Culture
Here are some of the artists, groups and happenings that we support.
A Bethel, Vermont native, Artist Nathan Durfee migrated to the southeast to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) to become a traditional portrait artist. Nathan’s artistic aspirations first showed themselves in the classroom: a self-described “doodler,” moments of boredom became sketches and designs in notebook margins.
His fanciful, often abstract subjects share an organic connection with his informal school-day sketching. Despite his uncanny subjects, his paint application is studious and technically informed. How he paints, he says, is more important than what he paints.
When he’s not at work or at his studio, Nathan is busy riding his bike and sketching people and scenes in his Moleskine notebooks. He’s taken great advantage of Charleston’s picturesque downtown area, with its coffee shops, restaurants, and parks, life-watching with the same sort of constant curiosity as last-century Parisian artists sketching at their sidewalk cafes. Nathan has also become quite busy with digital art, using the computer to combine his paintings, drawings, and photography into new works of art.
A New York City native, Julio Cotto was born into a world of art. His grandfather, Abednego Rivera, was an oil painter, photographer and photograph retoucher from Ponce, Puerto Rico. His mother, uncles and aunts were also artists.
Cotto’s proclivity for art and family history brought him into the comic book world where he began working with two of his uncles who owned an underground comic book company in Greenville, SC. In 1998 Cotto moved to Charleston to work on his comics and begin painting.
In 2001 Cotto began hanging paintings in various restaurants, bars, clothing stores, galleries and cafes. His works have been seen all over town including: Charleston City Gallery, Scoop Studios, Robert Lange Studios, Torch Velvet Lounge, Charleston Harbor Gallery, Belle Muse, REDUX, Eye Level Art, Guerrilla Cuisine events, all Kulture Klash festivals and more. Julio and his art have been featured in Charleston City Paper, Charleston Magazine, Charleston Barfly Magazine, The Post and Courier, Lucky Magazine and The Link. Cotto is a 2005 Addy Award winner and was voted ‘Best Local Visual Artist” 2004, 2006 and 2008 by Charleston City Paper readers.
Redux Contemporary Art Center is a Charleston, SC nonprofit arts organization committed to the fostering of creativity and the cultivation of contemporary art through diverse exhibitions, subsidized studio space for artists, expansive educational programming, and a multidisciplinary approach to the dialogue between artists and audience.
Housed within a 6,000 square foot warehouse are two galleries, fifteen private artist studios, print shop, darkroom, woodshop, classroom, and film-screening area. Redux is committed to showing artwork by national and international artists, supporting local artists, and enriching the Charleston community by offering adult and youth education programs. As the only arts organization in Charleston providing these much needed opportunities, Redux maintains an ambitious schedule of exhibition, outreach, and studio programs to accomplish our goals.
Parliament is a coalition of business owners, entrepreneurs and free agents with a goal to help the Charleston region realize its full potential as a creative community.
It’s a diverse group of creative professionals that gather, make decisions collectively via much discussion, and take on projects that are deemed mutually beneficial. And fun. It’s an all-volunteer adhocracy of folks dedicated to cultivating creativity and generating positive economic impact in our community.
Located at 2 Queen Street in the historic French Quarter District of downtown Charleston, Robert Lange Studios represents painters who exemplify the best in contemporary American Realism and Abstraction. The work exhibited comprises a wide diversity of styles and subject matter. There artists stand out for their imagination and distinctive personal approach. All of the artists represented have had formal training and are dedicated to expanding their art knowledge with continued education. Gallery owners Megan and Robert Lange are committed to providing a forum for art based on individual, subjective style and awareness. This dedication has created a reputation for the gallery of consistently finding new and interesting artists. RLS joined Charleston Fine Art Dealers Association (CFADA) and the French Quarter Gallery Association shortly after opening. As member of the two association RLS participates in French Quarter Art Walks four times a year on the first Fridays of March, May, October and December and the CFADA Fine Art Annual and the Pallette & Palate Stroll.
Born in New York, Rebecca moved throughout the Northeast before attending Anderson University in South Carolina. Grabbing her B.A. in Art: Painting & Drawing, she moved to the Charleston area to pursue a continued career in custom framing and freelance art.
As an artist she prides herself on her ability to undertake virtually any project without sticking to one particular style or subject matter. After successfully working with oil and watercolor, she has now turned her attention to India ink. Ink helps her to let go of her control over the medium and focus on expressing energy and mood. Rebecca still continues to live and work in Charleston, SC.
