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October Issue
2008
Corrigan Gallery in Charleston, SC,
Features Works by Carol Ezell Gilson
Corrigan
Gallery in Charleston, SC, will present the exhibit, Japanisme
Returns to Charleston, featuring paintings by Charleston native
Carol Ezell, on view from Oct. 2 - 31, 2008. This is a real treat
as it is Ezell's first show in quite sometime.
As with the influx of Japanese art at the end of the 19th century due to the opening of the trade routes to Asia, there is a resumed interest in Orient imagery. Ezell's pieces are inspired by works that made their way into our southern port city as well as by gifts from oversea friends. The subject matter for this new body of work is taken from postcards sent to the artist by a friend living in Japan.
Being raised in Charleston, Ezell's first experience with Japanese art was as a child visiting the Gibbes Museum of Art, where a room held Japanese prints and intricately carved woodblocks. Ezell began her early training at the Gibbes Museum where she took classes, allowing her to spend more time among the same collection of Japanese art that so strongly influence Alice Ravenel Huger Smith. She continued her studies in a painting program at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts following in the footsteps of other Charlestonians Elizabeth O'Neill Verner and Manning Williams.
After four years of serious training Ezell received a fine arts degree. Through her time at both the Academy and the Art Students' League in New York City she studied under Marshall Glasier. The professor, who would become her mentor, had a strong love for Japanese art and gave Ezell reed pens and brushes. During a summer internship at the Gibbes Museum she was responsible for creating children's tours of the museum's different collections. The task enabled her to learn more about the Japanese pieces, especially the process of creating wood blocks. In the years that followed she used the tours for her own students and continued spending time in the Japanese print room.
All of the artist's studies were put to use when she met a Japanese girl in the mid 1980s. Becoming fast friends, Kimoko would serve as a model for Ezell. The most direct influence for the works in this new series Japanisme Returns to Charleston comes from helping an art student copy a Japanese print. The artist became intrigued with the process and started from prints sent by Kimoko. After completing one it quickly developed into an entire body of work. Interpreting the great Japanese masters' works with specific references to their pieces, Ezell's artistic talents bring to life the woodblock prints we are accustomed to viewing as small intimate works of art.
With her interests consisting of art, history and teaching, Ezell has founds ways to combine the three. Her career has included teaching art as well as academics. Other facets are being historian/guide at Charleston's City Hall Council Chamber where she oversaw the inclusion of the first two women's portraits in the Chamber and played an integral part in the completion and installation of the George Washington statue in Washington Park. She was the Charles Town Landing Historic Site's curator for the Governor's Mansion. Currently Ezell works at the Historic Charleston Foundation as manager of the two small shops at the house museum and gives walking tours of Charleston as well as maintaining a studio in her Broad Street home in Charleston.
With seven one woman shows in Charleston and around South Carolina, Ezell has also participating in numerous group shows including ones at the Gibbes Museum. Through her time outside painting and drawing with her students she was inspired to develop a class called "Art, History, and Architecture" and operated a small business for several years called "Charleston is for Children."
The Corrigan Gallery presents art with a future instilled with intellect. Varied, thoughtful, provoking works are presented in an intimate space for the viewing pleasure of all. Bringing 20 years of Charleston art experience to collectors and presenting artists with up to fifty years of creating as well as those in the early years of their careers, the gallery provides a fresh alternative to the traditional southern art scene. Making history by presenting art with a future, the gallery is pleased to present "visiting artists" shows to broaden all horizons. Located in the heart of the historic district, the gallery combines the charm of the old city of Charleston with a look to the future. Paintings, drawings, fine art prints, photography and sculpture are readily available for the discriminating collector. Artists represented include Manning Williams, Richard (Duke) Hagerty, Gordon Nicholson, Mary Walker, Kevin Bruce Parent, John Moore, JD Cummings, Kristi Ryba, Sue Simons Wallace, Daryl Knox, Lynne Riding, Lese Corrigan, John Hull and Paul Mardikian. There are visiting artists included throughout the year.
For further information check our SC Commercial
Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/722-9868 or visit (www.corrigangallery.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2008 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2008 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.