West & East Gallery | July 16th — September 5th | Opening Reception: July 16th from 5:30pm — 8:30pm

Katelyn Chapman | Artist Statement

My work explores episodes of working-class life in America’s rural South through the lens of my own family and friends in the Midlands of South Carolina. I index my upbringing in this place by referencing backroad dispositions in conjunction with symbols of faith and Christian iconography. By painting these accounts, I celebrate, honor, and show reverence towards the customs and traditions of the rural working-class South.

Relying on rich history, storytelling, and the ephemeral quality of change that span past, present, and future tenses; I primarily focus on the function of the still life in rural spaces—both wild and domestic—as practical makeshifts and collections. The work often toys with paradox and humor to buttress these themes through depictions of off-the-grid habits as they relate solely to living off the land. These ideas are crucial to building messages that point dually towards the literal and figurative challenges and undertakings in the Bible Belt region. In the American South, this notion provides perspective on larger societal issues that point to a past that can’t be thrown away, but instead lingers on into the present.

Katelyn Chapman | Artist Bio

Katelyn Chapman received an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Georgia in 2018 and a BFA with an emphasis in Drawing from Clemson University in 2014. Her work is inspired by her deeply rooted familial and rural ties to the South and has been in both national and local group exhibitions and published internationally. Chapman is a three-time Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grantee ('19, '21, & '24) and is the 2026 Griffith-Reyburn Low Country Artist of the Year. She has been awarded residency fellowships to attend Vermont Studio Center ('19), The Hambidge Center ('21), and The Gibbes Museum of Art ('24) among others. At the end of 2023 she left her full-time job as a Professor of Art to fully pursue her art career. She is represented by Southside Gallery in Oxford, MS and Hampton III Gallery in Taylors, SC. Chapman currently lives and works in Charleston, SC where she paints from her home studio and leads artist workshops both online and in person.

Website: katelynschapman.com Instagram: @kschap

Andrew Blanchard | Artist Statement

For more than a decade, my work has volleyed between personal-reflection and the presence of objective visual reportage. Double entendre is ever more present in which pseudo-religious, socio-political, and quasi-racial curiosities are embellished by a hybrid of print and photographic processes and techniques. Mother Nature coupled with humanity's imbalance often share space within my works, indicating that notions of community activism and brotherly love are often plagued when partisanship overshadows civility. My works also touch upon prickly issues such as boundaries and division, as well as the balance that can be found by summoning yesteryear wistfulness, negative or positive.

From having to regularly survive storms along the MS Gulf Coast as a kid to witnessing the magnitude of destruction from hurricane Katrina as a young adult, much of my artwork has incorporated water-centric abnormalities, calamities, and the awe-inducing prowess of Mother Nature’s revenge from the impact of humankind. Storms like the recent Helene have me wondering if there is anywhere to reside without escaping her wrath, and how one navigates obstacles such as access to potable water, inconsistent precipitation, and the hope for sustainable solutions going forward.

Andrew Blanchard | Artist Bio

Andrew Blanchard grew up wild in the swamps of Louisiana and Mississippi. The Ole Miss Art Department found him naked, removed a thorn from his paw and awarded him an MFA. To date he has avoided jail and is currently a Full Professor of Studio Art at Converse University in Spartanburg, SC, as well as a life-long resident of the MS Gulf Coast. His work resides in the permanent collections of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans and the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, and it is featured or forthcoming in publications including Ecotone, Electric Dirt, The Hand, Printmakers Today, New American Paintings, the International Painting Annual (nos. 4 and 7), Southwest Review, the Oxford American and ROOTED. He is represented by Southside Gallery in Oxford, MS and LeMieux Gallery in New Orleans, LA.

Website: andrewblanchard.net