Acrylic paintings by Indiana based artist, Michelle Peterlin, and woodcuts by Tennessee based printmaker, Jennifer Stoneking-Stewart, will be on exhibit at the North Charleston City Gallery from December 1-31.
The public is invited to a free reception at the gallery hosted by Stoneking-Stewart on Thursday, December 6, from 5pm-7pm.
Window Dressing by Michelle Peterlin
Window Dressing chronicles places Michelle Peterlin has visited, both in the United States and abroad, over the last five years. Some pieces are purely composites of objects of interest, while others are mementos of a place or event that the artist sought to capture for remembrance. “I am fortunate to be able to travel,” Peterlin says. “When I am in a new place, I love to look for its quiet, moody corners.” Peterlin’s paintings are often of glass, store fronts, and windows with a view, depicted on a large scale. “I want the viewer to feel immersed in the piece,” she explains. “I want them to feel the mood in the composition and glimpse at places that are ordinary but special in everyday life.”
Based in Evansville, Indiana, Michelle Peterlin received a Bachelor of Studio Arts in Painting from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1990. While in college, she studied under the tutelage of John Grillo, who is considered the Father of American Expressionism. Peterlin has worked as a professional artist for over 20 years, exhibiting, curating, and managing gallery spaces mainly throughout the Northeast United States. Recent awards for her work include first place in the National Appalachian Fine Arts Center’s Annual National Competition (Blue Ridge, GA), an Award of Excellence from Manhattan Arts International’s The Healing Power of Art Exhibition (Manhattan, NY), and an International Recognition Award for a Judeo Christian Exhibit presented at the Up Stream People Gallery at the University of Nebraska.
Packed Up by Jennifer Stoneking-Stewart
Nostalgia, wistful longing, fascination, absence, and a sense of home are all represented in Packed Up, an exhibition of woodcuts by Jennifer Stoneking-Stewart. Her collection of images of distorted homes take inspiration from numerous experiences with the past and present, as well as the landscape of the rural southeast with its dilapidated, abandoned relics of lives past. Nature reclaiming a place and homes returning to nature, their elements breaking down into dirt and dust, fill the empty landscape. Voided dark interiors hold little information of the former inhabitants. Flat wallpaper patterns become the vines and trees that now call the structure home. Piles of objects that are indistinguishable construct a burial mound for lives and times past. Chimneys rise like tombstones from the landscape. “My work is a response to the surrounding environment, drawing inspiration from the Appalachian landscape and rapidly occurring changes, such as progression of time, death, growth, and decay,” she says. “Most of these events cannot be controlled by individuals, but are nonetheless upsetting. I use my process and work as a way to control these occurrences, even if only temporarily.”
Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Jennifer Stoneking-Stewart received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Printmaking from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2005, and her Master of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Printmaking from Clemson University in 2007. She is currently the Registrar & Exhibitions Coordinator for the Ewing Gallery of Art & Architecture at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is very active in a variety of organizations, such as the College Art Association, where she is Chair of the Student and Emerging Professionals Committee; the Southeastern College Art Conference, where she presents papers regularly; the Southern Graphics Council, where she has exhibited and participated in portfolio exchanges; and the Mid-American Print Council. She has exhibited works nationally in both juried, group, and solo shows. Recent shows include Oregon Ink Spot at Nightingale Gallery in La Grande, OR; Calling Home, a curated show sponsored by Spudnik Press at the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival in Chicago, IL; Fresh at Art Dimensions Gallery & Studio in St. Louis, MO; and Where We've Been at Leu Gallery in Nashville, TN. In addition, she has prints in various private collections, archives, and public collections across the nation.
The North Charleston City Gallery is located in the Charleston Area Convention Center with free parking and admission during regular Convention Center operating hours 9:00am – 5:00pm, daily. The gallery is staffed on Friday, Saturday, and Monday only. Inquiries regarding artists or purchase information may be directed to the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department at (843) 740-5854. For information on additional exhibits, programs, and events, visit the Cultural Arts section of the City’s website at www.northcharleston.org.
