Pause | Connect Artists

In the upcoming gallery exhibition, Pause | Connect, at TRAX Visual Art Center, Sandy Cook has curated work from many artists from the Lake City area and beyond. The gallery holds different pieces of work that celebrate artists from all backgrounds and tell their stories. The artists contributing to this show are below.

Jennifer Altman: The winding limbs of pecan and oak trees surrounded Jennifer Altman growing up in the rural south. Her art work reflects southern scenes that that have both amazed and intrigued her since childhood.The artist has a Master’s in School Psychology. She is a psychologist working and living in the local Lake City community. Jennifer began creating oil paintings in college. She also studied the Plein Air Painting technique in Southern France. Jennifer enjoys painting live models. She finds her greatest satisfaction in conveying landscapes, architecture, and people within the rural south. See her ArtFields 2015 artwork here!

Colleen Critcher: Critcher is a visual artist fascinated by commodity culture, kitsch, and plastic things. Her works routinely explore images of whimsical figurines, most commonly garden gnomes and dinosaurs. Through careful visual exploration into seemingly menial things, the work reveals the powerful emotional significance of common objects and serves as a commentary about the role consumption culture plays in modern happiness. She inserts herself and others as characters in a humorous narrative, weaving personal reflections into a truly complicated web of consumerism and human emotion. Critcher received her MFA in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2012. She currently lives in Florence, South Carolina where she maintains a studio and teaches at Francis Marion University. Click here to explore her website!

Jan Chenoweth: For Chenoweth, art has been a life-long pursuit enriched by her formative years in South Florida and unquenched wanderlust.  She was born in Miami Beach, Florida in 1945 and after many stops along the way, now resides and works in Lake City, SC.  Her BFA studies were primarily at the University of Illinois and Virginia Intermont College with a concentration in painting. She received her MFA in Studio Arts with a sculpture concentration from Florida State University. Her early years in the tropics provided a rich stimulus for the sense of color and texture that have remained a vital part of her art throughout her career. Colors, forms and structures have always been starting points for her art. Click here to view her website and learn more!

Lynda English: English is a native of Florence, SC, who has been painting for over 40 years. She is a Member of Excellence in the South Carolina Watermedia Society and a Signature member in the Southern Watercolor Society (SW) and the Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA). She and business partner, Jackie Wukela, own the Lynda English Studio-Gallery in Florence, SC. Lynda teaches an Open Studio class (all media) at her Gallery and teaches watermedia workshops across the State. Lynda’s artwork can be found in several South Carolina bank collections, government offices of Charleston, SC , the McLeod Hospital, and private homes across the United States and in Germany. She also continues to paint portrait and landscape commissions in watercolor and oils. Check out her website here to discover more about her artwork!

Mike Fowle: Fowle is a self-taught, contemporary sculptor working in multiple media.  He is an approved artist for the South Carolina Arts Commission and maintains a working studio where he creates art for public and private collections. Fowle began art studies with Ceramics instructor Yosuke Haruta, with an emphasis in traditional wheel thrown pottery and glaze calculation at Jackson College, Jackson Michigan in 1979. In 2005, Mike Fowle assisted Patz Fowle in an International Artists-in-Residence at the American School in Japan in Nomizu Chofu-shi, Tokyo, Japan. In 2008, Fowle was commissioned to create a permanent Wall Installation Sculpture commemorating the Environmental Discovery Center at the Lynches River County Park in South Carolina. Mike also had a sculpture in the Palmetto Hands 2008-2009 traveling exhibition sponsored by the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department.  Mike’s Sculpture titled “New Blue Shirt” was also exhibited in the South Carolina State Museum 2009. A collaboration with Patz Fowle won the 3D People’s Choice Award at ArtFields in Lake City, SC. Visit his website here!

Patz Fowle: Fowle is a professional 2D and 3D visual artist and innovative teaching artist. Examples of her award-winning art and original techniques are chronicled in numerous art publications and featured on a short documentary on a SCETV series on PBS.  Fowle began traditional ceramic arts training under the direction of Master Potter, Yosuke Haruta. In addition, she has studied briefly at Parsons School of Design/Adelphi University, Kansas City Art Institute, Savannah College of Art and Design and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she is a mentor for the Teacher Institute in Contemporary Art. Fowle is an art instructor for the SCAD Educator Forum summer program at Savannah College of Art and Design and was the recipient of the 2015 3D People’s Choice Award at ArtFields in Lake City, SC. Check more of her work out on her website here!

Symon Gibson: Gibson is an installation artist and painter residing in Lake City, South Carolina. A graduate of Francis Marion University with a focus in ceramics, he earned is degree in 2012. With nature as his inspiration, he gravitates towards using natural or recycled materials in his work.

Douglas Gray: Gray is a Professor of Art at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina. He joined the faculty in 1997 and is responsible for teaching Ceramics, Ceramics Sculpture and Three-Dimensional Design. He holds degrees from the University of North Texas and the University of Louisville. His work has appeared in several periodicals and books including: Pottery Making Illustrated, Ceramics Monthly, Clay Times, Southern Living and the Lark Books’ 500 Series. Originally trained in functional pottery, his work has evolved to include sculptural and architectural forms. He is particularly interested in color and surface, as developed on glazed and unglazed ceramic works. Gray has also been accepted and participated in ArtFields numerous years. Learn more about him here!

Ashley Hamilton: Hamilton is a painter currently living in Lake City, SC. A native of Nashville, Ashley began her art education at Nashville School of the Arts. She spent a year studying abroad at Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia, where she focused mainly on printmaking and installation. She received her BFA in drawing and painting from University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. Ashley’s work often explores issues regarding the struggle of self-identity, focusing on psychoanalytical notions such as displacement and repetition compulsion. Although trained as a painter, her work exists in an expanded field of painting, manifesting in various ways including performance, sculpture, installation, and video. Click here to view her website and learn more!

Roger Halligan: Halligan has been creating sculpture professionally since the mid seventies.  After graduating with an MFA with honors in Studio Arts from the University of Georgia in 1977, he moved to North Carolina where he became an exhibit designer for the North Carolina Zoological Park.  As part of a team of artists they developed award winning design/build  naturalistic habitats for a variety of species of wild animals.   He left the zoo in 1992 to devote his time to his fine art  work.  In 1993, the design team was awarded the State of North Carolina Governor’s Award for Excellence for their working in the design and construction of the Sonora Desert Habitats. In 2007, he was awarded an ArtsMove Chattanooga Grant and relocated his studio and home to downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Most recently he and his wife, the artist Jan Chenoweth have moved their home and studio to Lake City, SC. Click here to view his website and learn more!

Uschi Jeffcoat: Born in Germany, Ursula Ann Jeffcoat goes by her childhood nickname Uschi. She is German-American and finds her home in both cultures. Although she works in all media, watercolor is her favorite due to the thought process its execution requires. Typically, her work is a visual moment of reflection of the life and spaces she encounters. She holds a degree in German and a minor in art from the University of South Alabama. Most recently she has returned to the classroom to teach German within the International Baccalaureate program. She also serves as the curator of the Adele Kassab Gallery located within Francis Marion University’s Hyman Fine Arts Center. Previously she worked within the nonprofit sector as the executive director of the Florence Regional Arts Alliance. Her career paths tend to vacillate between a love for language and the Arts. Learn more about her art on her website by clicking here!

Cornelia Joyner: Joyner developed her delicate, realistic style of painting through many lessons and years of self-teaching. Her art is inspired by an appreciation for the love of nature she learned from her father and the many flowers her mother grew. She works from her studio in Lake City nestled among the oaks, overlooking the fields where tobacco and corn once grew. Joyner has shown in Charleston, Lake City, Charlotte, Hilton Head, and Hartsville with her work found in private collections across the United States, England, and Australia.

Mary Ellen Judge: Judge is a painter from South Carolina. Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, surrounded by flower power, peace, love, and with an explosion of colors and design, Judge was drawn to bold and vibrant patterns and decoration from an early age. She began her art career in the late 80’s when the female figure became her main source of inspiration. Judge considers herself as an experimental artist by finding new ways of applying materials to her artwork by using collage materials, recyclable items and stitchery to her paintings. Her work is playful, subversive and often humorous. She holds a BS in art education from Francis Marion University and an MFA from Lesley University. Currently, Judge is teaching visual arts in a public high school and continues to paint and create in her home studio every day. Click here to check out more of her work on her Instagram!

Milton Miles: Miles is a Lake City native with 29 years of creative hair experience. He owns Miles of Style Salon on Sauls Street and has participated in ArtFields as a venue for many years. An artist himself, Miles specializes in abstract artwork that is used to accent his shop. You can also find his work featured permanently at The Inn at the Crossroads.

Sarah Helen Mishoe: Mishoe, a graduate of Winthrop University, is a long-time art educator. Having taught over 25 years at Lake City High School in Florence School District Three and seven years part-time at the Carolina Academy doing the art special area for grades 1-6, she is now enjoying retired life and playing with a new grandbaby. She is also developing her own artistic style in oils. Nature and landscapes are favorite subjects in her paintings. She’s exhibited most recently at the Visit Lake City, SC office as a feature artist. Check out her piece from ArtFields 2014 here!

Julie Mixon: Mixon was born in Toledo, Ohio, but moved with her family to Southeast North Carolina at the age of three. She grew up in Calabash, North Carolina and currently lives in Florence, South Carolina where she teaches as an Assistant Professor of Photography at Francis Marion University. Prior to teaching at FMU she taught art courses at Lenoir Community College for seven years. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in photography from Barton College in May of 2002 then went on to East Carolina University to earn a Master of Fine Arts Degree with a concentration in photography in December of 2004. Mixon has been exhibiting her image-based media regionally, nationally and internationally for the last 12 years. To view more of her work visit her website here!

Tiffany Thomas: Thomas is a native of Florence, South Carolina. Born in 1985, she was raised on a farm and experienced the ups and downs of living a farm life. She incorporates her childhood into her paintings by using bright colors, which are associated with playfulness and collage paintings with reclaimed wood that her family discarded from old houses, buildings and dumpsters.  Her clay of choice is translucent porcelain, fired with colorful stains and glazes. Her ceramic work focuses on an array of designs; from cups and mugs to light fixtures and table pieces. All of her pieces are hand carved. Tiffany graduated from Francis Marion University in 2012 with a degree in Visual Arts with concentrations in ceramics and painting. Her goal is to not only sell art nationally online and through galleries and craft shows, but also to demonstrate to others how art can bridge communities and make the world a better place. Click here to view her website and learn more!

Kimberly Washburn: Washburn is a visual arts educator and artist, working primarily in sculpture and textiles. Since graduating in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Art Education from Francis Marion University, Kimberly has taught in public schools and worked to advance Arts Education in the Pee Dee. She currently serves as the Curator of Education at the Florence County Museum. Kimberly was the 2017 recipient of the Florence Regional Arts Alliance’s 2017 Greg Fry Arts Educator Award.