Irina Anastasia
Set of wearable jacquard woven moth wings, embellished with rose quartz and glass beads, made by Ashley Sanders and on view at Gallery 2424
Towards the middle of every month, it seems, I get more and more jittery… There are simply too many upcoming art events and too many artists for me to write about! So, once again, here is my highly subjective and non-comprehensive list of the upcoming month’s art happenings (gleaned from social media, the rare email, and the rarer press release). I hope you will mark your calendars now!
Beth Logan
Wild clay box by Marc Jeannin made with clay gathered from Appomattox, VA on view at Ology Gallery
But first…I was reminded lately of the pure joy one can receive by viewing art. It was almost 8pm on a Friday night, and we had eaten dinner and were ensconced on the sofa, my husband declaring he was “in for the night.” But I felt the need to attend the opening of the Feral & Functional; Purposeful Forms From Wild Clay show at Ology Gallery. And I’m so glad I did. I left feeling uplifted and energized by the beauty of art and by such a creative installation. Curator Wendy Melton has placed the stunning pottery pieces on equally stunning reclaimed wood tables and shelves, and accented the space with antler sheds, Spanish moss, tree branches, and parts of old shovels to achieve an organic, rustic feel that is totally in tune with the native clays. This show is up through a closing reception on July 12 so there’s still plenty of time to check it out.
First up this month is the opening of Blanche Nettle Power’s solo painting show Percolate (along with photographs by Ansley West Rivers) at Laney Contemporary on Thursday, June 6. Please read my next art column which is based on my studio visit with the Savannah artist. The following night, Friday, June 7 is First Friday in Starland, affording the perfect opportunity to visit Arts Southeast for the launch party of their stellar IMPACT Arts & Culture Magazine. Available for pre-order now, the latest issue has features on multiple southeastern artists, including an interview with Cammie Staros by SCAD MOA curator Ben Tollefson and a conversation between Mississippi-based textile artist Coulter Fussell and Savannah gallerist Jeannette McCune.
Leia Geni’s solo show Body Jumpers, which I wrote about last month, continues in Arts Southeast’s Ellis Gallery; a new exhibition entitled Good Vibrations featuring a plethora of local artists opens in the Supporter Gallery; and the current artist-in-residence, John Paul Kesling, presents his project finale. (Nashville, TN- based painter Kesling creates large-scale, mixed-media paintings. He gives an artist talk on Saturday, June 1 at 2pm and will be featured in the next Ellis Gallery exhibition in July.) Meanwhile, outside the Arts Southeast Bull Street building on 39th Street, browse the vendor booths at the Sulfur Street Fair; watch live painting by Isak Dove, Phil Musen, and Nae’Keisha Jones; listen to tunes by DJ Sam Johnson, the Duke of Savannah; and enjoy Cotton & Rye deliciousness from their Hot Rye Food Truck.
Meredith Bearden Lee
Silver and black argyle couture beaded romper, styled after a 1930″s bathing suit, featuring chain straps and waistband, by Judiann Echezabal
Also on Friday, June 7, walk over to Gallery 2424 to see the opening reception of Tectonics of Craft: Reclaiming the Timeless by SCAD Fibers MA candidate Ashley Sanders and Judiann Echezabal. This new rental gallery has hosted a spate of exciting SCAD Fibers shows: Professor and artist Jennifer E. Moss displayed Erosion Patterns in February and there have been first-class MFA Thesis shows by Katie Hagen, Pheobe Plank, Christine Moore, and Ivy Anderson. Tectonics of Craft focuses on the artists’ love for exquisite materials and timeless pieces, and the revitalization of vintage and antique materials in bespoke garments and accessories. Echezabal established her first atelier at age 21, is a published author, and has served for over a decade as a professor of fashion design at New York’s Pratt Institute and the Parsons School of Design. Sanders, who has had work featured at New York Fashion Week with Runway 7, works with Echezabal teaching in-house and remote garment construction classes at the latter’s J.E. by Judiann in Springfield, GA.
On Saturday, June 8, nonprofit gallery Cleo the Project Space presents the opening reception of Backlot. This exhibition is the third collaboration between Marianna Peragallo, a Brazilian American artist, and Thomas Martinez Pilnik, a British Brazilian artist, who will give a talk from 7-8pm. Gallerist Jeannette McCune says the former’s surreal sculptural work “activates everyday objects like gardening gloves and plastic bags with movement and gestures that play with their intended function” while Pilnik’s 2-D representations of window frames and attached sills that jut out and include small ceramic works like bean cans and plates, “invite an animated still life of everyday activity to the entire installation.”
Swing by 208 Wine Bar on Tuesday, June 11 from 6-9pm for the opening of Meet Me in the Garden by fine artist Laura Till Barton. Barton, who has a painting studio in Savannah’s City Market, received her BFA in Interior Design from SCAD and was a featured alumnus in the university’s October 2023 Fine Art Showcase. Painting in oils, with pops of gold leaf, the artist uses Savannah’s subtropical botanicals as inspiration for her vibrantly colored, large-scale, micro view works. Later that week, consider attending the Telfair Contemporaries’ inaugural TC Arty Party at the Jepson Center. Free to TC members, $10 for Telfair members, and $20 for others, the reception and lecture are on Thursday, June 13 at 5:30pm and celebrate the Museum’s new installation A Measure of Time by Anila Quayyum Agha.
Agha was born in Lahore, Pakistan where she received her BFA from the National College of Arts before immigrating to the US and attaining an MFA in Fiber Arts from the University of North Texas. Internationally recognized for her award-winning large-scale installations that utilize light, shadow, and pattern to create inclusive, immersive shared experiences, she currently serves as professor and the Eminent Morris Scholar of Fine Art at Augusta University. Erin Dunn has curated a selection of sculpture and mixed media works on paper; I am particularly excited to experience her large-scale, suspended sculptural cube, A Beautiful Despair, created in response to the losses and gains of the recent pandemic. The Jepson space will be transformed by the shadows cast from the cube – geometric patterns and floral forms inspired by Islamic artistic motifs. For more information on the Arty Party visit www.telfair.org/tc.
On Friday, June 14 be sure to experience Robin Maaya’s show Exodus at Cedar House Gallery; Please be on the lookout for my upcoming column about this emotionally charged exhibition of black and white photography. And mentioning photography, I recommend viewing Here and There, a group show by various SCAD artists on display through July 19 at Broughton Street’s Gutstein Gallery. Showcasing “Savannah’s idyllic charm and Atlanta’s vibrant urban spirit,” I found it somewhat disjointed, often wondering how a piece related to this theme. However, the stunning black and white landscape photography of Parker Stewart, the color documentary photography of Taylor Edgerton, and the archival pigment prints on handmade mulberry paper of Bonaventure Cemetery by Richard Austin, made me long for more. Outstanding work.
Later in June, Peter E. Roberts curates a group show at Location Gallery depicting “low-cal, high impact, sweet treats, food, and desserts by local artists in a variety of mediums.” With gallery profits benefiting the Forsyth Farmers’ Market, Sugar Sugar opens on Friday, June 21 with a reception from 6-8pm.
And finally, join one of my Telfair Museums’ Open Studio painting buddies, Greg Andrade, on Saturday, June 1 at 6pm at
Hop Atomica micro-brewery and distillery. He’ll show his mixed media abstract paintings throughout the month.
