Sharon Kearns and Ray Voelpel, owner of Tidewater Gallery

The Clyde Phillips Seafood Market series arrived at Tidewater Gallery in Swansboro, N.C. on Saturday, August 28th. Ray Voelpel, owner of the gallery, announced the new series with a gathering of friends and local artists. It was a wonderful way to celebrate with such an extraordinary group of people!

A heartfelt thanks goes to Ray, and his wife Jan, for hosting such a very special evening!

As well, I owe a sincere “thank-you” to Phillip for the inspiration for the Clyde Phillips series!

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The Clyde Phillips Seafood Market series includes the following paintings:

“Vern Weighing Shrimp” 14″ x 11″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Clyde’s Treasures” 11″ x 14″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Hung Out to Dry” 11″x 14″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Rinsing Shrimp” 16″ x 20″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Icing Shrimp” 16″ x 20″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Miss Gwendolyn’s Oilskins” 16” x 16” Acrylic on Canvas

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If you are visiting the Crystal Coast for the Labor Day holiday, stop by Tidewater Gallery in Swansboro and check out the new works!

“Miss Gwendolyn’s Oilskins” 16″ x 16″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Miss Gwendolyn’s Oilskins” is the sixth painting in the Clyde Phillips Seafood Market collection.

This painting highlights several hanging pairs of luminescent, waterproof slickers blowing in the breeze on the side of the Miss Gwendolyn shrimp boat. Miss Gwendolyn is a shrimp boat docked along the pier outside of Clyde Phillips Seafood Market. I was intrigued by the glow of the oilskins in and of themselves.  But I was further enthralled by the reflections of the slickers radiating above in the boat’s eve and below along the railing. I also wanted to capture the window and the reflection of the pilings and boat across from Miss Gwendolyn.

“Icing Shrimp” 16″ x 20″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Icing Shrimp” is the fifth painting in the Clyde Phillips Seafood Market collection.

In the back of Clyde Phillips Seafood market, Jimmy Phillips is pouring shrimp from the scales into a corrugated box to prepare for packaging.  The “Miss Gwendolyn” shrimp boat captain scooped ice directly from a gigantic ice pile in the freezer room and will shovel it onto the freshly caught shrimp.

Again, I was amazed by the darkness of the work area, lit only by the open bay doors. The sunlit illumination of the men working and the wet glow of the floor were creative elements I wanted to convey in this painting.

The old seafood markets, like Clyde Phillips, are quickly becoming obsolete – a thing of the past.  With each painting in this series, I have felt more and more compelled to create an enduring, creative representation of the Clyde Phillips Seafood Market story -the story of one old little North Carolina seafood market that continues to engage and impact their coastal community.

“Rinsing Shrimp” 16″ x 20″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Rinsing Shrimp” is the fourth painting in the Clyde Phillips Seafood series.

The painting depicts Jimmy Phillips and his helper in the back of the seafood market. They are pouring freshly caught shrimp into an old bathtub. Water is pouring through a hose to cleanse the shrimp. Jimmy will take a large strainer to gently stir the shrimp around in the tub. He will pick out small squid and other “undesirable” urchins and remove them from the tub. From there, the shrimp are strained and ladled onto hanging scales to be weighed. Icing and packaging become the final steps.

The back area of the seafood market is lit only from the sunlight shining through the bay doors. The backdrop lighting illuminates the two men, providing an interesting glow and shadowing effect that I wanted to capture. The cool, wet floor with all its textures radiates with golden color from the sunlight. Through the bay doors, the fishing docks and boats reflect the bright white of the mid-day sun.

2010 NC Seafood Festival Commemorative Painting Exhibit Schedule:

April 15 – June 1, 2010 – North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores
June 1 – June 30, 2010 – The History Place, Morehead City
June 30 – August 2, 2010 -  Crystal Coast Tourism Authority, Morehead City
August 2 – August 16, 2010  – Waterfront Function, Morehead City
August 16 – August 31, 2010  – DeeGee’s, Morehead City
August 31 – September 28, 2010  – Bogue Banks Library, Pine Knoll Shores
October 1, 2010  – Presented to the Town of Morehead City

“Hung Out to Dry” 11″x 14″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Hung Out to Dry” is the third in the Clyde Phillips Seafood series. The painting reveals the back of the seafood market. The shrimpers line up outside along the docks and unload their bounty. The seafood is brought through these bays, into this area for cleaning, weighing, icing, and packaging.

Throughout the back, there are remnants of very old equipment, such as the one you see on the left in the painting. Hindsight reminds me that I should have asked what all the paraphernalia had once been used for – with all the shadows of work long gone… gears, chains, conveyors…  and now rust.

My latest fascination has been to paint artwork that accentuates light and dark contrasts. This painting captures the dark, cool, work area of the old market, as well as, the bright, hot sunlight – providing the only source of light in the back rooms for the day’s work.

The intensely vivid, almost fluorescent, yellow bib and slicker hanging out to dry struck me, amidst the very dark and light dichotomy of the moment.

“Clyde’s Treasures” 11″ x 14″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Clyde’s Treasures” is the 2nd in a series of paintings from Clyde Phillips Seafood in Swansboro, N.C.  I was particularly intrigued by the make-shift table on the docks behind the seafood market. The wooden boards which compose the table are leftovers from both old and new – flawlessly positioned to withstand a windy day.

Fishermen had discovered these perfect treasures from the deep in their day’s catch. With careful arrangement, the hefty, conch shells were displayed for the bright sunny day to dry and bleach.

The idea that these men, who have spent their lives working at sea, could still find such amazement in their modest trophies of the deep… the simple pleasures in life… warms my soul.

“Vern Weighing Shrimp” 14″ x 11″ Acrylic on Canvas

“Vern Weighing Shrimp” is the first of a series of paintings from Clyde Phillips Seafood in Swansboro, NC, that will soon be available at Tidewater Gallery in Swansboro.

Over a two-day period some weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend many hours at Clyde Phillips Seafood taking pictures and learning more about the fishing industry in Swansboro. Clyde Phillips is one of the few remaining “old-timey” seafood markets in North Carolina. No doubt the market has been freshened up over the years. However, Clyde’s still retains many of the old “look and feel” traditions of seafood markets that are fast diminishing in this country.

As I walk in the front door, all of my senses are immediately alerted to the fact that I am in a seafood market. It is easy to imagine that things have not changed radically over the years at Clyde’s -  even with freshly painted white walls, bright, tropical green trim, and comfortably padded rocking chairs for “staying and visiting awhile.”  Old, black and white photographs of commercial fishing boats and crew from days long past adorn the walls like trophies. New colored photos join the old on the walls to help create a virtual history of this special place and the community it serves. Customers, both local and summer vacationers, form a steady stream into the market to see the catch that has just arrived and make their selections for the  evening’s dinner.

My many visits to the Swansboro area indicate to me that Clyde Phillips is truly adored by the Swansboro community and it’s summer tourists. It is as though everyone knows that one day Clyde’s will no longer be as it is today -  a thriving, vibrant hub for fresh, local seafood… a place where old-timers still tell stories of days past.. and locals share their life-long passion and enthusiasm with a stranger who says she wants to paint pictures of their day’s work.

I had the opportunity to see fishing boats and shrimpers coming in to deliver the day’s catch in the back of the market. Fascinated, I keenly surveyed the seafood coming off the boats, being cleaned, weighed, iced down and packaged for shipping… and asked a lot of questions. Proudly, all questions were met with answers to help educate this unfamiliar observer. I watched other ships being loaded with ice to depart for a week-long trip to the Pamlico Sound. Throughout my visit, I had the freedom to just follow around the fishermen and the Clyde’s staff just to see what would happen next.

I met fishermen – captains and crew -  who not surprisingly told some tall fishing tales of times long gone. One gentleman, a local photographic chronicler of Clyde’s,  shared his own digital photos from his camera with me. I impressed upon him that I was not there to “take his job,” but only to take pictures for my artwork.

As well, I was able to watch the guy’s at Clyde’s cleaning fish and shrimp to be freshly and immediately prepared for retail sales. In the painting above, Vern was weighing freshly caught shrimp for a regular customer’s purchase. In the background, there are a couple of kids checking the latest news on their PDA’s. Ahh… the old – and the new – both have a home at Clyde’s!

I do not know Vern’s story or how he ended up at Clyde’s, but I do know that he is beloved by the locals and tourists alike. I do not usually paint people, as this is not my strength…  However I found Vern to be an interesting character – a character I felt compelled to try to paint as accurately as possible. My sense is that he has a story to tell…  a much longer story than my brush can bristle. I wanted to find a way to somehow memorialize Vern’s work at Clyde’s as one of the familiar and cherished staples of the Swansboro community…  And, in Vern’s words.. “Maybe we’ll be famous!”

Here’s to you, Vern!

I owe a sincere “thank-you” to Jimmy Phillips and the crew at Clyde Phillips Seafood! Stay tuned! There is much more to come!

“My Mind Will Never Be” by Art Rosenbaum (artrosenbaum.org)

Hinged

by Emily Brown

In college I had a creative writing professor who challenged us to write about art — to imagine ourselves in the narrative of a canvas. Ever since Dr. Judith Cofer challenged us as writers to dig for rhythms, figures of speech and language in strokes of color, I have never looked at art the same way: each piece of art is now a trove of stories for me.

Dr. Cofer changed my perspective about a lot of things in life, and it often started by introducing me to someone or something I had not known before. Dr. Cofer introduced me to Art Rosenbaum, an Athens, Ga., based artist whose art, like Sharon’s, easily lends itself to the roots of a story. Their style is strikingly different, but they both capture snapshots of everyday life, translating words with vivid strokes of color. Art’s style lends more to folk visions and voices, but both he and Sharon have a gift for making art an open ended conversation.

Here is, “Hinged,” a story that I have written about Art Rosenbaum’s piece, “My Mind Will Never Be.” (See image of painting above).

diptych [dip-tik]:

1. a hinged two leaved tablet

2. a tablet of wood or metal containing on one leaf the names of those among the living, and on the other those among the dead, for whom prayers and Masses are said.

The wisps of grass are soft and smooth, tickling her feet. She knows no other sweetness than Southern comforts: tomato aspic, gravel roads, fiddle drones and pink calla lilies.

When she feels the shiny lacquer of the wooden floors, she begins to feel something inside her change.  The blades of grass become tendrils, lifeless ringlets twining her body.

Don’t slam the door, Papa always says. But she hates the creaking of the door hinges.

Her eyelids crease with tiny folds of uncertainty. She looks up, pining for even the smallest shard of freedom in a mosaic of streaming light.

Although she might regret the choice, she steps onward, remembering His words: peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

She hates the creaking of the door hinges.

“Seafarer’s Guiding Light” 16″ x 20″ Acrylic on Canvas Panel

I have always been amazed by the North Carolina lighthouses.. and often surprised at the number of North Carolinians who have never visited them.

Highly recognizable, the black and white diamond decked lighthouse at Cape Lookout was not always black and white, nor was it a lighthouse. Since, there is no house attached, the structure is really a light tower. In fact, of the four lighthouses protecting North Carolina’s Outer Banks, only the lighthouse at Currituck Beach is an actual lighthouse; the other three, Cape Lookout, Cape Hatteras, and Bodie Island are light towers. Their names changed to lighthouses, when authorities conceded after much confusion; everyone insisted upon calling them all lighthouses.

Built in 1812, the original octagonal light tower at Cape Lookout, painted red and white, was only 98′ tall. Even perched atop the 8′ sand dune, the structure was too small, too ineffective, mariners rightfully, complained. Throughout history, over 600 ships have sunk along the coast of the Outer Banks. The area off the Carolina coast, dubbed the graveyard of the Atlantic, was too dangerous to traverse without an effective guiding light, claimed Sea Captains. Along this section of the outer banks, hidden shoals extend for 14 miles out into the Atlantic. The shallow sandbars constantly shift under the pressures of the strong currents. Here the cold waters of the Labradors meet the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and they furiously collide, and clash. The effects of the treacherous hidden shoals, combined with the strong currents, can rip a ship to shreds in a matter of minutes. “There is greater danger from seeking the light than any danger it marked,” Seafarers claimed referring to the poorly designed lighthouse.

If you have ever boated to “The Cape” you know that the weather and conditions can change rapidly. Small crafts, as the one depicted in my latest painting, can suddenly become very frightening places to be. The one thing missing from the painting are the life jackets on the sailors. Whenever I heard the words, “get out the life jackets,” I knew that it would be a roller coaster of a ride home! And, you can not get out and walk, if you do not like gigantic swells.

At the bottom of a wave trough, you see only walls of neighboring swells. Above the walls of water, you see only sky. At the top of the trough you can see as far as the eyes can see, as if atop a mountain.

To this day, rapidly changing conditions at sea impact and remain clear in my mind from days long past.