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GALLERY HOURS (during exhibitions)
Monday - Saturday, 11am – 4pm
Open Thursdays until 7pm

1994-2004

Margaret Clarke

FRESH WORK: COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON ALUMNI EXHIBITION, 1994-2004

1994-2004

Margaret Clarke

FRESH WORK: COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON ALUMNI EXHIBITION, 1994-2004

Vanessa AlburyA. Bills-LeviGayle BrookerLisa ChouMargaret ClarkeT. DavidsonSteven DavisJohn DuckworthMeghan HenleyKrist MillsSue MurrayDorothy NetherlandsRachel O’NealLarissa PatelLynn PattersonMatt SmithsonJonathan 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.

Margaret Clarke

FRESH WORK: COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON ALUMNI EXHIBITION, 1994-2004

1994-2004
ARTIST STATEMENT

 As a student at the College of Charleston, I did not stray too far away from the figure, finding it always pleasing to me in form and yet infinite in interpretation. Through my artistic study, I explored the tangible with a slightly darker, psychological approach. In 1998, I moved to New York and it was as if the style that I had developed had remained in Charleston. I worked on several pieces in a continuation of this style, but found only a vacancy and opted for a new perspective that would encompass the fresh ideas of my present. Over the past four years, I have concentrated on working through these changes while incorporating my own personal aesthetic.

With this collection of work, I have explored the well-chartered territory of Greek mythology. I go directly to the canvas with an idea or simple suggestion inspired by the colorful stories of antiquity. I work with this initial suggestion to build a framework. However, the framework only becomes a stepping stone to a unique, transformed image in and of itself. I allow the piece to change on its own and I try not to give into a rigid, preconceived structure. I only make changes according to how the image is formed compositionally or structurally as it starts to develop. The title of each piece is an ode to that initially formed idea.

I have a true appreciation of form and light and how they continue to change against one another. I am drawn to forms that take shape in an ephemeral, fleeting moment before it becomes recognizable and given a name. Blocks of clean space, divisions and color allow a void to take place against the form. The form is the antithesis of this void by being an active mass of energy and movement. The contrast of the two parallel opposites, equal a pleasing balance for me as they represent a give and take.

Oil paint continues to be my medium of choice combined with the use of palette-knives. Together they give the texture and ultimate mood I am seeking to evoke. Working to perfect this balance is my goal, conjoined with a pure enjoyment of color and the mood it can express.

Free For All
GALLERY HOURS (during exhibitions)
Monday - Saturday, 11am – 4pm
Open Thursdays until 7pm
843.953.4422


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