April is bursting with art events! Let’s start off by mentioning three largescale shows worthy of your attendance:
The Spring SLAM (Savannah Local Artist Market) is Saturday, April 13 from 10 to 4pm at the Salvation Army baseball field, 3000 Bee Road. The brainchild of indefatigable octogenarian Charlie Ellis who I wrote about back in 2021, this will be the 9th iteration since its inception in 2019. The market features over 80 artists in a huge variety of mediums, multiple food trucks, music, a community canvas art project, Renegade Paws rescue with information on pet adoption, and Manifesting Mobile, an immersive 3-D art collection, will be promoting sustainable art practices: truly a family-friendly art fair that is fun for everyone! Incidentally, this month Charlie will be honored for his support of local artists and for his generous donation to nonprofit Arts Southeast when the organization renames its main gallery the Ellis Gallery.
Later on Saturday the 13th is Arts on the Coast’s Art in Bloom fundraiser at the Outfitters Amenity Center at Heartwood in Richmond Hill from 6-9pm. Floral designers (including some of Savannah’s acclaimed Harvey Designs, Sandfly Flower Shop, Madam Chrysanthemum, and John Davis) will use flowers and other organic material to interpret each piece of art on display.
Tickets are available through the nonprofit’s website and include cocktails, heavy hors d’oeuvres, and live music by the Savannah Philharmonic. Jurors Jime Wimmer of SCAD, Kip Bradley of Telfair Museums, and AOC patron Alice Steyaart have selected works by Brittany Nearhoof, Joy Dunigan, Darcy Melton, Dianne Reeves, Tiffani Taylor, KK Wilson, Vinette Trivitayakhun, Dana Stickler, Heather L. Young, Kathy Hatcher, Adam Leland, Paul Downs, Patricia Harper Mathews, Anthony Canamucio, Madison Byler, Miles Barner, Brenna Baluh, Peggy Jo Aughtry, Brian Gilbert and Angela Roe.
It is sure to be a fabulous and fancy evening.
The 35th Annual Landings Art Association Spring Show is Tuesday, April 16 from 5 to 8pm at the Palmetto Ballroom at the Landings. With a $5 cash admittance, there will be over 200 paintings, photographs and pieces of three-dimensional art and jewelry on display. Most of the artists will be available to discuss their work, and there will be a cash bar, silent auction, and live music. This much anticipated event benefits arts in education and is open to everyone – simply tell the gate you will be attending the show. The 2-D judge is SCAD Professor and Savannah Gallery of Art managing partner James Mravec, the photography judge is Julia Frances Vericella, BFA, and the 3-D judge is Brain Morganlander, MFA, ceramic technician at SCAD and instructor at Clayer & Co. It is always fun to see which pieces the judges select and to read their written comments explaining their decisions.
I spoke with Elizabeth Slocum, a member of LAA for almost ten years and President for five, she is a nationally best-selling and award-winning artist of acrylic and mixed media. For this show, she combined forces with fellow ten-year LAA member Jim Guerard, a National Geographic and Smithsonian award-winning photographer. Both Slocum and Guerard are partner artists at Signature Gallery in historic City Market and Slocum’s work can also be seen at 45 bistro located inside Broughton Street’s Marshall House.
Together, they collaborated on a mixed media piece entitled “A Lion in Time” which features one of Guerard’s most iconic images - a male lion on alert in the wilds of the Serengeti - combined with one of Slocum’s antique clocks. It features a repurposed clock face, crystal, gears, springs, vintage drawer pulls, rotary phone dials, and hardware.
Hosting most of their events in a gated community may seem like a deterrent to non-Landings residents joining the organization, but Slocum insists “the Landings Art Association is probably one of the most creative and professionally run community arts organizations in Savannah.
It offers a wide variety of opportunities to its members and promotes aesthetic enrichment and education within the greater Savannah community by encouraging and coordinating interaction of artistic activities and endeavors among members.” I know from prior involvement that it presents multiple opportunities for members to show and sell their work, and it offers excellent workshops – including an upcoming Lori Keith Robinson oil painting workshop April 16-19 entitled “How to make your color sing for a more dynamic painting.”
Far from the Landings, Jeanette McCune continues to do and to show important work in her Cleo, the Project Space.
I first wrote about McCune’s groundbreaking model of supporting artists (honorariums to exhibitors and full shipping reimbursement for out-of-town makers) last January when she was in a teeny space in the Starland District. Today, the gallery has found a new home at 915 B Montgomery Street and has reorganized as a non-profit. Stop by this month to see Water Features, a show by Danni O’Brien of Baltimore, MD and Kevin Kao of Greenville, SC which will be on display through April 27.
Meanwhile, over at the bustling Gallery Espresso at 234 Bull Street, accomplished painter Sandra Dutton - interviewed in a cover story in September of 2022 - has her solo show Allegro opening on April 2. Paintings hang through May 31, with a reception on the evening of April 12.
Don’t miss the wonderful solo show, water ways, by Katherine Sandoz (covered in this month’s print issue) at Laney Contemporary Gallery. The lotus-inspired paintings and sculptures will be installed through June 1 with an opening reception from 6-8:30pm on Thursday, April 4.
And, finally, a shoutout to my Open Studio-at-the-Jepson painting buddy, Chris Sheffler, who will display her oil still lifes and plein air paintings in a solo exhibition at the SCI’s Learning Center, on Jasper Street (between Barnard and Bull) through May. Meet Chris during her opening reception on Friday, April 5 at noon.
