For me, one of the more difficult pandemic outcomes was not having my ‘soul-cup’ filled at art receptions and art shows. And of all the shows, the one I missed the most was the annual art fair on beautiful Isle of Hope!
So, I was delighted to learn that after a two-year hiatus, artists and island residents Holly Jaakkola and Erica Wilson are bringing back the Art and Music Festival on October 22.
Jaakkola says, “Isle of Hope is a beautiful, historic place with many talented chefs, artists, and musicians. The Festival will be a wonderful place for everyone to come together to celebrate these artisans and support the community. We are dedicating this year’s festival to longtime resident Noel Wright, and his late wife, Ruthie Wright, to honor their dedication to the Isle of Hope community.”
Work by 90 artists and makers will be displayed in designated show areas around the Marina and Pavilion, Rose Avenue, Bluff Drive, and Paxton Park, while local musicians will perform on the stage at the Marina. The 3rd Infantry Division Army Brass Band kicks off the day followed by the Savannah Philharmonic, Anders Thompson Trio, Isaac Smith Band, Voo Doo Soup and Monkey Man.
Food trucks include The 5 Spot, The Big Cheese, Dark-Shark Taco Attack, Bayou Cafe, Ark Royal, Down South Cheesesteaks, Tier One Nutrition, Kona Ice and Ben & Jerry’s, while Mathnasium, the Art Bus, and Glitterboxx Studios will be on hand for younger visitors. A fun and creative day for the whole family is planned thanks to Jaakkola and Wilson’s leadership, and the help of many volunteers.
But back to the art! As in years past, the show includes woodturnings by the patriarch of the Bluff, Noel Wright; Chris Roberts’ quirky folk art and clothing; Frond and Fern’s object d’art and paintings by husband wife team Biza and Chad Mabry; Becca Slipper’s ceramics and paintings; and Heather Lindsay Stewart’s simple, yet stunning jewelry. These are just a very, very few of my favorites. It’s honestly all a bit overwhelming for art lovers! How to choose who to write about? In the end, I decide to focus on just two of the many artists creating on the island – ceramicist Carol Lasell Miller and illustrator Lindy Burnett.
Former graphic artist and event coordinator for the City of Savannah’s Public Information Office, Lasell Miller paints highly realistic acrylic portraits of Savannah characters. The pinnacle of her painting career was her 2017 solo exhibition, “Low Country Callings.”
Two years in the making, it showed at Savannah’s Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum and featured men and women who make their living on the water.
When I visit her home studio however, it is not to discuss paintings, but to look at the fabulous ceramic pieces she sculpts with the same exacting precision employed in her portraiture. Lasell Miller enrolled in her first clay class with the City’s Cultural Arts Center in early 2000: “There’s just something cathartic about it. You forget everything and play. One day, we were getting ready to close and I had a little bit of clay left. And I made an octopus.”
Today, the artist has a whole collection of strangely beautiful octopi, many of them transformed into serving platters, candelabras, or soap dishes, with tentacles and suckers rendered in amazing detail and realistic textures. Lasell Miller has taken sculpture, wheel, and hand building ceramic classes with the City and, as part of those classes, was taught glazing. She now uses her own colorful glazes, painting her bisque-fired pieces at home, before transporting them back to the Cultural Arts Center for a final firing.
We discuss her fun Covid octopi, first created during lockdown; shrimp and dolphin whistles; hand-built lambs and pigs; elegant carved pieces made in collaboration with her Cultural Arts teacher Cameron Frost; and oyster shells with images of the little boys and girls who worked at Bluffton’s Van & Platt Canning Company at the turn of the century.
Famed photographer Lewis Wickes Hine took images of these young shuckers in 1910 as part of his documentation of child labor on behalf of the National Child Labor Committee. At seven years of age, in her second year as a shucker, Rosie Berdych was one of several children he photographed. That image, submitted into the public record, helped enact child labor laws in the early 1920’s. Lasell Miller pays homage to these children with a stunning, museum-worthy piece called “Dozen on the Half Shell.”
Literally a few doors away from this talented painter and ceramicist is the airy, open plan home of newly arrived Isle of Hope resident Lindy Burnett, her husband Rob, who captains a boat on the nearby intercoastal, and orange tabby cat, Mango.
Burnett grew up in Europe, the daughter of a pacifist chaplain in the US Army.
“We didn’t have much money. We camped everywhere on vacation and went to every dang museum.” She attended Macon’s Wesleyan College, but it was not until “years later,” she says, “when I KNEW I had to be an artist, I went to Portfolio School in Atlanta.”
That schooling laid the foundation for a highly successful career as a professional illustrator for high-end advertising campaigns for such companies as Kellogg’s, Budweiser, and the High Museum.
“Being an illustrator is a lovely life,” she tells me. Her national rep. made all business contacts and contracts, and she was free to be creative. One of the highlights of her career was illustrating The Book of Wizard Craft – a whimsical, happy, Harry Potter-like children’s book of white magic which sold immensely well.
A small-scale version of Burnett’s last commission, an 18-foot mural to be installed in the pedestrian walkway of an Atlanta company housed in Peachtree Tower, lies on the dining room table. But the days of commissions are almost behind her, and we step into her custom designed, sun-filled art studio to look at current work. Inspiring images from other artists she has found on Pinterest and Instagram are pinned to bulletin boards. And everywhere are the pastel, tropical colors she favors in her own work: “I’m so into pink right now!” she laughs.
The artist says that the change from a busy, lucrative, career to that of fine artist was a slow and intimidating process. Acclaimed Savannah-based artist and illustrator, Katherine Sandoz, graciously mentors Burnett in a volunteer capacity, giving her the guidance and confidence to make the transition. “And finally, one morning,” she says, “ I started creating and it was fun again. Now, I would rather paint than eat. Rob and I never argue because Lindy is happy!”
Looking like collages, Burnett’s playful paintings of marshes, foliage and landscapes are created with water-soluble gouache applied straight onto chipboard. She is slowly moving into a less illustrative and more abstract style which, for her, is a giant, exciting breakthrough.
“This is what I want to do. I want to paint on a much bigger scale and keep it simple.” Her work is clearly loosening up now that she no longer has the size and subject constraints of her former career.
Come see for yourself next weekend at the Isle of Hope Art Show where Burnett will sell prints and original paintings. Follow her on Instagram @lindyburnett80. And Lasell Miller will show paintings and hand-built ceramics, along with boatbuilder husband Frank’s mugs and cups. Reach her at [email protected].
Isle of Hope Art Show hours are 10 to 5pm, and Isle of Hope Music Festival hours are 10 to 8pm on Saturday, October 22, 2022. Admission is free to the public. More information at iohartmusicfest.com. Proceeds donated to Isle of Hope Historical Association dedicated to collecting and presenting the island’s history, building community spirit, and spearheading the initiative to preserve the historic character of the Bluff area by seeking a Local Historic District designation.
