Karin Olah Happy Go Lucky

Event Details

December 1 - 31
Reception – December 7, 2012 5-8 pm

Corrigan Gallery LLC is happy to announce Karin Olah’s upcoming solo show, “Happy Go Lucky,” featuring her latest work. The show will be on display December 5-31 with an opening reception on Friday, December 7 as part of the French Quarter Gallery Association artwalk which is open to the public and will run from 5-8pm. Corrigan Gallery is located at 62 Queen Street in historic downtown Charleston. Olah will be present for the opening of this show.

Relocated to Boulder, Colorado from Charleston last year, we hope she will return with her husband and daughter to the Lowcountry soon. This show is a return to the abstractions she first showed here. Her skill is evident in both non-representational works and her local scenes and florals.

Olah fell in love with Amish quilts while growing up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She says, “Those colorful blocks of fabric inspired me to think beyond the paintbrush. In history, quilt makers used the sights in the world around them as shapes and symbols in their work. I do the same, but I also look, in particular, for the abstract shapes that come into focus. Sometimes my work takes its cue from the natural world. However, in this newest series "Happy Go Lucky," I am returning to my "square roots," to bold block shapes and pops of color. Working in textiles is something that — physically and metaphorically — I've always been wrapped up in, warmed by, and felt the weight of. I hope my work has that same enchanting hold on the viewer. I take printmaking and quilt making principles, add a dash of painting, and come up with a new process..., which I call collage paintings. It looks and feels like screenprinting - one color at a time, tight edges, flat span of color, using transparent layers to create halftones / blend colors. You can also approach the work in relation to the process of quilt-making - backing, batting, quilt top pieces, decorative stitching = canvas under-painting and loose sketch in pencil, large pieces of neutral fabrics, smaller swatches of cut and pasted textiles, textures, finishing flourishes in gouache paints.”

The artist uses natural fabrics – mostly cottons, linens, some silk with rice starch as the binder. A time consuming detailed process results in well-bonded fabric to canvas where she then draws and adds touches of gouache to finish off the work.

Olah has been chosen twice as the poster artist for the Charleston Farmers’ Market. She was selected as one of the top ten emerging “Under the Radar” artists by the Halsey Institute, College of Charleston and Charleston Magazine and was featured in the May 2006 issue of the magazine. Her first major solo show (June 2006 at Corrigan Gallery) entitled “The Meandering Thread” upheld her connection to fiber traditions in art. Her second solo show (2007) “Incantations in Thread” continued this tradition. In 2007 her work was selected for the Medical University of South Carolina’s Ashley River Tower Carolina Contemporary Collection. In spring 2008 she had a solo show at Wofford College and showed in Alabama. In 2009 she was part of Contemporary Charleston and showed in North Carolina and Georgia in 2010 and at Scoop Studios in 2011.

In its eighth year, Corrigan Gallery is the culmination of 24 years of experience in the Charleston art market. Representing more than a dozen artists in an intimate space, the gallery presents a new show almost every month and invites visiting artists at least once a year. Other gallery artists include Manning Williams, Richard Hagerty, Lynne Riding, Sue Simons Wallace, Gordon Nicholson, John Moore, William Meisburger, Mary Walker, Kristi Ryba, Paul Mardikian, Kevin Bruce Parent and John Hull. Many of these local artists have established national careers and are included in museum collections.

A gallery of contemporary works exploring the depth and intellect behind the drive to create, Corrigan Gallery provides a depth to the historic city’s traditional bent. Open six days a week and other times by appointment, the gallery can be viewed 24 hours a day at http://www.corrigangallery.com, contacted by phone at 843 722 9868 or by email at [email protected].