Alana Knuff prefers painting from real life. “My fascination is with the person’s face,” she says. “You can see their personality, their soul. I’ve always loved painting people because they each have their own uniqueness.”

Knuff started creating portraits professionally in 2008, but she’s adored the art form her whole life.

“I started drawing as a child,” she says. “When I had free time I would sit out on the porch with my pad of paper and sketch people. I started with imaginary figures, and then gradually worked my way to people. As I got older, I created my first portraits—one of my mother and then one of my college roommate.”

up with a mother who taught art and a father who was a mechanical engineer, Knuff felt torn between her analytical mind and her artistic heart. She worked most of her life as a capital project manager for Harvard and the University of Texas, retired in 2008 and began living her dream.

“I decided that my artsy side would finally have its day. I feel like I’ve been on the expressway in the art world for the last few years,” she says. “I still have so much to learn about it.” Although I’ve worked a lot with pen and ink and with pastels, I know that my passion lies in creating portraits.”

Knuff did a lot of her learning this year at the Art Academy in Florence, Italy, where she studied portraiture with Maureen Hyde.

“It was a life-changing experience. I now paint every day and I’ve joined several art associations,” she says. “I have paintings in the United States and in Italy as well. I sold a painting to [master craftsman] Giorgio Filacamo while I was in Ravello; he’s made cameos for Elizabeth Taylor and the Roselyn Carter.”

A portrait can make a very exquisite gift in a family, and Knuff takes pride in creating something that will last.

“It’s a legacy, an heirloom,” she explains. “It’s also an act of love on the part of the painter.”

Knuff shares the different stages of the portrait’s creation with her client, ensuring that they’ll be happy with the finished piece. “I begin with the underpainting by using transparent red oxide,” she explains. “It captures the values and pose for the portrait, providing a roadmap for the entire composition. I then ask the client to come see it before I continue.”

Later, clients come back to check for additional changes.

“I want to know if I’ve accurately captured the person,” says Knuff. “There is nothing more satisfying than the client viewing a portrait of their loved one and falling completely in love.”

Speaking of love, Alana agrees that portraits make unique, timeless gifts for any romantic occasion, from Valentine’s Day to a wedding anniversary.

“There are two people in a marriage, and I suggest a portrait together of the husband and wife,” says Knuff. “Why not capture the love between them?”

“I’ve always loved the process of a portrait,” she says, “particularly the moment when the person finally jumps onto the canvas and you say, ‘A-ha! There they are!’ It’s exciting.”

Visit Alana’s website at www.alanaknuff.com. To view her work, go to the Hamlet Fine Art Gallery on Broad Street in Charleston.

Alana Knuff
www.alanaknuff.com

Movement has meaning, that’s the truth of it.

We tell our stories through our words, yes, but also in the way we walk. Even tapping our toes can be communication. A world class dancer moving across the stage takes that story to another level, turning movement into poetry.

Maybe that’s how Charleston Ballet Theatre (CBT) has kept us enchanted, performance after performance, year after year.

And now it’s their silver anniversary. That’s right: 25 years as a professional dance company. That’s considered a milestone in most marriages, a time to renew vows and reaffirm the love. And this season is shaping up to be exactly that—an affirmation of love between CBT and the audience that loves them.

It opened with the glory and grandeur of Don Quixote, literature’s most famous comic knight errant, as his story was brought to life on the stage of The College of Charleston Sottile Theatre. “Don Quixote is a full-length classical ballet that was choreographed by Jill Eathorne Bahr herself a few years back,” says Kyle Barnette, CBT Administrative Director. “It is a prime example of the ballet at its classical best, showing off the elaborate costumes, epic set designs and the classical style Charleston Ballet Theatre patrons have come to expect.”

After that, The Big Easy paid homage to the sights and sounds of New Orleans, a dash of A Streetcar Named Desire sprinkled in to give it extra spice. “The Big Easy took a look to the past and the future, with a more modern balletic vibe and presenting new works by famed guest choreographers,” Kyle explains. And that was just the beginning of the season! “The other end of the season,” he continues, “is based on audience feedback, celebrating many of the greatest performances from our past repertoire, as identified by members of our audience.”

When it comes to audience feedback, it’s hard to top the seasonal delight that is The Nutcracker (just play a few notes of the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and even those who swear they’ve never seen a ballet in their lives will likely begin to tap their toes in recognition), especially given CBT’s Charleston-inspired take on the beloved classic.

“Our Nutcracker is an annual holiday tradition and continues to stand as one of the most unique versions of the story, set entirely in 1850s Charleston with familiar Charleston family names and landmarks,” Kyle says. “It’s something the ballet is very proud to perform each year. And it continues to grow. Now there are shows both at the Gaillard Auditorium and the North Charleston Performing Arts Center!”

February will hold a special treat for those who’ve watched choreographer Jill Eathorne Bahr’s career with CBT over time: a revival of her very first CBT ballet, Poetry with a Splash of Red Blood, will be included with the ballet’s performance of the classic, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

That’s a lot of celebrating for one season…and that’s really just a few of the highlights. Outside of their regular season, CBT has been all around town, collaborating with other artists and organizations. These collaborations included New Orleans-themed dance vignettes at the exhibition In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artists of Color in Pre–Civil War New Orleans at the Gibbes Museum and a one-night Halloween production called Thriller: A Monster Mash-up with local theater group What If? Productions and Greg Tavares of local comedy legends, The Have Nots.

It hasn’t been all up-hill, and they’ve managed to ride the rollercoaster of the last few years of economic upheaval with their own characteristic grace. Changes, such as a new location and innovative fundraising and collaborative projects, have just been part of the ride.

Though long a treasured part of the Upper King Design District, the Charleston Ballet Theatre moved from their signature black box setting at the corner of King and Ann in the summer of 2011. Both the professional company and ballet school relocated to a consolidated Dance Education Center in The Plaza at East Cooper in Mt. Pleasant. The location allows the dancers 6,000 square feet of rehearsal space, just what they needed to really stretch their legs.

A substantial gift from the estate of a wellloved patron became the inspiration for a major fundraising drive, with the long-term view to fund the dance company not only for the current season but for years to come.

“Over the past season and last summer we launched a Major Gifts Initiative with a matching donor goal of $250,000, which we have been lucky enough to have matched and exceeded,” Kyle says. “Also, this season we are trying a new sort of gala fundraising event. In the past we have had great success with our annual Oscar Gala, but with our recent music collaborations with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Charleston Jazz Orchestra, we really wanted to highlight the beauty and importance of music in what we do.”

Countless hours of practice, performances, galas, collaborations, celebrations, sweat, pain, love and longing have come and gone since 1987 when artistic directors Don and Patricia Cantwell brought choreographer Jill Eathorne Bahr to Charleston and transformed a small ballet group into a world-class professional dance company.

Over the years, the company has developed a diverse and innovative repertoire. Though classical ballet is very much its specialty, it has also become renowned over the last 25 years for exploring new styles, even bopping to the beat of The Beatles or dancing to the great pop music divas. Toss some R&B, rock, jazz or even country—the sounds that form the soundtrack to our daily lives—into the ring and these pros will find a way to meld motion with music and produce a sensation that will keep crowds begging for more.

“We wanted not only to celebrate some of the greatest achievements of the past, but also display how eclectic and broad the styles of dance are that CBT performs,” Kyle adds, then sums it up: “We‘re celebrating what makes the arts so important and vital to everyday life.”

Charleston Ballet Theatre
Charleston Ballet Theatre’s 25th-anniversary
gala season finale will be held March 24th,
2012 at the Gaillard Auditorium.
For this and other performances.
843-723-7334
www.charlestonballet.org

High above King Street in a studio designed and remodeled by the artist himself, John Carroll Doyle stirs new life into memory with his brush and palette. His memories spring from a childhood steeped in the unique beauty of the Lowcountry.

A born-and-bred Charlestonian, he grew up during the post-war era when the city was significantly smaller—without suburbs, and with the main post office on Broad Street a bustling town center.

In those days, he says the mothers of today’s sweetgrass basket vendors lined the sidewalks by the dozens, selling fresh flowers as well as the ubiquitous baskets.

“I’m old enough to remember when Porgy and Bess-like characters still roamed the streets,” he muses. Images such as these from his past inform and inspire his paintings. Doyle believes his perspective as a local gives his work an authenticity that cannot be reproduced by the many other artists who have come to Charleston to live and paint.

“There was a very European, almost Italian-type energy in the old city,” he recalls. “I recreate these memories in my paintings.” With a muse such as Charleston, the budding artist found plenty of inspiration— wooden boats at the old Charleston Yacht Basin, lavender shadows on old stucco, yearround coastal sunlight—to take him to the next level.

He enrolled in an Atlanta art school, but left after a few months, dissatisfied with the program. “I was 19 and very naïve,” he says. “The emphasis was on creativity, not skills.”

Doyle wouldn’t return to painting until he was 30. He had attended college on the G.I. Bill, served with the Coast Guard, and would now immerse himself in the work of “the masters” to hone his artistic skills.

“I’m a strong believer that everyone is born with some kind of gift,” he notes. “That plagued me till around 1970…if you have a creative spirit in you it’s not going to let you off the hook.”

He became a fan of the European and American impressionists circa 1875–1925. “My favorite painter is John Singer Sergeant,” he says. “The more I learned, I thought this man was a genius…His approach was very romantic.”

Today, ensconced in his 3,000-square-foot, light-flooded studio, Doyle paints what he knows and loves, and that encompasses a lot of territory: the water he grew up on, the dogs with which his father hunted, the colorful characters that people his world. He is a prolific—and disciplined—artist, rising every morning with the sun to paint for several hours.

His monolithic commissioned oils can be seen in clubs and restaurants as far afield as Chicago, Illinois and Alexandria, Virginia and, locally, in landmark Lowcountry establishments like Carolina’s, Tommy Condon’s, 82 Queen, A.W. Shucks, and the former Angel Fish and Miskyns.

The realistic-impressionist paintings of sailfish were a mainstay on the covers of sport fishing magazines in the 1980s, launching his career and establishing his name in the art world.

Doyle markets his paintings and giclées (high quality prints) at the John Carroll Doyle Art Gallery in Charleston’s historic district. He displays the work of only one other artist—the previous owner and respected local painter, Margaret Petterson, from whom he bought the gallery.

“I like controlling the placement of paintings in the gallery,” he notes. “It looks like a museum. If we had four or five artists, it would be difficult to present them in harmony.”

Doyle gives back to his beloved city by donating paintings to charitable organizations such as Darkness to Light, the Birds of Prey Center, and for the Heart Ball and Fur Ball.

Beyond the easel, Doyle finds outlets for his creative sensibilities in garden design and photography, and will soon add a new book, titled John Carroll Doyle, American Impressionist, to his collection.

John Carroll Doyle Art Gallery
125 Church Street
Charleston SC 29401
843-577-7344
www.johncdoyle.com

Step inside the doors of Ebb Tide Art Gallery and you’ll find yourself awash in a sea of colors.

Across the river from downtown’s art hub, this recently opened gallery is filled with both emerging and established Lowcountry artists, including Steven Jordan, Dee Rhodes, Lynne Hamontree, Joseph Bradley, Austin Ball and owner John Townsend. After 35 years as a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, Townsend has retired and returned to his true love. “I’m always thinking about art in some way, perhaps to distraction,” he says, laughing.

In his east-of-the-Cooper gallery, Townsend has surrounded himself with inspiring art that reflects both modern and contemporary styles—or as he calls it, “local stuff with a different point of view.” Townsend believes it’s important to offer quality art for local homeowners at affordable prices. The gallery is spacious enough so that each artist has his or her own room, which allows viewers to get a comprehensive sense of their work.

Impressionistic landscapes from local artist Deborah Howard fill the cream-colored walls with color. Howard, an established artist, painted the 2006 Cooper River Bridge Run poster and, in 2007, was voted the “Best Local Visual Artist” by readers of the Charleston City Paper. She is currently the artist-in-residence on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay and is living on her boat with her husband, painting (she writes) “the drama of the sunrise, the magnitude of a starlit night, the clear crisp calm of a winter evening just as the sun disappears and the wind dies to a whisper.”

Artist Dee Schenck Rhodes lives and works in Charleston and was last year’s Piccolo Spoleto poster artist. Her abstract marsh paintings reflect the openness of the landscape in a distilled way. “I am interested in the interaction between the land and water,” Rhodes says. “They are such a part of the Lowcountry landscape.” Living on the Stono River, this artist experiments with color and creates layers to evoke the openness of the landscape that is found right outside her front door.

The only non-local artist is 2007 college graduate Joseph Bradley who lives in Greenville and paints small images of birds on silver leaf. Using mixed media in his recent series, Birds on Silver, he depicts colorful and imaginative images of goldfinches, hummingbirds and cardinals.

Local physician Austin Ball’s oil paintings reflect a lifetime on the water. Large-scale works such as “Stono Marsh” and “Tide Pools at Kiawah” reflect the calm sensibility of the landscape. Lynn Hamontree, who lives on Sullivan’s island and has been involved in the local art scene for years, paints still lifes that are rich with color and light. Local favorite, Steven Jordan, shows a variety of his art, including several abstract pieces that reflect his unique point of view.

John Townsend is enjoying the freedom of retirement and paints every day in the back of the gallery. “Something will catch my eye or stick in my craw until I paint it,” he says. His acrylic paintings feature flowers and landscapes. Working with acrylic gels, for example, he creates a textural surface in “Calla Lillies #2.”

Of the gallery name he says, “This is the ebb tide of my life. I haven’t got that much longer to enjoy my life.” He jokes and says he’s spending his children’s inheritance, but for this artist, the dream of a life surrounded by great art has come true—and visitors are reaping the benefits.

Ebb Tide Art Gallery
320 W. Coleman Blvd.
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
843-856-0452
www.ebbtideart.com

Dee Rhodes, Bord

The storage shelf in Summerville artist Karen Silvestro’s studio looks like a work of art.
Taking up most of a wall, it is topped with a dazzling assortment that includes puppets, books, and rubber chickens. The cubbies inside contain items like photographs, sketches and swaths of fabric, and are neatly labeled, “Masks and Marionettes,” “Laundry on the Line,” and “Gene Pool.” This shelf is where Silvestro, a symbolist and surrealist painter, collects and organizes ideas for projects. But her primary source of inspiration cannot be stored there.

“My work is inspired by looking at people,” Silvestro said, “and hearing about their situations.” Her work translates these experiences into compelling images, creating an effect that is simultaneously familiar and surreal. Her painting Carry On, for instance, features a young woman literally carrying herself through a maze infiltrated by crash dummies. Although the image is startling, it is effective. As Silvestro explains, “It’s about old boyfriends, but it really applies to our whole lives. We have to have the stamina to get through and move to the next phase.”

Silvestro’s mastery of symbols may emerge from her talent for illustration, which she studied at New England College under famed children’s book author-illustrator Tomie dePaola. Silvestro continued her education at Pratt Institute. Following graduation, she worked a number of graphics-centered jobs, including painting designs for souvenirs and toys, drafting technical courtroom drawings for a construction company and creating oped pen and ink illustrations. The latter position prompted Silvestro to “develop different ways of thinking symbolically to reach the masses.” One example of this work is Turnstile, which depicts a herd of cows inching through Grand Central Station. It was inspired by her experience in New York.

Silvestro’s current line of work is owed partly to her son, Tyler, who gave her a canvas for Christmas one year after the two noticed it in an art shop. “I had this blank canvas, and I could do what I wanted to do,” Silvestro said. She filled it with an image of her husband, Frank, sporting a birdcage like a hat. The painting, Crossroads, is now the centerpiece of her living room.

Since that time, Silvestro has produced many other surrealistic and symbolic pieces, delightful in form and insightful in function. Such is her Paperdoll collection, which explores the complexities of romantic relationships. Paintings include Pride Fighters, in which a beautiful woman and a peacock of equal presence stand eye to eye, suggesting a sense of spousal competition. Chicks Messin’ with My Head features a man’s disembodied head strung like a marionette and hanging from a woman’s hands. Attached to the neck are a few eggs, out of which fluffy yellow chicks have hatched and are hopping away. The image captures the story of a gentleman who remains tethered to his partner as he chases attractive young women who inevitably “fly the coop.”

Marionettes are important elements in many of Silvestro’s works, including Closed, which depicts a shrouded Middle Eastern figure shrinking into herself. (The companion piece, Open, forgoes featuring a marionette in favor of a nearly naked Barbie doll, poised on a stage and flaunting the sins of the West.)

Often, Silvestro uses marionettes to convey the human tendency of denying accountability. She points to the expression “it was out of my hands,” which her puppet imagery makes literal.

Having explored romantic relationships in Paperdoll, Silvestro is currently working on a new collection about family dynamics.

As with her other works, viewers will be sure to recognize something of themselves in her pieces—as well as something about the human experience.

Karen Silvestro
www.karensilvestro.com

You don’t have to travel far to see art from around the world. In fact, all you have to do is step inside the doors of Ingram Fine Art, where you’ll benefit from the travels of owners Larry and Kirsten Ingram. Surrounded by a selection of art and antiques that include antique Roman glass, 16th-century Japanese pottery, paintings from acclaimed artist Leonard Baskin and contemporary sculpture from Ellie Dolgin, visitors feel as if they’ve traveled through time.

After successful careers in corporate America, the Ingrams decided to leave their 80- hour workweeks behind and submerge themselves in the world of art and antiques.

The couple had a home full of rare objects collected during Mr. Ingram’s travels, so their thought was to share their collection with the public by opening a gallery on the coast of Maine. The years in Maine were successful, but soon the couple wanted to relocate to a warmer climate. They landed in Charleston’s French Quarter.

“They are quite knowledgeable and Larry has a great eye for art,” says Ralph Doering, a Charlestonian who was also the Ingrams’ landlord in Maine. “They are going to be very successful here in Charleston,” he adds.

Unlike other galleries downtown, Ingram Fine Art offers a wide variety of paintings, sculpture, jewelry, pottery and antiques in a range of prices—items not easily found elsewhere. At the top of the price list are paintings by Englishman John Stobart, a preeminent maritime artist. His paintings of harbor scenes and sailing ships depict historic waterfronts in times gone by.

Leonard Baskin (1922-2000) is considered one of the most important figures in 20thcentury American Art. Involved in the arts for over 50 years as a sculptor, printmaker, painter, illustrator, critic, book publisher and educator, Baskin was an important figure. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Vatican Museum, among others.

Innovative, contemporary artists such as Ronald Frontin balance out the historic treasures at the gallery. Frontin’s paintings portray the fisherman and farmers of Maine, reminding viewers of the beauty in everyday faces. Inspired by great art from the past, Frontin was selected by the Senate Commission on Art to paint Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine. His realistic depictions of highranking officials are as authentic as his portraits of everyday people.

Another Maine artist, Roberta Goschke, celebrates the beauty of the figure with nudes that are graceful and full of movement.

Stephen Hodecker works with oils, watercolor, egg tempera and pastel. His work, scenes of rural New England, is rooted firmly in European and American realism.

Ellie Dolgin’s bronze sculptures of figures in various positions—each joyful and full of movement—celebrate the beauty of the human body. Her sculptures are included in the Oprah Winfrey’s art collection as well as in the collections of notable collectors worldwide. Also wonderful are Susan Headley Van Campen’s watercolors of botanical subjects—all exquisite in detail and color.

Ingram Fine Art may be the new kid on the block in the French Quarter, but that’s about all that’s new about the Ingrams. With a wealth of experience and longtime love of fine art and antiques, the couple delight in sharing their treasures with all those who visit the gallery.

Ingram Fine Art
111 Church Street
Charleston, SC 29407
843-577-7047
www.ingramantiques.com