Kathy Crowther’s watercolors are crisp with the colors of local beaky critters and proud with botanical details of the Lowcountry. Her new paintings will be on display at the Charles Street Gallery from Saturday, April 26th through May 17, with a reception with the artist on Saturday, April 26th from 5:30 to 9pm.
Kathy has exhibited her work in many juried exhibitions, as well as commissions with the Cleveland Zoo and the city’s Museum of Natural History. Her creative formula combines her love of nature -and its exacting details- with a fascination for geometric designs.
“My works have a fluid moving feeling that leads you from one part of the image to the next. Occasionally I will paint hidden objects as well, which gives you additional pleasure while intimately viewing the artwork. My trademark is the borders. I take subjects from the center and make patterns to complement the main theme. At times, I also paint over the framing mat, lending a sense of continual growth and profusion of color, much like nature itself.”
The show’s title, “A Way of Life” comes from the process of moving to, and falling in love with, the Lowcountry. “With its abundance  of oak trees and Spanish moss, along with the wide variety of floral and fauna, I knew that this would be home,” Kathy commented. “Colors in nature are spectacular and so is the detail. Look at a tiny leaf and see all of the veins and shades of green. That is what I want to pass on to you. Color and detail are the strongest elements of my work. I concentrate on positive and negative space, each has got to compliment the other. It is a bit like putting a puzzle together. I want the birds that I paint to look alive, to look as though they are anticipating something.  I want the viewer to get involved with the painting and to feel that emotion. The features spilling out onto the matt brings a new dimension to the piece, it brings the painting to life as though it was growing. I find art to be an adventure and a challenge to understand nature and its way of life. Andrew Wyeth, an American contemporary realist painter, initially influenced my approach, igniting my passion to capture nature’s emotion with paper and paint. Once, I received a request for a painting of nature, and as I painted, I became aware of my surroundings and the amazing details of color, shape, and texture that encircles us all. Today, it is nature’s bounty and all it’s wonders that are the soul of my work.”
The Charles Street Gallery is an established source for Lowcountry and International art, presented within a carefully renovated house surrounded by a lush garden in the middle of Beaufort’s historic district. 914 Charles Street, 521-9054, www.thecharlesstreetgallery.com