1. What inspired you most to create this book? This book, Painting the Southern Coast, is my second with the University of South Carolina Press. The first book, Charleston In My Time, in 2001, focused on the Charleston area only. I wanted to share the work I have created in the southeastern coastal region as a whole – the place of my heritage – and make a book that reflected a complete picture of me as an artist and show that an artist’s role can be more than art. In 2012 I was honored with a solo exhibition at the Telfair Academy Museum in Savannah, Georgia. The 60 paintings
what motivates me as an artist. The book is actually a platform to subtly communicate a message and homage to the region of my birthright and the place where I have found some of my strongest inspiration. It is a journey in painted images through one of the world’s most dynamic ecologies which is rapidly being threatened by poisonous chemicals of everyday life, chemicals that are unseen yet transformative to the water systems of this beautiful place of global oceanic importance.
2. What emotions do you want to
exhibited represented four distinct aspects of my work:
evoke when people look at this
cityscapes, travel, friends and family, and the landscape.
collection of paintings?
The exhibition showed the diverse scope of my work, and from that, I decided to create a book that expanded on what might be assumed to be my only genre or purpose. A cornerstone of my new book is the geographical context of a historical drama occurring in the region during the age of discovery; the history of the earliest European contact in the United States, that of French and Spanish conquest and dominance. The geography set the scope and jumping off point, and I used some of my paintings from my earliest career to 2014 for the imagery. You may get the idea that my new book is an art
Golden Rail
book, but I have no lessons included, only insights into
I think my paintings will evoke a sense of familiarity, discovery of place, and sometimes a sentimental feeling of times gone by. Perhaps also a feeling of appreciation for this place and the role this unique environment plays on a global scale, or the reality of a culture of seafood harvest that can be sustainable if it is nurtured and protected. I want the reader to find new insights into a world that may be new to them or familiar to them and take away an awareness meriting appreciation, concern and activism.
s p r i n g / s u mm er 2 0 1 7
88