Coastal Community Foundation (CCF) today shared that Taylor Faulkner has been selected as the 2021 Griffith-Reyburn Lowcountry Artist of the Year. This $6,000 grant is awarded to one visual artist each year to support the creation of a new work that represents unique aspects of the South Carolina Lowcountry's lifestyle, culture or environment.
Faulkner, who has been showing her work since high school, studied media arts at the University of South Carolina for two years before leaving to pursue her love of fine arts. She then immersed herself within the arts community in Charleston, appearing in a solo show at Redux Contemporary Art Center in 2019 and connecting with local creatives, while learning and growing in her practice.
For the Griffith-Reyburn Award, she plans to use mediums familiar to her — pastel, charcoal, and oil paint — to create pieces that explore surf culture in the Southeast.
“A lot of people don’t think of the Lowcountry as a surf destination, but the surfers that do practice here are like no other,” said Faulkner. “I want to capture the true style and movement of the surfers, the water, and the history of creating the pieces.”
The Lowcountry Artist of the Year Award was established at Coastal Community Foundation in 2003 by Mike Griffith and Donna Reyburn. The financial support is intended to cover the artist's living expenses during the creation of the piece, allowing more time and energy to be spent on the artistic process.
Once completed in the fall of 2021, the piece will remain the personal property of the artist, to keep, show or sell at her discretion.
