We take a trip back to Spoleto Festival USA 2005 with Beryl Dakers for this stunning ETV Classic!
Two Lowcountry natives exhibited jointly at the Spoleto Festival USA. "Rhythms of Life: Selected Works by Jonathan Green" and "Myths and Metaphors: A Retrospective of Art by Leo Twiggs." These artists are similar in that they are both African Americans from the Lowcountry. Both are visual storytellers, paying homage to a maternal culture and drawing upon memories for inspiration.
The artists are of different generations and Green is a painter and printmaker, while Twiggs is an innovator in the ancient art of batik. Green is a full-time artist while Twiggs is a lifetime educator. Learn more about these artists in Side Notes.
While Green and Twigs are both academically trained painters, Twiggs prefers batik, an art form of African and Asian origins. Leo Twiggs received a masters degree at New York University, and in addition to batik, he also uses "found" objects to create his stories. While not as figurative as Jonathan Green's works, they give a feeling, as well as tell a story. Twiggs has an exhibit called the “Hurricane Hugo” and noted that "The hurricane series became more than just a series about the wind."
Side Notes
- Jonathan Green - The Red Piano Art Gallery - While his appeal and perspective are truly modern and cosmopolitan, Green looks to the familiar images of his ancestral home for the subjects of his paintings. In his art Green draws upon his own intimate personal experiences, steeped in the traditions of family, community, and life in the Southern United States. Each of his paintings is a testament to the motivating power of place capturing the continuity of the past combined with the energy, exuberance, and creativity of the present.
- Leo Twiggs - Batik Artist.
- William Starrett - Columbia City Ballet - Off the Wall and Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green.
- Leo Twigs: Requiem for Mother Emanuel.
