Concurrent Solo Exhibitions by Dayton Colie and Michael Fowler on view in North Charleston

The City of North Charleston’s Cultural Arts Department is pleased to announce that watercolors by Dayton Colie and oils by Michael Fowler will be on exhibit at the North Charleston City Gallery from March 1-30, 2013. The artists will host a free public reception at the gallery on Thursday, March 7, from 5:00-7:00pm.

Band of Blue by Dayton Colie
Every day when Dayton Colie walks out of his classroom at R.B. Stall High School he encounters music. The marching band, the steel drums class, and the chorus can be heard right down the hall. The rhythms and melodies created by the students permeate his soul on a daily basis.  As a musician, he appreciates the impact of the positive musical energy that radiates in his direction. As a painter, he does his best to depict the essence of the music and the spirit of these young musicians with his brush. In Band of Blue, Colie presents a collection of watercolor paintings created over the last two years as he’s followed the music makers of R.B. Stall High School.  “The students’ talent has both a positive effect on the community and the people around them,” he states. “Few people get to see this powerful reality, so I’ve decided to share what I have seen and heard with the public.” There are things that cannot be shared through paintings – the sound of the spectators cheering, the band at a parade, people in the stands at a football game moving to the beat of the drums, and the pulse of the steel drum band when they perform at a community event.  These are experiences Colie hopes his paintings will inspire people will seek out to experience in the flesh. Throughout history artists have offered viewers glimpses into the unique perspective of their reality. Dayton Colie offers viewers a glimpse into the Band of Blue.

Dayton Colie received a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatrical Design from the College of Charleston in 1996 and a Masters Degree in Media Arts from the University of South Carolina in 2006. He has designed sets for films and musicians such as Jump Little Children and the B52’s and has received a number of awards and recognition for his art work and short films. In addition, Colie is a seasoned musician. He began teaching at R.B. Stall High School in 1999 and has served as Department Chair of the school’s Fine Arts Department for the last decade.  

Recent Huescapes by Michael Fowler
In Recent Huescapes, painter Michael Fowler presents a collection of landscapes in oil, painted from both memory and imagination. These lyrical paintings are crafted with a formalist approach, focusing on both color and shape relationships. Fowler’s artistic response in contemplating nature is to capture something of landscape’s pleasantness. In his case, it is the landscape’s often unexpected harmonies of color and shape.

“Usually between my encounters with nature and my work with paint, something I never before realized about the landscape becomes clear,” he states. “Often the act of painting, and then contemplating the product, consists of insights and feelings which can have no verbal explanation. My artistic experiences with paint, and hopefully the viewers’ experiences as they pause to view and contemplate, remind us that seeing comes before words— that art reaches beyond the verbal and gives form to the emotional.”           

Michael Fowler received his BA from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, with a focus in Advertising Design. He then attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was awarded his MFA in Painting and Drawing with a minor in Art History. From there, Michael attended the University of Memphis in Tennessee, gaining his Doctorate of Education in Higher Education. Since completing his rigorous academic schedule, Michael has given workshops and taught at various universities. He is currently holder of the Mary Durban Toole Chair of Art, and teaches design and computer graphics as Professor of Design at the University of South Carolina Aiken. The extensive list of Michael’s exhibits spans the southeastern U.S. and further and his paintings hang in a number of public and private collections, including the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, the Medical College of Georgia Cancer Center, the McColl Center for Visual Art in the Hearst Tower in Charlotte, NC, the Bryan Memorial Hospital in Nebraska, the First National Bank in Missouri, and Sutter Heath in California. Fowler has two daughters, and lives with his wife, Kathryn, in North Augusta, South Carolina.   

The North Charleston City Gallery is situated in the common areas of the Charleston Area Convention Center, located at 5001 Coliseum Drive in North Charleston. Parking and admission are free during regular Convention Center operating hours, 9:00am – 5:00pm daily.  The gallery is staffed on Friday, Saturday, and Monday only.   Inquiries regarding the artists or purchase information may be directed to the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department at (843) 740-5854. For information on additional exhibits, programs, and events, visit the Cultural Arts section of the City’s website at http://bit.ly/culturalarts.

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