Written by Sara Terrell
Photographs by Melissa Brown
Visitors view work by artists Tremain Farrar, Stephanie Meyer, and Michelle Willows at “The Three Muses.”
As a tradition, The Butcher Gallery, which is curated by Jenny Hawkes, displays the works of graduating SCAD students every May. This year Hawkes and The Butcher presented the work of three graduate illustration majors: Tremain Farrar, Stephanie Meyer and Michelle Willows. The show was aptly called “The Three Muses,” alluding to the all-female ensemble whose friendship began two years ago when they attended the same graduate level digital illustration class. After almost a year of planning, event finally began with an impressive opening.
“Les Voyageurs” series by Stephanie Meyer.
Within the first half hour, many supporters crowded throughout the gallery space, each of them admiring the illustrations, enjoying complementary refreshments, and purchasing artwork. Savannah resident Nan Costales catered the event with delightful, bite-sized treats that disappeared shortly after being set down. By the one hour mark the walls of the small gallery seemed to vibrate with the bustle of art enthusiasts.
“Our senior shows are frequently busy like this, but this is one of our busier shows,” said curator Hawkes. “This has been an excellent turnout. I’ve been really happy with it.”
After an hour of opening, four paintings had already sold. Three of these had sold before the event even began, and two of these three had buyers before they were even hung up on the wall. According to Hawkes, this is not uncommon.
“We put out a bunch of posters, a Facebook event, an event on the website, email, all that,” Hawkes said. “Some people will come a little before a show opens and I frequently sell a number of pieces before the opening reception. Best stuff goes fast.”
The Butcher, located on 19 East Bay St., opens “The Three Muses” show on May 9.
The three artists’ diverse style certainly deserved all the accomplishment and attention of the opening night.
Farrar, originally from Louisville, Kentucky, has had her art featured in Le Snoot and currently has some works displayed overseas in Melbourne. Farrar mainly uses a combination of gestural charcoal drawing and digital illustration in large formats. Her style, Farrar claims, was developed over the course of her education and involved various styles and an evolution of materials.
“I finally settled on a style that I really liked, which is working in large formats,” said Farrar. “Working in a lot of self-portraiture is one of my key components,” she added.
Visitors view work by artists Tremain Farrar, Stephanie Meyer, and Michelle Willows at “The Three Muses.”
Most of Farrar’s work integrates content from fairytales written by the Grimm Brothers. Images of animals and human-animal hybrids feature heavily along with her self-portraits.
For Meyer, who’s originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, this is her first big gallery show after a smaller one while she was an undergraduate. She took a different approach from her fellow artists by choosing to depict sophisticated women going about their everyday routine. In Meyer’s illustrations, the women are influenced by vintage fashion and the pieces turn out looking much like lifestyle illustrations.
“I create a lot of outfits and draw ladies in their daily lives,” Meyer said. “[I] just try to make people have fun and [have] exciting feelings about what it is to be a woman.”
“The Ibex” by Tremain Farrar.
Into her work Meyer puts intricate detailing and patterns that in turn collaborate together and emit a subtle, light-hearted vibrancy.
For Willows, who’s originally from Portland, Oregon, “The Three Muses” is one of the first gallery exhibitions she’s been a part of in nearly 20 years.
“My style used to be really representational,” Willows said. “I studied fine art so I did pastel portraits, mostly. Now after being taught Photoshop and various digital things, it’s a combination of hand-drawn and patterns and digital painting.”
She credits her inspiration mainly to Polish poster art, especially that of Stasys Eidrigevicius. But like Farrar, Willows was also influenced by fairytales. Some of her paintings featured a whimsical – and slightly sinister – Little Red Riding Hood character.
Stephanie Meyer, one of the featured artists, talks about her work.
While all the pieces were visually distinct and unique, they came together to fill the space with harmony. Gallery-goer Lou Bice, who came to support Willows, was among the many who were captivated by the different artists’ work. Bice summed it up nicely when she said she enjoyed the event and appreciated that it was “very small, but very nice.”
“The Three Muses” will be up and open to the public until June 8.
