Concurrent solo exhibits on display throughout March
The City of North Charleston’s Cultural Arts Department is pleased to announce that concurrent solo exhibitions of fiber works by Pam Shanley (Summerville, SC) and paintings by Katharine Morrill (Broadway, NC) will be on display at Park Circle Gallery from March 1-30, 2024. A free reception hosted by the artists will be held at the gallery on Friday, March 1, from 5:00-7:00pm. The public is invited to attend.
Fiber Forms: spun, woven, and stitched – Fiber works by Pam Shanley
In her exhibit Fiber Forms: spun, woven, and stitched, veteran fiber artist Pam Shanley showcases a robust progression of textile elements. Fiber becomes hand spun yarn, yarn becomes handwoven textiles, and textiles become stitched works of art. “I am inspired by color and simple design and enchanted with dyeing yarn, using unusual fiber, and incorporating fabrics into my work,” Shanley explains. The artists moves from one technique to another to create her work, enjoying the physical requirements for hand felting wool fibers, warping a loom with hundreds of yarns, and spinning multi types of fiber into yarn. “It is my desire to inspire new fiber artists by showcasing modern techniques and colors, and incorporating weaving into the mix,” Shanley says.
Originally from Canfield, Ohio, Pam Shanley graduated from Youngstown State University and earned a Master’s Degree in Library Science from the University of South Carolina. After 25 years in education, she happily retired to pursue her love of fiber art. Shanley has been working in some form of fiber art since she learned how to sew as a teenager. She taught herself how to weave after visiting the Folk Art Center in North Carolina, and subsequently fell in love with all the Appalachian Folk crafts. Mostly self-taught, she has attended classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Her fiber works have been displayed at the Virginia Tech School of Medicine Precision and Reach Exhibit, Floyd Quilt Show (Floyd, VA), Blue Ridge Quilt Festival (Ferrum, VA), Asheville Quilt Show (Asheville, NC), Rockbridge Fair (Lexington, VA), South Carolina State Fair (Columbia, SC), South Carolina Palmetto Hands Fine Craft Competition & Exhibition (North Charleston, SC), and Public Works Art Center in Summerville, SC. Pam is a member of the Handweavers Guild of America, President of the Palmetto Fiber Arts Guild, teaches fiber art workshops throughout the Lowcountry, and weaves, flets, sews, and spins from her home studio in Summerville, SC. Learn more about the artist at Pamshanley.wix.com/fiberart.
Before and After, Noon – Paintings by Katharine Morrill
In Before and After, Noon, Katharine Morrill presents a collection of abstracted landscape paintings that represent a visual bridge between remembered childhood environments and current adulthood landscapes. Her work expresses the wish to exist in place and yet push forward beyond childhood and into adulthood. Throughout each environment depicted there is a procession of horizontal planes that lead the viewer’s gaze back through each seascape, skyscape, and landscape. The artist’s interest lies in abstracting observed color and light into shapes that construct the feeling of movement, luminosity, and a sense of atmosphere “These places are created from memory, reference, and observation,” Morrill explains. “Sometimes during our adulthood we wish to go back to familiar childhood places. I want to visually recreate these memories of place through color and light while simultaneously navigating the present time and space.”
Katharine (Katey) Morrill is a painter and college fine arts instructor. After receiving her BFA from the University of New Hampshire in 2011, Katey and her husband moved to North Carolina where she received her MFA in painting from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in 2014. Katey has exhibited her paintings nationally, including New York, Virginia, California, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, and her work is held in a number of private collections. Katey currently lives and teaches in Broadway, NC. Learn more about the artist at kateymorrill.com.
The Park Circle Gallery is located at 4820 Jenkins Avenue in North Charleston. Admission is free and free street parking is available on Jenkins Avenue in front of the gallery, as well as on the adjacent streets and in parking lots close by. Gallery hours are 11:00am-6:00pm Wednesday-Friday, and Noon-4:00pm on Saturday. For more information about PCG, call 843-637-3565 or email [email protected]. For information on other Cultural Arts programs and artist opportunities, visit the Arts & Culture section of the City’s website.