“Durham’s Corner,” photograph by Dawnita Hall
Staff reports | Photographs by Dawnita Hall of North Charleston and paintings by Susan Irish of Charleston will be on display at the City of North Charleston’s Park Circle Gallery throughout December. The concurrent solo exhibitions are free and open to the public.
Hall’s exhibit, Signs of Life, is a series of nine metallic print photographs of found signs and lettering. As a child, Hall was encouraged to notice signs and lettering by her parents who kept her occupied on long car rides by playing letter games with her. In this series, Hall points her camera at fading messages and signs to invoke narrative thought. She considers her style journalistic in nature and uses minimal digital darkroom tools to preserve the natural beauty of the scene. Hall began her photography practice by taking a photographic storytelling class with a borrowed camera. Fourteen years later, she now teaches photography and photographic storytelling techniques herself. She has won multiple awards for her photography and is currently a contributing photographer for the photographic history preservation project, The South Carolina Picture Project, produced by SciWay. More: DawnitaHall.com.
Irish, an artist and arts educator in Charleston, offers a series of abstract impressionist, mixed-media paintings with color palettes and compositions inspired by nature In her exhibit, I See You in My Garden. The exhibit also pays homage to Mother Nature and the artist’s mother who was also an avid gardener. Using a variety of materials including encaustic wax, collage, acrylic, and wax pastels, she develops layered images that preserve hints of the artist’s process. A thick layer of wax is carved into to create texture and reveal a bit of the layer beneath, a hint of collaged text peeks through a thin layer of paint. These pieces act as a map of Irish’s creative process. Irish, who directed the Fabulon art school and gallery from 2015 to 2018, currently is creating new artwork in her home studio. More: SusanIrishArtist.com.
The Park Circle Gallery is 4820 Jenkins Avenue in North Charleston, in what was formerly known as the Olde Village Community Building. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesdays to Fridays, and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
Also on the calendar:
From Etchings to Pastels: Through Nov. 29, Lowcountry Image Gallery, The Charleston Museum. The museum has partnered with the Pastel Society of South Carolina to present new interpretations of etchings stemming from the Charleston Renaissance Movement about 100 years ago. Learn more.
Grisham and Conroy via Zoom hybrid: 6 p.m. Dec. 8. The Charleston Library Society will present writer John Grisham in a conversation with author Cassandra King Conroy as they discuss the dynamic process of writing best-selling novels in addition to covering Grisham’s new book, A Time For Mercy. Grisham will join on Zoom, but King King will join an in-house audience to enjoy the evening in person. Buy tickets.
Holiday Festival of Lights: Through Dec. 31, 2020. The annual event, now in its 31st year, opens Nov. 13 and will offer a dazzling array of displays and about 2 million lights at James Island County Park. The festival will be open every evening nightly from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. You can take a heartwarming cruise along the three-mile display of glimmering lights with your closest companions. The driving tour features over 700 light displays, most of which were created in-house by park staff. For details, visit HolidayFestivalofLights.com.
- If you have any online events, drop us a line (editor@charlestoncurrents.com) and make sure to put “Online event” in the subject line. Similarly, if you’ve got cool ideas for stuff to do while in isolation at home, send them our way.
ORDER NOW: Copies are in Lowcountry-area bookstores now, but if you can’t swing by, you can order a copy online today.
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