The City Gallery on July 19 will celebrate the opening of a new exhibition, Preservation Through Art: Charleston, on view until Sept. 8, with proceeds of artwork sales to raise funds for local preservation causes.
The beneficiaries of artwork sales include the Preservation Society of Charleston, the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, Drayton Hall Preservation Trust, American College of the Building Arts, Charleston Waterkeeper, Charleston Parks Conservancy and more.
The nonprofit behind the project, Preserving A Picturesque America (PAPA), uses the power of the arts to protect and preserve natural and historic landmarks across the country. PAPA’s Founder and Executive Director, Scott Varn, is an artist and longtime conservationist who started his nonprofit project 14 years ago after becoming inspired by America’s first travel book published in the late 1800s, Picturesque America.
The project has resulted in exhibitions like this one all over the U.S., most recently in Saluda, N.C., as well as a PBS docuseries which premiered in February and featured Charleston as a key location.
Then and now
This is a unique “then and now” exhibition, where each participating S.C. artist created new interpretations of the 150-year-old etchings of local vistas in Picturesque America. More than 50 artists will show work, including Charleston legends like Jonathan Green and Mary Edna Fraser.
The Picturesque America travelog, created by Appleton Press between 1872 and 1874, included over 900 engravings of natural and historic landscapes to raise public awareness of our country’s bountiful beauty. Varn said the book played an important role in the protection of natural lands and historic places.
PAPA aims to follow in the brushstrokes of those artists to rediscover the same places and document their current state of existence. In the exhibition, you’ll find a work by Fraser that depicts present-day White Point Garden, for example, next to an enlarged reproduction of that same area as it was depicted in Picturesque America.
Each artwork will specifically raise funds based on what’s depicted: a painting of the Ashley River, upon purchase, will see the funds split between the artist and the Charleston Water Keepers.
“Art is a great way to bring people into the cause, to inspire people towards preservation,” Varn said.
Coming together over nature
Varn emphasized that Picturesque America helped to reconnect our nation as we were recovering from the Civil War during the time of its print. He hopes his project can do the same in a time of hot political division.
“Preservation is an issue that goes beyond party lines; these depictions of nature remind us that there are things we all agree on, like the importance of being a steward of the natural environment.”
He also said the conversation that got him started with the PAPA project over 14 years ago was actually one with his kids.
“I was having a conversation with my kids and charging them to be good stewards, talking about how important this world is and how important it is to take good care of it. Well, they threw back at me immediately, ‘Well, what do you do, Dad?’ I realized, I think about these things as an artist, but I’m not actively participating.
“So it was that nagging part that in the back of my mind and in my heart — I realized we could take this so much further beyond just the treasure hunt to find these places. The exhibition is a summation of all of our work, to go back, not just to find these locations, but then to invite S.C. artists to recreate them so we can look back and see if we’ve been good stewards or not.”
Charleston has been a unique location for Varn in the project for its significant successes in preservation, he said.
“It’s always a very disappointing moment where entire forests are gone, where instead of a historic icon, there’s a Walmart, terrible things like that. But Charleston is one of the most heartwarming success stories that I’ve ever dealt with in my entire experience of doing this for 14 years…
“So I hope people can see really clearly with the ‘then and now’ why preservation is so vital.”
Fundraising through artwork sales
PAPA is slowly creating chapters throughout the country with this project, bringing in artists, historians, art and nature lovers, all to create lasting positive impact on our natural world. The exhibition offers works made in varied materials — from oils to watercolor, sculptures and more — and empowers diverse voices from our Palmetto State, Varn said.
“The mission of PAPA is to help bring awareness, but also raise funds for the people that are actually the boots on the ground and are actually doing the work. As artists, we can touch people’s hearts. We can motivate them. We can inspire them. But it’s nonprofits like the Charleston Waterkeeper who are measuring the E.coli levels in the water. Or we have the Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor doing amazing things for keeping the cultural aspects of Charleston from getting lost — you’ll see 20 or so pieces that focus on that.”
Varn said his hope is that the exhibition’s impact follows its way into your home.
“When the art’s hanging on your wall, it will remind you of why these places need to be protected. When you tell your friends the story behind it, that influences continued care for these historic, natural places.
“We’re actually going to make a difference here. I’m finally answering my children’s question now. PAPA is giving artists all around the country the opportunity to give back to their muse; the thing that inspires them. They can give nature a voice. That’s what this show is all about.”
City Gallery hosts the opening reception of Preservation Through Art: Charleston, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. July 19 and an artist talk at 2 p.m., Aug. 11. Both events are free and open to the public. Learn more about PAPA at preservationthroughart.org.
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