Vanessa Albury | A. Bills-Levi | Gayle Brooker | Lisa Chou | Margaret Clarke | T. Davidson | Steven Davis | John Duckworth | Meghan Henley | Krist Mills | Sue Murray | Dorothy Netherlands | Rachel O’Neal | Larissa Patel | Lynn Patterson | Matt Smithson | Jonathan Walsh

To create an exhibit drawn from works by Studio Art graduates may seem to be a daunting task; faced with so many choices, the result could become merely arbitrary or too disparate to cohere as an exhibition. But in fact, my experience was quite the contrary. All artists have at least one thing in common—they all have influences. And for all of these artists, one of their most influential experiences was the time they spent as Studio Art students at the College of Charleston.

In this exhibit, I see the influences as well as the individual accomplishments of artists who studied here at the College. Whether faintly or pronounced, the impressions of their Studio Art professors resonate in these works. The goal, however, of myself and Dr. Marian Mazzone was to choose a select group of Studio Art alumni whose works have continued to develop, becoming their own unique creations and contributions. By limiting the selection to Studio Art graduates of the past ten years, we were able to look at the work of artists who are still developing their sense of “self” in the art world, while also still having some identity with the College.

Gayle Brooker, originally of Greenville, SC, received a BA in Studio Art from the College of Charleston in 1999. After graduation, she participated in the Master’s program at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA for one year and in 2002 she completed her M.F.A. in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design.

During the past two years, Brooker taught photography at the College of Charleston and oversaw the Photography lab in 2003-2004. She currently lives in New York and is working as a freelance photographer.

Brooker’s photography reveals the atmosphere of intimacy shared by close friends. The moments, like still silent movies, expose the elegance of weakness and vulnerability that our most private relationships reveal.

Her work has been exhibited nationally including, New York, Boston, Providence and Charleston.

Click here to view artist’s website.