My lifelong artistic goal and focus is endangered animals and to bring them to the attention of the public - how the environment affects not only the natural selection of a species, but also how the human use of their territory impacts their survival, because the two are part of the same circle. They have thrived or not thrived, depending on how people protected, abused, or even limited their habitat. I study wildlife in their natural habitats so I can get a feel for their personalities, not just their anatomy. Their personalities are extremely important for me to be able to give my sculpture a unique attitude.
“I hope that when you look at a piece of sculpture it would engage more than one of your senses. And personally, I hope it would bring a smile to your face.”
A hapa who grew up in Philadelphia, I attended Syracuse University and received my MFA from Boston University. Art and being an artist are therapy for me physically, psychologically, and spiritually. Mine NOW reflects my dual Buddhist-Catholic heritage. My work frequently explores the relationship between humans, nature, and objects. I think of art as an objective homage to my Eastern and Western traditions and the raw architecture and sounds of the city—adding conflict, balance, and harmony to shape my work’s form and energy in my constant search for new noise and passion.
My collection of vessels and fabrics serve as my inspiration in creating still life compositions that are intensely dramatic. On occasion I borrow vases, bowls, plates from friends’ homes and purchase new pieces if they appeal to my sense of style. A vessel can be center stage in more than one canvas. This collection process begins the treasure hunt that sets the mood for my canvases. Pattern and rhythm, especially stripes and polka dots begin the tabletop dialogue. A walk around my property adds more props such as citrus, flowers, succulents, weeds or branches. Local color, the shape of the objects, and patterns are orchestrated to appeal to my compositional theory. Objects are arranged and rearranged, and then I study the shadows cast by the sun coming through my studio windows. Then a quick sketch and ready to begin the painting process. This lasts until organic objects die and then I just skip reality and paint from the heart. You have realism and abstraction.
Karen Ghostlaw Pomarico is an internationally exhibited fine art photographer whose practice explores the space between painting and photography. A Pratt Institute graduate with a BA degree with honors in Photography and Fine Arts, she shaped her artistic foundation around an ideology rooted in curiosity, experimentation, and the fluid translation of visual experience into tangible forms. Her lifelong inquiry, Between Painting and Photography, evolving into The Archeology of Reflections, merges photographic precision with painterly abstraction. She is Co-Founder of the Pictorial Foundation, based in Newburgh, New York, and Editorial Director of The Pictorial List, an online international photography magazine connecting artists and audiences worldwide.
My Art life journey began in upstate NY where I began to show interest in creating. My major interest has been in painting and drawing . I have always been driven to create whether it is cooking, gardening or actual artwork. I am always looking for the next new idea. I seem to never tire of the challenge of creating something I haven't tried previously. After retiring from running a family business, my husband and I located to the Charleston SC area for the pleasant weather and vibrant art and cultural community. It has been a very rewarding decision in many ways especially with regard to enhancing my art career. I am very involved in various art organizations locally and nationally.
I was born in Mankato, Minnesota and lived in many areas of the United States while growing up. As young adults my husband and I made Tulsa, Oklahoma our home where we raised our two daughters. In addition to painting I enjoy playing the piano, reading, walking, yoga, and traveling.
For years, I created hyperrealist portraits in traditional charcoal & graphite. But a craving for color & texture led me to mixed media portraiture. My faces are done in pastel & color pencil with a graphite underpainting, & usually include hair made from alpaca fiber or human hair, clothes from fabric & art papers, & ornament in beads & repurposed materials, concentrating on one brilliant color per piece. My work is based on historical characters & mythological motifs that transcend any one culture, expressing universal stories & emotions. My influences include Klimt, Hiroshige, Henri Rousseau, Erte, pre-Raphaelites, 19th century illustrators like Edmund Dulac, Elenore Abbott & John Bauer. I’m attracted to their use of brilliant color and mythic themes.
Born in Ilhéus, a coastal town in the Northeast of Brazil, Selene Paschoal spent most of her time enjoying the tropical outdoors. Today she is a textile artist who is inspired by the world around her, especially by nature. Her art creation journey started in 2018 when she was searching for a more creative outlet that would give her enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment. Fabric is something Selene has been working with for most of her life. Attending a fabric collage class was the turning point in her journey. She learned how to look at fabric as the medium to create art. Her artistic approach is mostly intuitive with a constant awareness of color combination and contrast. The use of strong colors is a direct influence of her Brazilian heritage.
Emi Sisk, FRSA is a juried artist whose work embodies the beauty of the natural world and the complexities of the human mind. With a diverse background in mental health, neuroscience, and nutrition, Emi brings a unique perspective to her art. Her paintings showcase the vibrant colors while her digital art transforms nature photographs into captivating abstract compositions.
Emi is a member of National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW), the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital (a Harvard Medical School affiliate), DACOR (Education Committee), and a fellow of the Royal Society for Arts (FRSA).
Self-Taught Gullah Folk Artist
June 2007 - Present
Owner of Gullah Art By Renee, LLC.
Member of the National Association of Women Artist-2018
Listed in Guide to American Artist “Self-Taught, Outsider and Folk Art” by Betty-Carol Sellen
Art on permanent exhibit at Brook Green Gardens, “Gullah Geechee Garden” entrance at Myrtle Beach, SC
Rhian Swain has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Atlanta College of Art. She is a painter, photographer, designer, illustrator, writer, and former talk show host.
In 2023 she exhibited her new traveling exhibition “Breaking the Barriers: Women Who Impacted the Arts” twice, once at the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History and at the City of Augusta Gallery. The series of paintings and first exhibit was partially funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibit has been met with critical acclaim and will continue to tour for the next several years. She was inducted in the National Association of Women Artists in September 2023, and currently serves on the Board of the South Carolina Chapter. Her solo and curated shows include exhibitions at Sacred Heart Cultural Center, the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History. She's curated several themed shows that featured the work of local and national artists. She recently had three paintings on exhibit in the Burroughs Chapin Museum in Myrtle Beach South, Carolina. Rhian has been exhibiting and selling artwork regularly for 40 years. Rhian is an artist who works in many mediums, including acrylic, watercolor, multi-media and digital (non-AI) painting. She loves to explore cultural and social issues and infuse symbolism into her pieces. Humor and bright colors are often found in her work.
Much of my work exists where tradition meets personal. As I create, I’m reminded that there is a long familial tradition of women who came before me, stitching and creating. From their whispers, I find the very foundations of my art.
I began my career as a textile designer in the home furnishings industry and today my work "reinterprets the patterns and textures found in function-driven objects such as quilts and baskets as dreamscape imagery that straddles the line between figurative and abstract." My work is exhibited at many galleries across the Southeast.
I am a juried member of the NAWA and a Certified GOLDEN Artist Educator. My book, Acrylic Expressions, and 4 instructional painting videos published by Random House are available at major retailers and online at Amazon.
Bernice Mitchell Tate
Bernice Mitchell Tate was born in Sheldon, South Carolina, March 27, 1943 - an authentic Gullah native daughter, where all of her early years were spent on an isolated self-contained family farm. She was raised along with eight siblings and attended local segregated schools in Beaufort, South Carolina. After High School graduation in 1960, she moved on to pursue a nursing education and career in New York. Bernice has been married for fifty years to Andy Tate, a retired global finance technology executive. They have one son, a private practicing psychiatrist in New York City. Upon retiring and relocating to Bluffton, SC in 2006, Bernice revisited her earlier autodidactic interests in the arts, displaying her amazing talent as an installation, mixed media collage, and assemblage sculptural artist. The art of Bernice Mitchell Tate is deep-rooted in personal spirituality, cultural relativism, and a sacred combination of many different connected parts where life, death, history, culture, spirituality, material culture, realia and veneration of the dead intersect. Her belief that ideas such as "ancestor worship," right or wrong, are not absolute but change from culture to culture and circumstances. Bernice’s art form is uniquely termed Ancestrialism, a sacred amalgam of connected parts. Ancestrialism is a curious blend of traditional beliefs and contemporary thought, ingrained and inspired by her Gullah-GeeChee heritage southern tradition where spiritual practices and relationships continue with those who are no longer living beings. The dead have a continued existence possessing the ability to influence the living.
Brittany Taylor-Driggers
Brittany Taylor-Driggers received her BFA in Drawing with a minor in Art History from the University of South Carolina (2006) and her MFA in Visual Arts from Union Institute and University, Vermont College of Fine Arts (2009). A native of South Carolina, she lives and works in Lancaster, SC with her husband and three sons. She teaches art and art history as an Assistant professor, and Director of Campus Collections and Galleries at the University of South Carolina Lancaster.
Kathy Watson is a nature and lifestyle photographer based in the heart of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Her work is inspired by the quiet beauty, distinctive light, and ever-changing landscapes of the coastal South. Through photography, Kathy seeks to capture the character and emotion of the places and moments that surround her, from peaceful marshes and beaches to coastal wildlife, historic landscapes, and everyday life.
Drawn to the natural world, Kathy finds endless inspiration in the relationship between light, color, water, and landscape. Her photographs often explore the reflections of cypress trees in still waters, dramatic Lowcountry sunsets, the movement of waves beneath coastal piers, and the vibrant colors found in nature.
Melinda Welker is a wildlife and nature photographer with a passion for photographing the wonder of birds in their natural habitats, where she captures artistic images of bird personality, behavior and beauty. Welker studied photography at Savannah College of Art and Design. She is a founding member of the NAWA SC Chapter, a member of the the Aiken Artist Guild, the Aiken Center for the Arts, and the Midlands Chapter of the Carolinas' Nature Photography Association.
Born and raised in New York City, Zalisko was encouraged by her parents to pursue a career and practiced law in the northeast after graduating from Fordham University School of Law until moving to Florida in 2004. Zalisko remained immersed in NYC’s rich visual and performing arts, studying art whenever possible at several NYC and Florida universities, and in private study or workshops. She continues to enrich her artistic practice in university classes, travel, residencies and fellowships.
Zalisko’s work is regularly included in exhibitions and private and public collections in the US and abroad, and numerous museum exhibitions.
