Wine and Walking Tour of two Charleston Painters’ Home Studios

October 5, 2019 @ 12:00 AM

Join Society 1858 for intimate, engaging studio visits inside the historic homes of two prominent Charleston painters, Rhett Thurman and Richard Hagerty. This event gives an exclusive look into the wildly creative homes and distinct artistic processes of these award-winning, native SC artists. Inside their studios, each artist will share their approach to painting and demonstrate their unique takes on color, composition, and craft. The event begins at Thurman's lower King Street home studio. Following the visit, the group will stroll a half-mile to Hagerty's Bedons Alley home. Wine and cheese will be served as guests mingle with the artists. After talking with Hagerty, attendees are encouraged to mingle and will have the opportunity to purchase some of his affordable studies. Please note, parking limited. Guests are encouraged to Uber. Location will be provided after registration is confirmed. This event is SOLD OUT ________________________________________ RHETT THURMAN Rhett Thurman grew up in the tiny hamlet of Gramling, South Carolina at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. "It was the ideal way to start life," she says, "surrounded by loving, caring, high expectation people and beautiful scenery." She has lived in Charleston, South Carolina since 1970 where she has painted her entire adult life. Rhett Thurman was one of 10 painters featured in "American Artists in Paris" in 2013. She has achieved national acclaim for both oils and watercolors, winning awards from New York to California, and has exhibited with the prestigious American and National Watercolor Societies, and The Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club of New York. Her work has been featured in national publications and is included in private, museum and corporate collections. Thurman is the recipient of the 1995 Outstanding Alumna Award from Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she earned her degree in Studio Art. Her education and painting experience include further study in Europe and the United States. In turn, she has taught workshops nationally and internationally. In bold palette, her work offers an intimate glimpse at her life experiences. Browsers, patrons and friends are welcome to visit her studio at 241 King Street, in the historic district of Charleston, South Carolina. Rhett Thurman is represented by Horton Hayes Fine Art, Charleston, SC, www.hortonhayes.com and The Red Piano Art Gallery, Hilton Head Island, SC, www.redpianoartgallery.com ________________________________________ RICHARD HAGERTY Richard Hagerty was born in 1950 in Durham, NC, at Duke University Hospital, the place for which he is nicknamed "Duke." He was raised in Charleston and studied at Porter-Gaud School. Hagerty's first serious exposure to art came in his youth, when he attended the salons of the museum and education pioneer, Laura Bragg, in her Charleston home. Bragg introduced Hagerty to the work of the famous Flemish artist, Hieronymous Bosch, and the self-taught genius, Henri Rousseau, whom he deeply admired. Hagerty grew up with his future wife and "muse" Barbara, who joined him at Johns Hopkins University, where he received his undergraduate degree in 1973. The couple married that year, moved to Durham, and he started Duke University Medical School. They began a family, and lived in Atlanta during his residency training in plastic surgery at Emory University from 1977 to 1984. He returned to Charleston that summer and entered his father's practice, which evolved into his own. While painting creative visions in the night hours, he and Barbara have raised a family of four children and now have one granddaughter. Hagerty has also been the focus of numerous solo and group exhibitions at such museums as The Gibbes, Albany, Burroughs-Chapin, and Bascom, and in numerous galleries in Charleston, Atlanta, New York City, Nantucket and elsewhere. He has a special interest in cleft lip-and-palate surgery, and has traveled overseas regularly as a volunteer to train local surgeons in Haiti, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Peru and China. An ardent environmentalist, he is involved in land conservation in several capacities. Hagerty has been actively engaged in civic service, having served as a City Councilman from 1996 to 1999. He retired from his active private practice this year.