Alicia Leeke Art Reception in Charleston this Week

ART OPENING in CHARLESTON, SC

Paintings by Alicia Leeke

copyright belongs to the artist

The Charleston Artist Guild Gallery in Charleston, SC, will present the exhibit, Coastal Inspirations, featuring works by South Carolina artist, Alicia Leeke. The exhibition will be marked with an opening preview reception from 5-8 p.m. held Friday September 5. The exhibit will continue until September 30. Using the term she coined for a new era of art, called “Fabaism,” Leeke offers her personal interpretations of Charleston and transforms familiar scenes into modern-day masterpieces. This new body of work focuses on the impact color and abstraction has on landscape painting. The artists' love of the coast extends back into early childhood where family vacations were spent exploring the woods, dunes and tides of South Carolina’s coast. Called a Contemporary Master, her creativity is inspired by the French Salon painters and how they captured history, social conscience and architecture by painting the people and environments surrounding them.

Complementing each painting is a robust combination of dry brush painting techniques to create texture. She manipulates acrylics to capture the thick rich texture of oils and mixes a palette full of rich reds, vibrant oranges, shocking blues and sharp white accents.

Her gentle distortions of linear perspective are a fundamental element to the overall design of her creations and are a necessary ingredient in the composition of her pieces. In fact, they create such a positive visual response that many viewers want to step inside each painting.

The gallery is open Monday through Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and is located at 6 North Atlantic Wharf, off East Bay Street and across from a convenient parking garage. You may contact Alicia about her paintings by calling (803) 429-5456, 888-429-5456, via email at leekeka@hotmail.com or by visiting her website at http://www.alicialeeke.com/.

2009 Flowertown Festival Call for Artists & Runners

The Annual Flowertown Festival was established 36 years ago to support the programs and community outreach of the Summerville Family YMCA. The Flowertown Festival has since become a nationally acclaimed event—drawing over 200,000 visitors to Summerville to see the wonderful arts and crafts, sample goodies at the Taste of Summerville and enjoy the Children’s Jubilee. All set against a backdrop of azaleas, dogwoods, and wisteria in the Town’s lush Azalea Park, the Festival is one of the largest events in the Southeast. The 2009 Festival will take place Friday, April 3—Sunday, April 5, 2009.

Twelve years ago, the Annual Flowertown Festival Run was added to the Flowertown Festival activities as the official kick-off event. Located in one of the South’s most beautiful locations, downtown historic Summerville, the Flowertown Festival Run draws over 850 runners every year. The run includes three distances: 10k, 5k and one mile—a distance for everyone’s pace. The 2009 run will take place on Saturday, March 14, 2009. Proceeds for both events benefit the Summerville Family YMCA.
Contest details:
- Entrants are asked to submit original paintings, drawings or digital artwork to represent one, or both of, the above mentioned events.
- The design entry must be appropriate to be used on T-shirts, posters, brochures, billboards and other promotional materials .
- No more than three (3) entries per person are permitted. Entries must be received no later than October 13, 2008 at 5:00p.m.
- The contest is open to all legal residents of the United States, except employees of the Summerville Family YMCA .
- Entry fee: $15/entry. Please make checks payable to the Summerville Family YMCA.
- Student entries will be entered in (and eligible to win) the open competition.
- Designs must be original to entrant.
To enter, send your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and design created by you for the event(s) indicated above. Only entries that comply with all contest requirements (listed below) will be accepted. Please mail your entry to:
Summerville Family YMCA
140 S. Cedar St.
Summerville, SC 29483
Attn: Liz Graham
You may also e-mail your entry with your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and an e-mail attachment that must be saved in one (1) of the following formats jpg, gif, eps, bmp containing your t-shirt design entry. Please email to: lizg@summervilleymca.org.
All submitted designs become the property of SFYMCA upon receipt and may be published in any medium by SFYMCA without additional compensation to entrants. The SFYMCA is not responsible for late, lost, misdirected or illegible entries. From all eligible entries received, the SFYMCA judges will select one winner based on design’s originality, creativity and reflection of the event image on or about October 24, 2008.

The winners will receive their choice of either $300 or a booth space at the Flowertown Festival (valued at $350), as well as 6 t-shirts and 10 posters. All other expenses and all federal, state and local taxes are winner’s sole responsibility. No transfer or substitution of prize is allowed. The winning design(s) becomes the property of the SFYMCA and may be modified as necessary. The winning design(s) will have sponsor logos added and the placement of those logos is at the discretion of the SFYMCA.

(Photo: of art done by Jean Bourque)