Food, Wine and Beautiful Art for a Good Cause
By Leah Hopkins
Delectable cuisine donated by the chefs at tramici and Coastal Kitchen partnered with wines given by Georgia Crown await those who attend the american Cancer society’s Victory Gala Wine tasting and art party on thursday, november 15. the party will be held at Mr. and Mrs. Joel arline’s house on st. simons. tickets will cost $25 with all proceeds benefiting the american Cancer society.
Food and drink is not all that will satiate patrons; beautiful paintings donated for the gala art auction will be available for viewing and starting bids. Eleven artists have agreed to donate their work for the silent auction that will begin at this party and continue at the Victory Gala on December 1.
This year’s art includes well known portrait painters Martha Carpenter and Tom Donahue. Other artists who have donated their work are Jack Chilton, Barbara Mueller, Lisette Normann, Steve Penley, Annie Puybareau, Shannon Rundquist, Jeanne Szabo, David Whitty, and Connie Winters.
When commissioned to do a portrait, Martha Carpenter considers factors such as theme, scale, content, and picture plane proportion. “I try to think of these guidelines as avenues rather than restrictions. It can be very exciting working through challenges they may present.” Throughout her career, Carpenter has had numerous exhibition experiences and publications which have culminated in a consistent influx of private and corporate portrait commissions. Since 1991, Carpenter has occupied a studio in the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
Portraitist Tom Donahue believes that the secret to his art is in the posing of his subjects. “You can judge an artist by how the hands are arranged so that they appear natural,” he explains. One single painting by Donahue can take up to 40 hours because he believes in live sittings, not just photographs, so that he can get a feel for the client’s form and for scale and proportions. Donahue has painted portraits of famous musicians and politicians as well as children splashing in the ocean.
As a consistent supporter of the Victory Gala, Jack Chilton has donated his work for the last several years. This artist is a naturalist and outdoorsman who truly experiences what he paints, whether it is the beaches of Cumberland or a favorite mountain retreat. Chilton’s hands on approach gives him the advantage of seeing nature with a critical eye and always showing her best side in his works. His work can also be seen locally at Left Bank Gallery.
Lisette Normann
Local artist Barbara Mueller has an extensive background in fine arts and city planning, and her oil paintings primarily depict architectural and cultural landmarks, many on the Georgia coast. She has worked for national and international clients and is the signature artist for the Savannah Byrd Cookie Company as well as an artist for several prominent real estate firms. Her landscapes can be seen at the Glynn Art Association where she currently teaches oil painting.
Recent New Orleans transplant Lisette Normann is well known throughout the south for her abstracts that are driven by shapes and colors and have a touch of realism. Originally from Fairhope, Alabama, Normann lived in New Orleans for 10 years before moving to St. Simons shortly after Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans was a wonderful proving ground for a fledgling artist who took advantage of the city’s “purple” sunsets and unique use of paint colors in architecture and in the landscape.
Macon native Steve Penley has been drawing for as long as he can remember. He will say today that he never made a conscious decision to be an artist-it was something he always was. Television imagery and comic books were major influences in his choice of subject matter. By the time he started college at the University of Georgia, he had learned to render his subjects with incredible realism. Penley picks up on pop art’s imagery, but he chooses subjects familiar to everyone, and he takes these familiar images and manipulates them with color, brush strokes and added details to give them a fresh spin.
Row 1 (left to right): Jeanne Szabo, David Whitty. Row 2: Barbara Mueller, Connie Winters,
Annie Puybareau. Row 3: Steve Penley, Shannon Runquist.
Penley’s work has been shown extensively in galleries in New York, Atlanta, and Washington D.C. Penley also did the Official Painting and Commemorative Print for the 2004 G8 Summit.
Like Penley and Normann, French painter Annie Puybareau began painting at an early age. Her family settled in Rouen (Normandy), and there she learned to paint with Robert Savary in the fine art school. Sensitive to nature, she works in plein air, in whatever weather, akin to Rouen school postimpressionism. Puybareau paints Seine sights, Norman beaches lively with walkers, colored ports, and chalked cliffs. Her work can also be seen locally at Left Bank Gallery on St. Simons.
While attending the University of Georgia, Charleston artist Shannon Runquist discovered that the field of landscape architecture exposed her further to design, drafting and drawing. During this time, Runquist found composition to be her favorite aspect of design. This remains true in her painting today. Runquist’s work has been described as “realism with abstract qualities.” Her works hang in corporate and private collections in the U.S. and abroad. Runquist is represented by Horton Hayes Fine Art in Charleston, South Carolina.
Jeanne Szabo’s Studio/Gallery in Brunswick is well known as a place where students learn how to see, to paint and to draw while enjoying the camaraderie of others. Jeanne also taught at UCLA, and she has won recognition in many juried shows and had her 5oth retrospective a few years ago. Szabo has lived in the area for the last 17 years, and her teaching nurtures her creative drive. Szabo’s unique use of color and technique with brushes are what many of her students yearn to recreate in their own work.
David Whitty perfected his craft at Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. Early in his career, Whitty painted extensively in the abstract while simultaneously establishing a successful career in graphic design and photography. He now paints full time, and when he is not working in his studio, Whitty is exploring the southern coast for new subject matter. His works are held in many corporate and private collections and are shown at Left Bank Gallery on St. Simons.
Like David Whitty, artist Connie Winters grew up in North Carolina and has emerged as a strong influence on the art scene in the southeastern U.S. Citing the work of classic French Impressionists as an ongoing source of inspiration in her own work, Winters travels to France each year. The provincial lifestyle she experiences there gives her a renewed sense of spiritually and a fresh desire to create her vibrant landscapes. Winter’s work is found in numerous permanent collections of several academic institutions and in the personal collection of John Randolph Hearst, the Coca-Cola collection, and the Duke mansion in Charlotte, North Carolina. She also displays her work in Anderson Fine Art Gallery on St. Simons.
Local art lovers will have an opportunity to not only acquire paintings from noted artists, but their purchases will result in more money being raised to further the work of the American Cancer Society. For more information, call the American Cancer Society office at 912.265.7117.
