Way before Charleston’s collective allure caught the iPhones of influencers, the city wholly captured the imagination of artists.
It still does.
Ask those in the know about Corrigan Gallery. Walk through the deep red door of 38 Queen St. set in a stucco of the perfect shade of pale pink and you’ll be immediately drawn into light-laced rooms.
As often as not, the art on display draws largely from places we call home. When artists — whether past or present, whether steeped in realism or veering toward abstract expressionism — channel Charleston, the results are as wildly evocative as they are strikingly varied.
Tilting at 20
Through September, Corrigan Gallery will mark its 20th anniversary with special happenings, a group show and giveaways.
On a recent Friday afternoon, keepsake bags lined the front gallery, some already serving as canvas for a gallery artist. Invitations to a Sept. 1 reception are set for hitting “send.” Others are in a go position for the anniversary group show debuting for the Sept. 5 Artwalk.
Lese Corrigan, the gallery’s founder and an artist herself, is seated at a small desk near a large street-facing window. It frames the brick and patina-green trim side of the Dock Street Theatre. Both the views outside and the art let you know that you could be no place but Charleston. For Corrigan, that is no accident. The city and its arts scene have informed one another for centuries.
“The big move was to have Charleston recognized as an arts destination, which it really had been from the early colonial times.”
Think Henrietta Johnston. Corrigan name-checked her as a burgeoning country’s first official portraitist. You won’t find her work at the gallery, but you will find Alfred Hutty, poster boy of the Charleston Renaissance cultural movement of 1915-40. When the Midwestern artist arrived in town, he famously wrote to his wife, “Come quickly; have found heaven.”
Fast forward to recent months, and you’ll be wholly absorbed in photographer Nigel Parry’s large-scale, color-lavish images of iconic local settings, among them a golden sunset on Colonial Lake.
Throughout the gallery, such reverence for place is palpable, local — and creative catnip, too. From Nancy Langston’s organic glass sculptures that look smoothed by the sea, to Hutty’s languid oak limbs embracing stately homes, Charleston bares her seductive power.
“The sexy subtleness of the flow of the tides and the breeze, the humidity, the water, a bit of the pluff mud scent mixing with the tea olive and magnolias,” Corrigan said.
“There’s just this wonderful atmosphere … that is both exhilarating and relaxing at the same time and gives us color and light that is phenomenal.”
What changes, what remains
Still, with all this inherent sex appeal, turning 20 is no small business feat, particularly given the vagaries of the art world, not to mention during a time frame unleashed a recession, a global pandemic and ongoing formidable real estate pressure.
But Corrigan’s aim remained true. The constant has been to show local artists doing non-traditional work. What has changed at the gallery has involved looking back a bit further to add earlier Charleston artists, many of whom were creating work that was non-traditional for their time period, from the Charleston Renaissance to mid-century abstract expressionists like Corrie McCallum.
Corrigan’s driving mission was to make a home for local artists like herself, who could not find an outlet for their work.
“I knew there were other artists that didn’t fit into the traditional galleries in Charleston. And that there was a need for a home for artists whose work was non-traditional and hadn’t necessarily made it big time yet,” she said.
While the artists largely share the Charleston locale, the subject matter is not all Charleston. Yes, you’ll find the transfixing take on a Lowcountry landscape by John Moore, a photographer and structural engineer, or a poignant portrait of a local by David Edwards. But you’ll also consider place in an entirely different way via the sculptural works of Hirona Matsuda, who uses found objects in varying stages of decay to imbue them with layered meaning.
The physical aspect of the gallery has shifted through the years — from its first home the block on Queen Street in the spot now inhabited by Harken, then to Broad Street, and now holding strongly at 38 Queen St., its current and permanent home in a building Corrigan owns.
Through the years, the gallery has bolstered its stable of artists, some living and others not so much. It has continued to enhance its curatorial vision, while hewing to its Charleston roots, holding 132 shows, five estate sales and 25-plus visiting artists, all in all shepherding 10,000 works of art through the gallery.
And it’s going strong. Last year was the gallery’s most successful in its history, Corrigan said.
Artful coexistence
Some artists have been there since the beginning, among them Moore, Sue Simons Wallace and Kristi Ryba. Today it boasts 21 artists, as well as several visiting artists who are local and also from elsewhere.
Parry, who more recently partnered with Corrigan, said he was first drawn to the gallerist by the quality of the artists she represents.
“Because of her professionalism and generosity of spirit, I was delighted when Lese agreed to represent my work,” he said, adding that he has never looked back.
For Corrigan, offering artists and visitors alike a place to engage with a place like no other has buoyed the past 20 years.
“It’s lovely for the artists to feel appreciated and feel like they have a home. It is lovely when visitors come in and go, ‘Oh wow, it’s different.’ I feel like, okay, I’ve accomplished something,” she said.
Throughout the month of September, toasts, special treats and more will mark the milestone. For more information, visit corrigangallery.com.
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