Lowcountry Artists and Authors Featured in Gullah Christmas Show

  Red Piano Too owner Mary Mack. (WP photo
  by Red Piano Too)

Artists and authors of the Lowcountry will exhibit works and autograph books for the “Gullah Christmas” Annual Winter Show December 5, 2009, from 1-5 p.m. at the Red Piano Too Art Gallery on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. The event will also include music and a wine and cheese reception.

The popular holiday occasion got underway as a regular annual event approximately five years ago (2004). “It started off in conjunction with the ‘Gullah Christmas with Aunt Purlie Sue and the Gullah Kinfolks’ event,” said Red Piano Too manager Victoria Smalls. “And it then widened and spread throughout our community here on St. Helena Island, the Corner Community, with the small businesses here celebrating the Gullah culture and Christmas together.”

Featured Artist Amiri Geuka Farris

This year’s featured artist is Amiri Geuka Farrris, whom Penn Center Heritage Days officials also named their featured artist for his 2009 “An HBCU Reunion” painting along with the limited edition poster. The multi-talented Farris is both the author and artist for his book of paintings and poetry, Lowcountry Dreaming. In addition, he has created a number of posters in support of social and political causes, including: the ESSENCE Music Festival, Savannah Black Heritage Festival, Savannah Jazz Festival, Art Fest 06, and AIDS Awareness.

Award-winning The Gullah Experience poster by featured Gullah artist Amiri Geuka Farris.

Former Gullah Artist of the Year Allen Fireall is also scheduled to present both new works and favorite classic art prints at the Gullah Christmas Winter Show:

“In regard to the significance of this show, I feel like all Gullah artists are in their own way historians and any chance to share their stories with the public is important,” said Fireall. “Also, I was speaking with another artist who pointed out that because we have so many art galleries closing now, the fact that the Red Piano Too is holding on in a sea of closing art galleries is very important.”

Gallery Milestone

The Red Piano Too is in fact approaching its twentieth anniversary and generally features work by more than 150 celebrated artists of the past and present. In addition to Farris and Fireall, the gallery also showcases work by Jonathan Bowling, Al Davis, James Denmark, Diane Britton Dunham, Cassandra Gilles, Luther E. Vann ( ELEMENTAL The Power of Illuminated Love ) and many others in the form of folk art, fine art, books, crafts, and more.

The Red Piano Too Art Galler on St. Helena Isand, South Carolina.
(WP photo by Red Piano Too)

The gallery is located on Highway 21 South, approximately ten minutes from downtown Beaufort, South Carolina. It sits one-quarter mile from the National Historic Landmark District of Penn Center, famous as a former school for freed slaves and as a training camp for participants in the nonviolent civil rights struggles, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., in the 1960s.

For more information on The Gullah Christmas Annual Winter Show, please telephone (843) 838-2241 or email Victoria Smalls or owner Mary Mack at redpianotoo@islc.net .

by Aberjhani
National African American Art Examiner and author/co-author of eight books including ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance.

• More on Gullah Culture and African-American Artists: 
  
• Visit the Red Piano Too Website
• Artist Michele Wood Delivers Inspired Holiday Offerings
• A Visit with Amiri Geuka Farris
• Expanding Legacies of Savannah's Diaspora Marketplace
• Phil Starks Gaia Exhibit at Savannah State University
• The Gullah Genius of Artist Allen Fireall
• ELEMENTAL The Power of Illuminated Love
• The Rise of Gullah Diva Sallie Ann Robinson
  
• Portrait of U.S. Southeast Artist Jerome Meadows