The Reserve at Lake Keowee Artist in Residents in Review
December 2008
Mark Kelvin Horton, Oil Painter – The first artist in residence to The Reserve at Lake Keowee was Charlestonian, Mark Kelvin Horton. Mark is one of the owners of Horton Hayes Gallery located in Charleston. Mark spent a week in December of 2008 establishing our first residency. His work can be viewed at http://www.hortonhayes.com. Mark is particularly fascinated with the effects of light and weather upon the landscape. He paints beyond a literal interpretation of a scene to portray nature in a way that reflects his own ideas and sensibilities while capturing the spirit, color and changing light of a place. Mark worked plein air during his residency, encouraging members and guests to try their hand at oil painting as well. Demonstrations on techniques and styles were done daily. At the end of his residency a oil painting depicting The Reserve was given to the Community Foundation for its permanent collection.
September 2009
Jeffrey Callaham, Acrylic Artist is not only an artist, but a storyteller. Inspired by memories of his childhood and the working life in McCormick County, South Carolina, he creates paintings that portray the stories of Southern culture. “I tell stories with my paintings, so everything usually begins with a story that I remember from my early years, growing up in rural South Carolina,” Callaham has said. Through his use of strong colors and his ability to make his characters come to life on canvas, he paints vivid images of life in the South. His works have been featured in the galleries of Daufuskie Island, Hilton Head, Edisto and Charleston, South Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina. During his stay at The Reserve, Jeffery Callaham taught art classes at local elementary schools. He focused on using recycled materials to create works of art. Through a project Callaham Titled “Local Fishing,” children painted used water bottles, turning them into fish thatwere hung from classroom ceilings with fishing line. Callaham also spent time in his studio, allowing residents to observe him as he created a new work of art that was presented to The Reserve in December of 2009.
Spring 2010
John Smith, Photography –“My goal is to capture the beauty and majesty of the Southern Appalachian Mountains so that everyone can know what it is like to live in the splendor of this region’s four distinct seasons,” explains The Reserve’s 2010 Artist in Residence photographer John Smith. John taught himself how to shoot and develop photographs at the age of 14, after trying to take images of the moon by placing a camera over his home-built telescope. After high school, Smith took his love of photography to work for General Electric Company, and for twelve years, photographed the lighting fixtures made at the plant as well as the installations of indoor and outdoor GE lighting. He went on to own his own photo labs and for 24 years, served the amateur and professional photographers in and around Hendersonville. Smith began shooting landscapes as a hobby in the early 1980s but has been more intensely focused since 1999. In 2008, Smith sold the retail side of his photo labs and is completing his first full year of focusing exclusively on his art. John taught three ongoing photography workshops during 2010 as part of his residency. At the end of 2010 he presented a piece of photography taken at The Reserve for the Foundation’s permanent collection. For more information on John Smith, see his web site at www.johnsmithphotography.net.
July 2011
Russell Jewell, Watercolorist – Russell is an artist/educator from Easley, South Carolina. For more than thirty years, he has carved a career out of the combining forces of art and education. Jewell’s qualifications for such a career include a Masters of Art from the University of South Carolina and a Doctorate of Education in Art from the University of Georgia. During his residency he conducted workshops for members and area residents. He also painted onsite daily, while enjoying his visit within The Reserve with his wife and children. A piece of his work entitled “The Market” was given to The Community Foundation as a thank you for his residency. For more about Russell and his work go to: http://www.russelljewell.com/
2012 Artist in Residents
John Aker, Spanish Classical Guitarist – John was at The Reserve at Lake Keowee was a guest artist-in-residence August 21st-August 24th of 2012. During this time, he performed at Founders Hall and led a group to the Carl Sandburg home in Flat Rock. John has found his love of music in the guitar world to be a conduit between us and Carl Sandburg’s love of the Spanish classical guitar. John was born in Berkeley, California; raised in New York and schooled in Switzerland at the Villa St. Jean International School; attended undergraduate college at Middlebury; began classical guitar studies in 1970 with Phillip Rhinelander; continued under Valentín Bielsa Leganés and Pancho Burgos in Spain; David Grimes in California; completed an MA at Middlebury and the PhD at UCLA in Hispanic Languages and Literatures; taught at Webb School of California; Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame; North Carolina State University; and Wofford College for the last seventeen years. Jhon is fluent in English, Spanish and French; good knowledge of Portuguese, Italian and German.
Martha Beaudrot, Pianist – Martha Beaudrot‘s residency was in October of 2012. During her stay, Martha invited one of her students, Ethan Flowe to perform at a concert for residents and area guests. As a high school student, Martha Beaudrot spent her summers studying at the Brevard Music Center. It was there that she was exposed to the world of music and realized that piano would be her life’s journey. She went on to Furman University where she studied with Ruby Morgan. Winning the Weber Scholarship, she earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance, graduating magna cum laude. From there she went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received a Master of Music in Piano Performance, studying with Francis Whang, and serving as a teaching assistant for two years. She did further study at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, as a student of Maria Luisa Faini. She moved back to South Carolina where she raised two daughters, and has been an independent piano teacher and accompanist for the last thirty years. She has accompanied for the Charleston Opera Company, Erskine College, the Greenwood Festival Chorale, and has taught Music Appreciation at Lander University. She currently teaches piano in her private studio in Greenville, SC. Her other interests include tennis, hiking, and dogs.
2013 Artists in Residence
Matt Hanewald, Wood Worker – Matt Hanewald was our first artist in residence in 2012. Matt is a woodworker who specializes in the making of handmade Windsor style furniture. He moved to Walhalla from Bellingham, Washington in 1994. In addition to making furniture, he is also in part-owner in Stream Works LLC which specializes in the revegetation and environmental restoration of streams and wetlands. Over the past decade he has planted over two million trees on sites from Memphis, TN to Tarboro, NC to Pensacola, FL. During Matt’s stay, he offered a week long workshop for interested participants. Those taking the class were able to take a finished three legged stool by the end of the week. Matt was also onsite during his stay, demonstrating the art of woodworking in the village.
Katherine Scott Crawford, Writer – Katherine is an award- winning writer, newspaper columnist, and college English teacher at Brevard College. She is the author of Keowee Valley, a historical adventure set in the Revolutionary-era Carolinas and in the Cherokee country. After just getting her first book published a few months earlier, Katherine and her family joined the Community for a week of residency. Katherine spent a portion of her residency writing and researching a new book. During her stay she presented both a history of the area around The Reserve , where much of here just published book Keowee Valley is set. Her second talk was based on her book . Reserve Members and guests got to enjoy finding out more about the area and what it really takes to write and publish a book. Katherine was born and raised in the blue hills of the South Carolina Upcountry, the history and setting of which inspired Keowee Valley. Winner of a North Carolina Arts Award, she is a former newspaper reporter and outdoor educator, a college English teacher, and an avid hiker. She lives with her family in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she tries to resist the siren call of her passport as she works on her next novel. More can be found out about Katherine and her book by visiting her website http://katherinescottcrawford.com/
2014 Artists in Residence
George Frein, PhD, is a retired college professor. “Retired full-time,” he says. To keep his retirement up to the full-time level, George serves as the Artistic Director for the Greenville Chautauqua. He also does what many retired people like to do: he travels. But he travels in his own way, and always in disguise. In recent years George has traveled to the South Seas as Herman Melville; to the far reaches of the collective unconscious as Carl Jung; to Washington, D. C. as Abraham Lincoln; to bird sanctuaries from Labrador to Florida as John James Audubon; to Mont Saint Michel and Chartres in France as Henry Adams; to Massachusetts as John Adams and John Winthrop; to Who-ville and Solla Sollew as Dr.Seuss; from Hannibal Missouri, to New Orleans, to Nevada, to California, Hawaii, Europe, the Holy Land, Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, New York, and Connecticut [and now a journey to Keowee, SC] as Mark Twain.
Drs. Tony and Marianne Lenti have been partners in life and the arts for more than 4 decades. They met as students at the Eastman School of Music and began a performing career as a piano duo while living in Florence, Italy. Their playing has since taken them to 33 states, as well more distant locations such as London, Bermuda, Warsaw, Milan, and Florence. ACA Digital Recording of Atlanta released four commercial discs of their playing, with selections ranging from the mainstream of the piano ensemble repertory to Tony’s arrangements of popular songs. Public radio has frequently broadcast excerpts from their recordings, as well as a simulcast of their recital at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The Lentis’ home base has been Greenwood, South Carolina, where both taught as members of the music faculty at Lander University. For a dozen years they also held appointments as the Piano Faculty of the South Carolina Governor’s School of the Arts and the Chamber Music Conference of the Interlochen Center of the Arts in Michigan. They were Fellowship Artists of the South Carolina Arts Commission, and each received the Governor’s Distinguished Professor Award from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. In 2005, after much deliberation, Marianne decided to retire from her teaching and performing activities as a pianist, and embark on another chapter of her artist’s journey. She set out to fulfill a lifelong dream of working in the visual arts. She is now working in many media – charcoal, pastel, oil, and acrylic, and describes her style as American Impressionist. Marianne draws on many sources of inspiration for her works. Perhaps most important are images from her travels – the red tiles of the Lentis’ roof in Florence, the rhythms of the Tuscan landscape, the reflections in the water at Monet’s garden, the swaying palm trees on the beach of St. Croix, etc. She is Artist-in-Residence at the Arts Center of Greenwood, where she maintains a studio/gallery. Tony has remained at his teaching, currently as Professor Emeritus of Music. He has continued with his arranging projects, planning many for performance with his students. He has also had the opportunity to reflect and re-examine music that has been a part of his life for many years. Somewhat like a minister discovering new meaning in a passage of Scripture, Tony seeks to penetrate more closely into the work of the masters.
Tony and Marianne had a variety of residence activities, sometimes jointly presented, at other times individually. The focus of the activities were on sharing the Lentis’ artistic journeys with the residents of The Reserve. Those with musical and/or artistic leanings were welcomed as colleagues; the comments of observers would often led to interesting discussions.
2015 Artists in Residence
About Pan Harmonia – Project Musicians – Flutist Kate Steinbeck has distinguished herself across the US and abroad as a unique interpreter, passionate teacher and innovative music producer. After moving to Asheville in 1997, she created Pan Harmonia and has produced hundreds of concerts. Kate has two critically acclaimed recordings: Light in the Corner (2004) with percussionist Byron Hedgepeth and Luminescence (2010) with guitarist Amy Brucksch and has also recorded on numerous CDs by other artists. She plays on a modern wooden flute manufactured by her husband, Chris Abell, of the Abell Flute Co. Kate has a Bachelor of Music from Baldwin-Wallace College and then won a Fulbright scholarship to Belgium, where she earned a First Prize in chamber music from the Royal Conservatory in Liège. After four years in Europe, Kate spent a decade free-lancing in San Francisco, and earned a Master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory. Classical guitarist Amy Brucksch performs throughout the Southeast, celebrating the rich heritage of the classical guitar, and exploring musical connections with world-renowned musicians as diverse as Celtic fiddlers, Baroque harpsichordists and African percussionists. She has a highly regarded CD, Luminescence, with flutist Kate Steinbeck, and has played locally on the Greenville Symphony Spotlight Series, Brevard College, Wofford College Troubadour Series, and Anderson University. Formerly on the faculty of the University of Toledo (OH) and Adrian College (MI), she was an Ohio Arts Council Touring Artist. Her music degrees are from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Bowling Green State University. She currently teaches classical guitar at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy and has a private studio at Wild Roots Fine Arts Center in Forest City. Amy lives in Tryon, NC and plays a guitar custom made for her by California luthier, Gregory Byers.
John Thomas Fowler – Musician & Storyteller – John Thomas Fowler is an Appalachian storyteller & mountain musician, song collector, author, and radio host from the rolling hills of the Carolinas. His grandparents were from the hills and hollers of the southern Appalachian Mountains. His roots and programs represent these ties. He has been performing for more than 25 years featured at festivals, schools, colleges, and camps. He is a regional favorite at the Stories for Life Festival,Stone Soup Storytelling Festival, Starburst Storytelling Festival,Hagood Mill Storytelling Festival, and Augusta Bakers Dozens Festival, International Storytelling Festival as well as many others. In the spring of 2013 he was honored in receiving the prestigious Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award presented by the South Carolina General Assembly. This award given acknowledges his lifetime achievement as a storyteller and traditional musician. This is the highest award bestowed on traditional artist in South Carolina. In the spring 2014 John released (Kennedy Free Press) a biography based on an African American folk hero and street performer from Spartanburg County, South Carolina, nicknamed Trotting Sally. The reviews have been outstanding!
2016 Artist in Residence
Jenn Bostic is a Nashville based singer-songwriter whose sound deftly blends pop and country. She has spent time on the Nashville writing circuit, found acclaim in the United Kingdom and has played everywhere from the Grand Ole Opry to the Middle East for US troops. As part of her residency, Bostic, who is currently supporting her latest album, Faithful, wrote a song about life at The Reserve at Lake Keowee with Reserve members in a songwriting workshop. Her concert was very well attended which featured a selection of Bostic’s life stories and music, including her song “Jealous of the Angels,” which has more than 2.2 million YouTube views.
2017 Artist in Residence
Charlie Pate was our Artist In Residence during the week of May 14-20th. Charlie is a Painter and Sculptor, who gravitates to pastel as medium of choice. Charlie held a Pastels Workshop hosted a Reception and Art Show and held a Sculpting Demonstration during his time here. Pate’s artwork is a career-long love affair with the natural beauty of South Carolina; his color-drenched cotton fields, reminiscent of his childhood in the Lowcountry; the quintessential seascapes and marshes, drawn from the coast; and from his home in the foothills, his works proclaim the fragile beauty of the Carolina mountains. For more information visit his website
