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Havens Framemakers and Gallery presents its Fall exhibition, “Southern Abundance,” open through January 1.

By Judit Trunkos

Havens Framemakers and Gallery presents its Fall exhibition, “Southern Abundance,” which fully demonstrates the wealth of talent in the South. The show features six painters—three men and three women—who share their perception of the region. Open through January 1, the exhibition includes new works from Betsy Havens, Jim Calk, Rob Shaw, Lucretia Dover, Steven Whetstone and Jackie Vazquez.

Betsy Havens, the former owner of Havens Framemakers and Gallery, surprises art lovers again with her new style. At this show she lines up a whole spectrum of styles for the viewers leaving only one common element of her work, the focus on the human figure. Since Havens enjoys traveling around the world and her paintings feature a great variety of cities and from Italy, Spain and France. Somehow she manages to capture the essence of her figures not by their details but by their lack thereof. The viewer’s imagination is left to fill in the rest.
Columbia native, Rob Shaw, presents his new cityscapes and regional landscapes. Shaw says he draws inspiration from the streets of Columbia and the rural Lowcountry. “Most of my realistic paintings are of Columbia scenery, vistas and landmarks, and I also enjoy Lowcountry themes such as marsh and river scenes,” he says.

Employing an expressive impasto approach, Shaw uses thick oil paint and deftly utilizes light to emphasize the energy and mood of southern landscapes in his work. Shaw had been painting in a realistic style, but with this show he leans towards a more abstract method, as evinced in his painting “It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere.”

Another Columbia native featured at this exhibition is Steven Whetstone. His paintings vary from figures to landscapes. While his landscapes focus on the Lowcountry he does not cease to surprise his fans with his new nightlife paintings, which capture split-second “snapshots” of jazz clubs. Jim Calk joins the landscape painters with his strong sense of value supported by color and music. The classically trained piano player uses his brushstrokes just as a conductor would conduct music to add another dimension to his peaceful landscapes.

Jackie Vazquez, owner of Havens Framemakers and Gallery since 2003, joins the other two female painters of the show, Betsy Havens and Lucretia Dover. Since Vazquez bought the gallery, she has been greatly influenced by the artwork surrounding her every day and, as a result, she began to paint. Dover, an Asheville native, on the other hand is returning to painting after a break, bringing natural scenes to this show, portraying mostly birds within their natural environment.

For more information, contact Havens Framemakers and Gallery at (803) 256-1616