A Peek into Charleston’s Art Scene

by Kim Henry

It’s easy to see why so many artists are drawn to the charming coastal town of Charleston, SC. From the historic art deco architecture to the beautiful surrounding landscape and thriving art scene, Charleston is a hive of cultural activity, complemented by the ease of Southern living at its best. Here we meet two local artists who have found their forever home in the Lowcountry and are both represented by the Charleston Artist Guild, which has one of

Charleston’s most frequented galleries right in the heart of downtown.

Large-Scale Painting to Pet Portraits

“For me, creating art is like an itch I have to scratch,” enthuses Michele Lavani. Born in Ohio, Lavani moved to the Charleston area in her teens and has never looked back. Quickly realizing she was a coastal girl, Lavani gradually manifested her childhood dream of being a full-time working artist and now specializes in adorable pet portraits and large-scale murals. She is gratefully living her best life.

“I absolutely love it here! My husband and I travel quite a lot, and we’re always so glad to get home. There’s so much to do here, and it’s so beautiful. I recently went to paint the Angel Oak live; how lucky is that?” smiles Lavani. Working for chewy.com keeps the pet commissions flowing in, and Lavani loves every second of her working life.

Motivated by her love of color and textures, Lavani mixes her own palette and layers water-based paints and ink to create unique portraits with an almost 3D quality. “I love painting anything with eyes,” she laughs, surrounded by her latest commissions in her home studio, where she gladly spends most of her time. “I think I’ve painted every pet there is … ferrets, hamsters, even chinchillas!”

Her mural work can be seen in a number of public spaces, including in the Boeing Training Center at Trident Technical College. After submitting a design and landing the commission, Lavani took many pictures of the college and was inspired by the repetitive patterns and shapes she noticed. Using scaffolding to complete this project, the final piece is a large scale honoring of the engineering, angles, and innovation inherent in the technical college.

Non-traditional Art

Providing an entirely different expression of creative energy, Addelle Sanders is a fiber artist living in Charleston since she moved from New York with her family at 15 years old. Now retired and “a woman of a certain age,” Sanders reflects on the non-traditional path of her artistic journey.

“I didn’t study art as a child because that wasn’t really an option when I was growing up in the same way it is now. My mother made all of our clothes so I was constantly around fabric, design, and color,” explains Sanders.

Combining her love of these elements, Sanders’ unique fiber creations evolved over time. Her craft began with jewelrymaking and slowly graduated to the original figurines that have won her awards and have been exhibited in a wide range of galleries, including the Schomburg Center in New York.

Starting with the carved wooden body bases, Sanders then dresses them with her stunning cotton thread designs before displaying them in a glass framed box.

The result: exclusive pieces of art that are quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Using her collections to express her longstanding connection to fashion, Sanders reveals that her figurines are not only a celebration of color, but a tribute to female empowerment. “I call them silhouettes,” shares Sanders, “and it’s very important to me that my work can be appreciated by everyone. People of all colors love my art pieces. I’ve always focused on the importance of self-esteem and the strength of women,” smiles Sanders, who humbly refers to her work as ‘a gift.’

And what a gift indeed both of these Charleston artists provide to the town they clearly hold close to their hearts. Their work can be seen at the Charleston Artist Guild on East Bay Street alongside nearly 70 other artists from across the country and overseas.