I have written before about the little jewel of a gallery with the intriguing name located on the edge of Savannah’s Historic District…
“Rule of Three” refers both to the classical art principle (divide any composition into thirds vertically and horizontally, and then place the key elements of the image along these lines, or at their junctions, and the resulting arrangement will be more aesthetically pleasing) and to the fact that owner and curator Stephanie Forbes (b. 1991) is one of three artists in her family.
Graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2019, she calls herself Savannah College of Art and Design’s first “double legacy” student as both her mother and father graduated from SCAD before her.
Born and raised in Augusta, Forbes opened Rule of Three (RO3) with the intention of earning curatorial experience and of providing a space for artists to build their portfolios and gain exhibition experience.
In one short year, this intelligent, spiritual, and beautiful young woman has curated impressive shows by Nora Harrison, Deborah Oden, her father Rob Forbes (SCAD Summa Cum Ladue, 1986), Maggie Hayes, and Heather Szatmary, whilst also having exhibits of her own work.
In celebration of such a stellar first year, Forbes is presenting a curated group exhibition in her hometown of Augusta in partnership with the Greater Augusta Arts Council.
“A Year at RO3” opened last week and hangs through Nov. 2 in their City Gallery. It features work from Stephanie and Rob Forbes, Oden, Hayes, Szatmary, and Gabrielle Torres.
Simultaneously, Augusta’s Pontone Gallery presents Forbes’ “Divine Armor and the Lowcountry” – her collection of delicately crafted oyster shell sculptures inspired by third and fourth century Roman armor, oyster paintings, and installations. “Divine Armor and the Lowcountry” was created during Forbes’ second (yes, second) prestigious SCAD Alumna Atelier-ship, and first shown during her month-long artist-in-residency at Charleston’s Emeline hotel this August.
Using oyster shells collected from local beaches, the armor exhibition references St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, outlining his analogy of entering into spiritual battle during his imprisonment by Rome.
But back to Savannah. This young woman does not stop! To further celebrate her Gallery’s first year of operations, Forbes will show a collection of oil-on-wood-panel portraits of Widespread Panic band members as a precursor to their performances at Enmarket Arena on Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29. A gallery reception will be held prior to the concert from 2-4 p.m. each day.
Of course, as Forbes says in her press release, “Panic at RO3” also celebrates “the vitality of live music and a resilient and vibrant band whose fanbase is as passionate as the musicians themselves.”
Widespread Panic formed in Athens in 1986 and is often compared to other jam bands like Phish, Perpetual Groove and The Grateful Dead. Though only a Panic fan since meeting her husband, Forbes has always painted to music, often witnessing how music influences her brushstrokes.
In her senior year of high school, she conceptualized a Band Art project where she selected eight to ten artists to perform alongside a chosen band on stage. The artists painted rapidly during two to three songs, the process highlighting how the music influenced their physical body movements and painting gestures.
Forbes ran Band Art for three years, with proceeds from the musically inspired artwork benefitting a summer camp for children and young adults with traumatic brain injuries. In a full circle moment, some proceeds from the “Panic at RO3” show will be donated to the Jolly Foundation, set up by Savannahian Mary Ellen McKee who suffered a traumatic brain injury during a trip to see a Widespread Panic concert in 2002.
Forbes will display oil portraits and prints of the six Panic band members as well as portraits of the original, now deceased, guitarist Michael Houser (the band was named for Houser’s frequent panic attacks) and the original, now deceased, drummer.
“This is a passion project,” she explains. “I love breaking up my heavy conceptual work with these kinds of shows.” Earlier this year, she presented “Lonely Hearts,” a show of portraits of dogs waiting to be adopted which benefited the Humane Society of Greater Savannah.
After October Forbes plans to take a well-deserved month’s hiatus and present a Christmas show. Long-term, she hopes to continue her path both as an artist and gallerist. It is a heavy financial burden for this young creative, but she so relishes being a conduit for others’ “life movements” as she calls them.
“The whole idea of generational impact has been the ‘red thread’ in all of my shows,” Forbes says. Perhaps the supreme example of this was when she showed her father Rob’s work (see my April 20 column “Rob Forbes: Out of the Darkness”). A boy given up to the Department of Family and Children’s Services, who subsequently grew up in an abusive foster care home where he was denied toys, and who never quite understood his adult compulsion to collect Hot Wheels, the show “Childish Things” was an incredibly cathartic and healing time for him…
…I was so moved to see the black and white photographs Forbes took of her biological grandfather when he came to that show. She wrote on Instagram: “A humbling moment to have captured that will live in a sacred pocket forever. If you know my dad’s work, you know the story…There’s just something about the fact that we all deeply crave a father’s love and will reconcile in any time and space for even just one sweet moment of it. And it’s never too late to show up for the people you love. And this is how art moves in us, through us, with us, for us.”
“It’s been such a wild year,” Forbes tells me. “I’ve never worked so hard in my life.” Come support her latest show and her journey. She deserves it.
Sponsored by Anthony Debreceny of Southern Cross, receptions for “Panic at RO3” are Friday and Saturday, Oct. 28 and 29 between 2 and 4 p.m. at Rule of Three Gallery, 915B Montgomery St. Forbes worked for Debreceny for eight years and he has generously helped cover costs of materials and gallery needs for the openings. (The events are not in collaboration with Enmarket Arena or with the band.) Find out more at ro3gallery.com or @ro3_gallery on Instagram.