13 Local Artists to Look for at Artisphere

13 Local Artists to Look for at Artisphere

Meredith Piper at her opening reception at our Main Street Real Estate Gallery in downtown Greenville in January of 2018

One of our favorite weekends of the year is coming soon: Artisphere! For the 15th year in a row, Main Street in downtown Greenville will be transformed into “Artist Row,” where 135 artists will display their work. Guests can also enjoy wine, craft beer, live music, interactive exhibits, Art in Action, kidsphere, and more! Add in some beautiful May weather and Mother’s Day – you can see why Artisphere is one of the Upstate’s most popular events.

This year, 35 of the 135 artists hail from our area. We know them well, and a few have previously displayed their work in our Main Street Real Estate Gallery. Be on the lookout for these top 13 artists in particular:

  • Sunny Mullarkey (Printmaking) – Sunny Mullarkey is known for her colorful prints, often featuring birds, insects, and nature. If you’re a foodie you may also know her for her restaurant work. Sunny did the iconic mural on the side of The Anchorage, a mural in the private dining room at Husk, as well as exterior signage for GB&D, The Village Grind, Carol’s Ice Cream, and El Thrifty.
  • Kent Ambler (Printmaking) – Kent Ambler’s woodcuts and prints depict his surroundings, which often include his dogs, his cats, the lake, the woods, flowering trees, birds, and more.
  • Meredith Piper (Fiber) – Meredith Piper’s handwoven loose and encased textile pieces are representational of landscapes, fractured light, and patterns naturally found in stones or elements of the earth, distinguished by pastel hues and light-colored wood.
  • Marie Gruber (Photography) – Black and white fine art photography is Marie Gruber’s specialty. Visit her booth for stunning imagery of city structures and landscapes.
  • Glory Loflin (Painting) – Glory Loflin is another artist whose work you may recognize from The Village Grind coffee shop in the West Village of Greenville. From still-life pieces of fruit and plants to inquisitive animals, there’s no doubt her bright colors will brighten your mood.

    Kiah Bellows’ work on display in our Main Street Real Estate Gallery in July of 2017

  • Joseph Bradley (Painting) – Not only do his famous goldfinches now adorn a wall of our own Westone project, Joseph Bradley has been featured in many publications such as Country Living and Traditional Home, on HGTV, and more. Other pieces include subjects such as koi fish, cardinals, blossoms, and foxes.
  • Rey D’Alfonso (Painting) – After working exclusively with aluminum for over 15 years, Rey D’Alfonso now utilizes pure pigments and fire in his geometric paintings on Baltic birch. He builds color through hundreds of layers and carves and burns into the wood to recall the traces of lives and languages left by migrants and immigrants as they move from place to place.
  • Keith Grace (Mixed Media-2D) – Using hand-torn maps, typography and other fragmented visual pieces, Keith Grace creates collages that seamlessly blend into canvas. Hats, animals, and portraits become detailed compositions on bright, solid backgrounds.
  • Kiah Bellows (Mixed Media-2D) – Inspired by life experience, Kiah Bellows creates dreamy pastel, abstract landscapes in large formats. Often working on the floor, pouring paint, scribbling, scraping away, and scrubbing, she brings the things that make bold impacts in her life to light.

    A commissioned piece by Janina Ellis hangs in the Graceland conference room at our HQ at 111 Williams Street in Greenville

  • Kate Furman (Jewelry/Semi-Precious) – Kate Furman’s jewelry depicts items that would catch her eye growing up, outdoors in the mountains near Greenville or on the beach at Pawley’s Island. From a twig wrapping bracelet to a seashell pendant, metal takes on the shapes of nature in her pieces.
  • Llyn Strong (Jewelry/Precious) – You’ve likely walked by Llyn Strong’s store on Main Street many times before. For over 35 years, Llyn Strong has been custom-making fine art jewelry in the Upstate.
  • Darin Gehrke (Ceramics) – As a potter, Darin Gehrke is inspired by how people live with and use the pieces he creates. Taking inspiration from Chinese tea ceremonies and Asian aesthetics, he works to make pottery that is striking and functional.
  • Janina Ellis (Painting) – For Janina Ellis, everyone is the hero of the story and the mundane, everyday moment is beautiful. Often painting from photographs, she depicts crowds of people in energetic communal settings, going about their everyday lives.

Before Artisphere kicks off on May 10, join us on Thursday, May 2, from 6-8 PM at our Main Street Real Estate Gallery to meet Starr Haney and view her work. The gallery will also be open during the festival for guests to stop by and view Starr’s art.