It’s always nice to hear Thank You.

Thank you Gibbes Museum for sharing this with us. It’s always good to know that funds are being used in the manner in which they were intended. Keep up the great work in arts education! We need you.

12 Questions with West Fraser: Travel Edition

Travel has long been an important part of an artists growth. Being able to capture different environments and depict them in the same skilled manner in which you paint those environments with which you are familiar allows the artist to stretch their artistic wings, so to speak.  It keeps them from getting stale, formulaic, boring (and bored…) West Fraser has long been an advocate of painting his ‘home country,’ as his two books from USC Press demonstrate, he has mastered his beloved Lowcountry and South Eastern shores. When we asked him if he wanted to do a travel show with paintings from recent visits to Sicily, the Almalfi Coast, and Costa Rica, he said ‘Heck Yes! Let’s do it!’ 

On Friday May 4th Helena Fox Fine Art is proud to present ‘Artist’s Travels: Featuring West Fraser’ a new collection of paintings from Italy and Costa Rica. In preparation for the show Helena Fox Fine Art gave West 12 questions that everyone was just dying to know the answers too. 😉

El Invierno Pasado   Playa Buena Vista, Costa Rica   32 x 40 inches   Oil on linen  2018

12 QUESTIONS WITH WEST FRASER

1. When did you begin painting?  I drew and painted some as an adolescnet into my teens, but I started painting and making illustrations full time after college.
2. What are the three most used pigments on your palette? White, blue and yellow.
3. What did you want to be when you were a child?  I wanted to travel to capture a world that at the time I believed would transition from what I knew into a crowded place. Part of that was because I was surrounded by rapid development. I tell people I am living the life I envisioned when I was only 13 years old.
4. What are you reading?  The Lost City of the Monkey Gods by Douglas Preston and On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor.
5. What is your favorite style of music to paint to? 70’s rhythm and blues or Jazz
6. What is a defining moment, or couple of moments, of your artistic career? First: a published article in Nautical Quarterly in 1984 with an exhibition and representation by The Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City on 57th St.–at the time it was the oldest representational art gallery in NYC. Second: in 2001 a museum exhibition tour and book titled Charleston in My Time. Third: an exhibition at the Telfair Museum in Savannah, Ga.–my birth city–titled A Native Son.
7. How do you describe your art to others? It’s like, you know, American Impressionism or Naturalistic Impressionism, the kind of art
   

   Percorso degli Antichi  Sicily

   that you would enjoy looking at…

8. Name the top five artists–living or dead– by whom you have been influenced the most. N.C. and Andrew Wyeth, F.J. Mulhaupt, J. S. Sargent, Winslow Homer, Joaquim Sorolla, Anders Zorn, and  C.C. Cooper.
9. What do you look for when out scouting for places to paint? Composition and the play of light or atmosphere, that is what matters, subject is tertiary in importance.
10. Since this is a travel painting show, if you could go anywhere to paint, where would you go and why? Peru and Chile, because there are still wild places and indigenous culture, and Scotland because I have always wanted to see the land of my ancestors. Anybody want to trade houses?
11. Do you think traveling to paint different areas is important to your growth as an artist? It is paraount to staying fresh, because I don’t want to be a method painter. New places and shapes, atmosphere etc…keeps me observant and forces creative technique.
    

    Pizzaria ‘Ntretella  Naples, Italy

12. What piece of advice would you give to someone just starting out? Work hard and focus on your specialty. For me I made a decision in the beginning to concentrate on coastal regions to find subject matter and inspiration; it really did not limit my scope or travel.

What do you know about Hobcaw Barony?

Opening on January 28th The Gibbes Museum in Charleston, S.C. is exhibiting a show of West Fraser’s work, many of the paintings are ones featured in ‘Painting the Southern Coast’. This exhibit is the 9th one-man show of Mr. Fraser’s work, and the 3rd one-man show at The Gibbes Museum.

Painting the Southern Coast: The Art of West Fraser, published by the University of South Carolina Press in July 2016, shares not only Mr. Fraser’s talent as an artist, but also his love of the area he calls ‘My Country.’ “Painting the Southern Coast’ contains history, art, as well as insight into the things Mr. Fraser finds compelling. The book is divided into seven sections, starting with Georgetown, S.C. and continuing along the ‘Georgia Bite’ to St. Augustine, Florida. Follow along with us as we give you a bit more insight into the areas that West explores with his art. Some of the information will be historical in nature, other information will be personal, and of course all will encompass West Fraser’s wonderful light filled paintings. As with the book, we will start in Georgetown County with Hobcaw Barony, one of the largest land grants in South Carolina and the area which would provide South Carolina with much of its income before the ‘War of Northern Aggression,’ through its vast fields of ‘Carolina Gold.’

‘Washo Reserve’ | Santee Coastal Reserve, S.C. | 30 x 36 inches Oil | 2014

          Hobcaw and waccamaw are familiar names in the South Carolina lowcountry. To the native americans, these words defined the area which carries the name– ‘between the river,’ or ‘coming and going.’ Hobcaw Barony was the name given to the largest of the land grants in Georgetown, South Carolina and encompasses the area between Winyah Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Winyah Bay is fed by several rivers originating in the upstate—the Black, Pee Dee, and Sampit—also named for Native American tribes who populated South Carolina.

‘Winter Fog’ | De Bordieu, S.C. | 20 x 24 inches Oil | 2008

               The colonial land grant known as Hobcaw Barony was established in 1711 and was later subdivided into individual plantations by Lord John Carteret one of King George’s lord proprietors. The area was the second largest producer of ‘Carolina Gold’ rice and was also a well known producer of American caviar and indigo. Georgetown was an important stop on the King’s Highway, which was established by King Charles II as a means for the colonies to better communicate with one another and extended from Charles Towne all the way to Boston.

‘Slave Cabin on the King’s Highway’

Hobcaw Barony, Georgetown, S.C. | 24 x 36 inches Oil | 2008

             In the early 1900’s successful Wall Street financier, Bernard Baruch, purchased Hobcaw Barony for use as a hunting preserve. The plantation was visited by many of the influential men of the day including Winston Churchill. When Bernard died, he left the property to his eldest child, Isabelle W. Baruch.

‘Many Springs’ | Hopsewee Plantation, Georgetown, S.C. | 26 x 36 inches Oil | 2014

                Belle, as she was known, led a life of great accomplishment. She was a great sportsman–sailing, hunting, and riding were her greatest passions, along with a care for the environment in which she lived. ‘The preservation of this pristine living laboratory was made possible by the extraordinary foresight of Isabelle Wilcox Baruch, known to all as “Belle”—a remarkable woman well ahead of her time. She was a conservationist in an era when that word was barely understood, much less widely used. She was also an intense competitor who thrived on challenge, fought against long odds with grit and tenacity, and was determined to govern her own destiny in a world that, because she was a woman, often tried to tell her what to do.’ (Charleston Magazine ‘The Baroness of Hobcaw” September 2013. Also of interest in reference to Belle Baruch and art.)

We are fortunate to be able to visit Hobcaw Barony and immerse ourselves in the plantation culture of the past. Learning, and understanding, the past is a great way of helping to guide us in the future. For more information about Hobcaw Barony, or to donate to the foundation, please visit http://www.hobcawbarony.com

For information about ‘West Fraser’s book Painting the Southern Coast: The Art of West Fraser’ USC Press 2016, reproductions, or original art, please visit https://westfraserstudio.com   or http://www.helenafoxfineart.com

The Gibbes Museum–West Fraser’s 3rd One Man Show Opens Saturday

West enjoying himself in Costa Rica

The past year has been full of extraordinary happenings for West Fraser and West Fraser Studio

“Sunlight” as seen on the cover of Painting the Southern Coast

In July of 2016 ‘Painting the Southern Coast: The Art of West Fraser’ was published by The University of South Carolina Press. By October, the first printing had sold out. Extraordinary.

Soaring Wings | 54 x 72 inches | Oil on linen

In September of 2016 the Montage Hotel at Palmetto Bluff opened; the hotel houses one of the largest single collections of West Fraser paintings around. When you walk into the lobby of the hotel and look over to the reception desk, you can see the largest painting West has ever completed. ‘Soaring Wings’ was commissioned to be the centerpiece of the collection and is an absolutely stunning piece of work. This too is extraordinary.

This week, January 28, 2017, the Gibbes opens ‘Painting the Southern Coast,’ a collection of paintings reflecting the book as well as many paintings that represent Mr. Fraser’s mature painting style. This will be West’s third one-man show at the Gibbes, his first was in 1986 (when it was still the Gibbes Gallery of Art), and he was the youngest artist to have a one-man show.

Tuscan Hill Towns | 22 x 46 inches | Oil on linen

He now has another first, this will be the first show of a single living artist since the museum re-opened in May of last year. And as director Angela Mack said, it better be good. We at West Fraser Studio and Helena Fox Fine Art think it’s better than good, we think it’s extraordinary.

If you are a member of the museum, please join us on Friday evening at 7pm for a preview of the show.

Please stay tuned to our website, Facebook page (West Fraser Studio), Instagram (@westfraserstudio) and email (info@westfraserstudio.com) for information about West’s guided tours of the exhibit happening throughout the run of the show.

Thank you to Adam Parker and The Post and Courier for a well written article about both West Fraser’s and Jacob Lawrence’s exhibit at The Gibbes Museum.

Read the Article here.

From Field to Finish

There is a lot of talk about plein aire painting, but what exactly does it mean? Borrowed from the French, to paint ‘en plein aire’ literally translates to ‘open air,’ it refers to painting outside, on location, in all kinds of weather.

Tour The Confederate Home

Have you ever walked past this door on Broad Street and wondered what lay beyond? On Thursday October 29, 2015 you can come on in look around and have a glass of wine and a nibble of food as well.

Progression

Often people ask how long it takes for West to finish a painting. It’s a fun question, well no, not really. I once heard him answer the question with what was basically a mathmatic word problem. It was something like this: I’ve been painting all my life, so let’s say 50 years plus a few days, maybe a few months, plus a few hours, plus another few days, plus a year or so, plus an hour or so for stretching canvas and maybe a few extra hours for contemplation.

What Is A Chicken Bog Anyways?

We all know that rice was grown in the lowcountry during the colonial era. There are reminders everywhere of our by-gone rice culture. But have you ever thought about what happened to these fields after they stopped growing rice? Many of them were sold to wealthy northerners for hunting plantations. Evidently the rice fields became a wonderful home for ducks.

An Interesting Read

Recently West received a copy of a book by Mark R. Stoll, Inherit the Holy Mountain: Religion and the Rise of American Environmentalism. It is a fascinating read; especially for a self proclaimed lapsed Presbyterian as myself. In Stoll’s book he states that a “high proportion of leading figures in environmental history had religious childhoods,” but “curiously few were church goers as adults.” This definitely applies to West Fraser.

A New Website and a trip to Italy

I now have a beautiful new website thanks to the talent and diligent work of Kate Sondag. Thank you very much!

This past May, Helena and I completed an epic trip to Italy. Most of our time was spent in the Sienna region of Tuscany. We stayed with some friends at an estate la Foce that was made famous by the writings of owner Iris Origo.