The bounty of Lowcountry art never fails to amaze. We’ve been celebrating this remarkable scene in the plaza of The Shops at Sea Pines Center with our First Thursdays Art Market for the past several months, and beginning in March, this celebration gets a whole lot more – more artists, more art forms, and more fun.
“March Rise,” by Michael Neiderer.
Beginning with the First Thursdays Art Market of March 4, the exhibits will include accomplished local artists from all around the area, in addition to the favorites who reside in Sea Pines. Sculpture, pottery, and wearable art will join with paintings and photography. Artists who work in wood, prism-cut steel, glass, encaustic wax, and mixed media will present their pieces.
The chance to talk it over with them as we browse their selections has drawn residents and visitors alike to the lovely, open-air plaza that The Shops at Sea Pines Center enfolds. Sensible precautions enabled us to carry on the occasion beginning last year, when many of us needed it the most.
Why Art Got So Big Here
People who’ve been everywhere move to the Lowcountry and remark on what a big, vital, bubbling arts scene they find. Surprising as it might seem to the newcomer, there are reasons behind the abundance of art in the sea islands and along our Carolina coast.
Inspiration is the reason that comes to mind first. Established artists who visit our region have been known to drop everything and move here, in response to the different world of beauty they find. The birds, the trees, the subtropical plants, and even the ground itself – which seems to decide several times a day whether it is dry land or not – prompt practicing artists to see things in a different light.
And many who’ve kept the artist within them, as they lived the life of careers and families, are inspired to discover that artist within when they move to the Lowcountry. Classes at the Art League, and simple self-discovery, have produced notable artists from among these arrivals who are inspired to begin practicing their art, when they begin to breathe in the beauty they find here all around them.
This is How We Celebrate
Our support for the artists of the Lowcountry has a distinctly local intent. As local businesses ourselves, The Shops at Sea Pines Center thrive in part from the energy, creativity, and power of attraction that the Lowcountry arts scene provides. Giving back is in our nature.
Beginning with the Artists of Sea Pines, whose home gallery is right here among The Shops at Sea Pines Center, we seized the opportunity to spread that support beyond, and to include local artists from all around the area.
Together with popular musical artists and entertainers, they present a lovely opportunity to usher in the evening, as spring approaches, from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on March 4 – and on each First Thursday beyond. See the exhibits, talk with the artists, and relax in the lovely plaza of The Shops at Sea Pines Center, while you enjoy special merchant offers, live music, complimentary wine samples, specials, giveaways, and more.
This is Why We Celebrate
“Shopping local is so important,” said Andrea Bragg of Forsythe Jewelers, a cornerstone among The Shops at Sea Pines Center. “We are your neighbors, we shop in your shops, we eat in your restaurants, so please come support local business and local artists.”
“Seeing the pleasure that art can bring to people, we are excited to have a setting that adds to it,” said Hilton Head painter Pam White, who coordinates the artists for the monthly exhibit. “The trees and fountain and flowers of our plaza here in The Shops at Sea Pines Center offered us a ready-made oasis where folks can relax and enjoy the art, and even to talk it over with the artists.”
“Many artists came here as visitors, and decided to make this their home,” Pam said. “In a lot of cases, the chance to discover the artist within them came from their move to the Lowcountry.”
Join us to enjoy, to support, and to celebrate the local art inspired by our lovely Lowcountry. This is how we celebrate First Thursdays at the Shops at Sea Pines Center.
