Jackson – Originally from Savannah, Ga., he has lived in Charleston since 1979. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1975 and then worked in a series of architectural offices in Savannah, Beaufort, Kiawah Island and Charleston. A LEED accredited professional architect, he is a partner in the architecture firm McKellar & Associates located in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. He has studied the Japanese martial art of Aikido since 1984 and currently teaches Aikido in Mt. Pleasant where he lives with wife Pat.

Melinda Mead – Born and raised in Summerville, S.C., she came to photography while grieving the  death of her mother. Attracted to the act of capturing and collecting that which is about to be past, she is excited by the exquisite tenuousness of the present moment. Mead studied at the Center for Photography, the College of Charleston and Trident Technical College, and she has exhibited work at Outer Space, as well as in Re:Nude and Blume art shows.

Lauren Frances Moore grew up in Atlanta, Ga., with an odd enthusiasm for the beautiful, the unique, and the absurd. Though she entered the College of Charleston just four years ago as a student of business, it wasn’t long before she began to seek a creative outlet within the college’s well equipped and ever-inspiring sculpture studio. She chose to split her studies into two distinct, yet surprisingly complementary, majors, Business Administration  and Studio Art. Moore has since had a number of opportunities to exhibit her large-scale installations around town. In 2010, she was a part of the 1×1 StudentxFaculty exhibition at Redux Contemporary Art Center, where she currently teaches youth sculpture classes. She has been included in the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art’s Young Contemporaries Exhibition for the past four years, through which she has won a several prizes for her work, including Best in Show in 2010. Last summer Moore spent nine weeks on an Intern Artist Fellowship at Franconia Sculpture Park, in rural Minnesota and she plans to participate in a similar residency-type program this coming fall at Salem Art Works, in upstate New York.

The City Gallery at Waterfront Park

The City Gallery at Waterfront Park, owned by the City of Charleston and operated by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, is a venue for contemporary artwork that is new, vital and innovative, with a focus on broadening Charleston’s arts outlook.  The City Gallery provides access to the visual arts for everyone in Charleston, S.C., visitors and residents alike, by offering exhibits that are all admission-free. The City Gallery is located at 34 Prioleau St. in downtown Charleston, S.C., and gallery hours of operation are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.  For more information visit www.citygalleryatwaterfrontpark.com. 

Charleston Magazine

Charleston Magazine reflects the city, her people, culture, traditions, architecture, and natural beauty. Charleston magazine aims to be the resource for everything Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry, offering comprehensive coverage of this evolving, diverse community -its local icons, pressing issues, style, food, entertainment, and more – while preserving its historic traditions. For more information or to subscribe, call (843) 971-9811 or log on to www.charlestonmag.com. Charleston magazine is available at area newsstands for a cover price of $4.95.

Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art

Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art is administered by the School of the Arts at the College of Charleston and exists to advocate, exhibit and interpret visual art, with an emphasis on contemporary art. The Institute is committed to providing a direct experience with works of art in all media within an environment that fosters creativity, individuality, innovation and education. In addition to producing exhibitions, lectures, film series, publications, and a comprehensive website, the Institute serves as an extension of the undergraduate curricula at the College and as a cultural resource for the region. The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art is located at 161 Calhoun St. in downtown Charleston, S.C., and hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information visit www.halsey.cofc.edu