"O'Hear Cottage" by Elizabeth Kalman
The City of North Charleston’s Cultural Arts Department is pleased to announce that concurrent exhibitions of fiber works by Ella Kokinda and glass and mosaic works by Elizabeth Kalman will be on display at Park Circle Gallery from January 2-February 1, 2025. The artists will host a free public reception at the gallery on Friday, January 3, from 5:00-7:00pm.
Spaces : In Spaces – Fiber Works by Ella Kokinda
In Spaces : In Spaces, North Charleston based PhD student and artist Ella Kokinda presents an intimate view of three important spaces in her life, showcased through tufted rugs. Rather than constraining creativity to a single theme, this exhibition celebrates the rich diversity of inspiration found in her sewing and crafting room, her kitchen, and garden. Through this trilogy of mini exhibitions, Ella explores how artistic practice is not limited to one style, theme, or idea and embraces how every aspect of our lives can be inspiring to make and create.
Ella Kokinda has been an artist all her life, with various pieces from K-12th grade being displayed at the Coastal Carolina Fair, as well as participating in AP Art in high school. She created work off and on for herself and friends until 2020 when she started her laser and fiber art business and has been attending local artisan markets and maker fairs over the last 4 years. Ella has created work for Redux Contemporary Art Center and MUSC’s Healing Arts Program and has exhibited in the SC Palmetto Hands Juried Fine Craft Exhibition at the North Charleston Arts Fest and the James Island Arts and Cultural Center. Learn more about the artist at kokicraft.com.
Liminal Places: Stories in Glass – Glass and Mosaic Works by Elizabeth Kalman
Elizabeth Kalman’s Liminal Places: Stories in Glass is a compilation of mosaic works that are the essence of her life on the edge of Noisette Creek. Kalman has found tremendous creative energy in places that are thresholds, both as essayist and visual artist, and Liminal Places is an exploration of the tension she finds in a neighborhood on the edge of revitalization, in the flowers of the pandemic, on the shore, and beyond to the sea.
Elizabeth Kalman is an essayist and mosaic artist whose essays have been published by the Thoreau Society and the Nantucket Historical Association, as well as other journals and publications. She earned an MFA from Seattle Pacific University and lives in North Charleston, SC. Kalman made her first mosaic piece, a flowerpot, fourteen years ago. She saw the possibilities for building kitchen backsplashes using pattern and form that would be both functional and suggestive of the natural world. She rapidly transitioned to stained glass tesserae to create joyful artwork featuring subjects in nature, drawing inspiration from her observations in such places as the Lowcountry saltmarsh, Nantucket beaches, as well as hurricanes, flowers, and city gardens. She has most recently been using the buildings and landscapes in her North Charleston neighborhood as inspiration. Learn more about the artist at summerhousecharleston.com.
The Park Circle Gallery is located at 4820 Jenkins Avenue in North Charleston. Admission is free and free street parking is available on Jenkins Avenue in front of the gallery, as well as on the adjacent streets and in parking lots close by. Gallery hours are 11:00am-6:00pm Wednesday-Friday, and Noon-4:00pm on Saturday. For more information about PCG, call 843-637-3565 or email culturalarts@northcharleston.
