October Issue 2001
Patricia Madison Lusk Gallery in Charleston, SC, Presents Exhibition With Focus on Light
by Linda Annas Ferguson
The
Patricia Madison Lusk Gallery in downtown Charleston, SC, will
present the exhibition, The Language of Light, on view
from Oct. 5 through Nov. 30, 2001. The exhibition will be featured
during the French Quarter Gallery Association's ART WALK.
We are all universally attracted to light. When the light of morning appears and the earth is cool and rested, that first ray is like a first breath. To Patricia Lusk, light is the main subject of all her work. "How we paint light is what it's all about," she reflects. "We are creatures drawn to light. Its mood is sometimes subtle and sometimes aggressive. It lives in the playfulness of a child's face dappled in sun and shadow. Light creates shape, forms a mood, and composes color."
Lusk has just returned from Harbor Island in the Bahamas where she has drawn and painted the children in their natural setting. These pieces have been so well received, she plans to return twice a year. She is equally well known for her series of Koi fish harmonious with the water's easy motion, snowy white egrets disturbing their own reflection in the calm of low tide, as well as her florals that come to life in translucent light. Light leads and she follows it through the tree lines and waters of South Carolina's Ace Basin, into the celebration of sunsets and the many moods of morning.
Her work reflects her attraction to the landscape.
She rises every morning at 6am to be mesmerized again and again
by its mystery. Lusk explains to us, "I never wanted to paint
landscapes until I moved to the Lowcountry. The light on the marsh
can be different every day. It has the most haunting and lushly
exotic beauty I've ever seen. Everything, the smells, shapes,
light and sounds of the untouched and the untamed are in perfect
harmony in the natural landscape."
The new show displays
her unique ability to paint in diverse format and media. It offers
large pieces up to six feet in size as well as a range of medium
and smaller sizes in oils, acrylics, watercolors, monotypes and
figurative drawings. Some pieces are rich in detail and focus
on the drama of the light while others can be almost abstract
in passages. One painting may be dramatic because the light is
so intense, flamboyant, and electric while another is subtle in
its color yet rich in its darks. Her works are most often contemporary
in their style and painterly in their method.
Her gallery, only steps away from well-know historic landmarks
as St. Michael's Church and the Dock Street Theatre is in the
central arena of the French Quarter art district, tucked away
among other galleries and small shops that are a part of the charm
of Charleston.
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings
or call the gallery at 843/723-9832 or check the gallery's newsletter
on its website at (http://www.luskgallery.com).
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
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Carolina Arts
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Copyright© 2001 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston
Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts
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