The City of North Charleston’s Cultural Arts Department is pleased to announce that concurrent exhibitions of mixed media works by Lauren Ridenour (Charleston, SC) and Chrys Corn Goodman (Alexander, NC) will be on display at Park Circle Gallery from July 2-26, 2025. The artists will host a free public reception at the gallery on Friday, July 25, from 5:00-7:00pm.
Looking Up – Mixed Media Works by Lauren Ridenour
Laruen Ridenour’s work delves deeply into the complexities of mental health, self-reflection, and human connection. Known for a bold, raw approach, the Charleston-based artist uses mixed media to explore daily thoughts, fears, and the layered nuances of the human experience. In her exhibit Looking Up, Ridenour presents her visual journal of becoming a mother - the darkness and the slow, steady shift toward light. This collection captures the in-between moments of losing and finding herself again, of becoming someone new while still holding on to who she’s always been. “It’s about perspective, resilience, and finally seeing the world in technicolor,” Ridenour explains.
Lauren Ridenour has always had a love and passion for creating, but it wasn’t until 2019 on a back-packing trip through Asia and Australia that she decided to pursue art full time. Since then she has produced murals and shown her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the Carolinas. In 2023, Lauren completed an ambitious series that lead to her book containing 365 illustrations, each one serving as a daily journal. This body of work reflects the artist's commitment to authenticity, capturing the spectrum of emotions experienced over time. Driven by the belief that art can reduce isolation and foster empathy, Lauren draws from mundane moments and uses honesty as a central theme, aiming to create an energetic and immersive experience that resonates on a deeply personal level. She currently works from her studio at Redux Contemporary Art Center in Charleston, SC. Learn more about the artist at laurenridenour.com.
Seen & Unseen – Mixed Media Works by Chrys Corn Goodman
Music, words, figures, botanical symbolism, spiritual concepts, and emotions often work together to inspire Chrys Corn Goodman’s work. The North Carolina-based artist tends to paint ‘in a minor key’—reflecting both brokenness and hope. Her exhibit, Seen & Unseen, features a collection of oil and wax mixed media paintings created through an intuitive call-and-response process. Corn Goodman engages with the unseen world of emotion and spirit as she interacts directly with the media and seeks to discover the mystery within each piece.
Chrys Corn Goodman’s family has been in Western North Carolina since the 1700s but she grew up in the Bay Area of Northern California and attended the Academy of Art in San Francisco and California State University Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) where she studied under Corban LePelll and graduated with a BA in Fine Art, cum laude. Today, she has returned to the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina where she lives and works. She is a founding member of the Autonomous Art Collective, and her other membership affiliations have included International Encaustic Artists, River Arts District Artists, and Christos Collective. She has exhibited in shows in California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, Montana, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Massachusetts, India, Ireland, and her work is in several private collections. Learn more about the artist at chryscorn.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 10:30am-5:30pm Wednesday-Friday, and Noon-4:00pm on Saturday. The gallery will be closed on Friday, July 4, for the Independence Day holiday. For more information about PCG, call 843-637-3565 or email culturalarts@northcharleston.