Image by Dorothy Netherland Devotion by Dorothy Netherland

Update February 1: Charleston City Paper has an in-depth piece on Netherland's inspiration, interests and childhood experiences that shaped her into the artists she is today.

With Netherland's solo exhibit opening at SCOOP studios on February 4th, what better time than now to familiarize yourself with such a unique personality?

Here's a link to the post.

First reporting: SCOOP studios Contemporary Art Gallery is proud to present 'Built From Scraps,' Dorothy Netherland’s first solo show in Charleston on February 4th.

The artist reception from 5 to 8 p.m. coincides with Charleston’s Gallery Row’s First Fridays on Broad and is on view through Saturday, February 26, 2011. We are also celebrating Netherland’s acceptance into this summer’s Artist in Residency in Kaiserslautern, Germany. SCOOP studios will be providing complimentary refreshments and the gallery is always free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday 11 a.m to 5 p.m. 

Local artist, Dorothy Netherland has expanded her technique of painting on multiple panes of glass to include imagery which is drawn, painted, scraped, screen-printed, ink-transfered and most recently etched on the glass. Netherland’s debut solo show in Charleston, “Built From Scraps,” conveys the artist’s fascination with the themes of transience, mortality, narcissism and family drama. Netherland explains, “I am interested in our deepest stories, and how our (often false) interpretations of our personal histories inform our sense of self. I take inspiration from the fact that every time we retrieve a memory we alter it, and from the idea of the past being something which is more imagined than remembered.” Like memories themselves, the paintings have the potential for multiple interpretations and can be seen as ambiguous personal narratives or mental landscapes. 

The predominantly figurative photos which Netherland has cut out of magazines are drawing references in her paintings. These images are transformed from their original intentions as product-sellers, into a cast of characters, who now seem to be selling ideas about one’s self. For Netherland, they suggest an identity culled from fragments of memory. A life built from scraps. 

Netherland is received her BFA in Studio Art from the College of Charleston in 2000. Her work has been shown at the SC State Museum and the Greenville County Museum of Art as well as exhibitions throughout the Southeast. In 2009, Netherland was chosen for “Contemporary Charleston: Revelation of the Process” at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park in Charleston, SC. In 2010, she had solo shows in Columbia, SC and Savannah, GA.

Scoop Studios is located at 57 Broad Street.